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The Maga journalists who dare to ask Trump about his fitness routine [1]

['Hugh Tomlinson', 'Will Pavia', 'Andrew Sullivan', 'Keiran Southern', 'El Paso', 'Louise Callaghan', 'Senior Us Correspondent', 'Dipesh Gadher', 'Home Affairs Correspondent', 'Katie Tarrant']

Date: 2025-04

‘I think I probably know the president better than anybody in that room,” says Brian Glenn, nodding to the White House briefing room behind him. “I’ve been with him five-and-a-half, six years now. I feel like my job as a conservative journalist is to ask questions that highlight the good things that he’s doing for this country — that a lot of the media outlets in there simply won’t ask.”

Glenn, a 55-year-old correspondent for Real America’s Voice, is a Maga celebrity in his own right. The partner of the firebrand Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, he is one of the elder statesmen in the crop of “new conservative media” who stormed into the tiny briefing room as Trump entered his second term.

While reporters with the mainstream press take up their reserved seats, these new Trump-friendly outlets jostle for position in the aisles. Some arrive an hour in advance to stake out a spot at the front of what has been dubbed “conservative corner” — a cohort that seems to grow larger each week.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, addressing a packed media briefing room last month AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Trump administration’s embrace of alternative and right-wing outlets marks the most radical shakeup of the White House press corps in decades.

“It’s been awesome,” says Elizabeth Mitchell, 22, with The Daily Signal, a conservative news and commentary website. “So much access … so many more opportunities to talk to the president, more press briefings, more opportunities to ask questions. It’s been great.”

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As the feeble air conditioning struggled against the stifling heat at another packed briefing on Tuesday, these reporters craned to catch the eye of Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.

Elizabeth Mitchell

Several nodded approvingly as Leavitt noted the slump in migrant crossings at America’s southern border since Trump took office. They beamed as she touted White House claims that scores of nations were frantically seeking trade talks to offset Trump’s punitive tariffs.

The crew standing in the aisles cut a sharp contrast with their colleagues in the traditional media seated between them. Many are younger than the veteran White House correspondents. Some, like Natalie Winters, a reporter for Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, have made headlines with their bold fashion choices, favouring towering heels over practical flats. Glenn’s attire often mirrors Trump’s preference for a navy suit and bright red tie.

• Steve Bannon interview: Maga can rule for 50 years and Farage will be PM

Natalie Winters

The visual contrast between the two media tribes only underscores the tension between the old guard and the new cohort as Trump’s team imposes ever-tighter control on the White House press pack.

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In her first briefing in January, Leavitt attacked the “lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets … about this president. We will not accept that.”

Since February, the administration has barred reporters with the Associated Press from White House events after the agency declined to comply with Trump’s order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. In the cramped offices behind the briefing room, where the mainstream outlets have desks, a printout on the wall declares: “We stand with AP.”

Journalistic solidarity with the Associated Press in the White House CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS

Breaking decades of precedent, the administration has also handpicked which outlets can join the presidential press pool, the rotating group of reporters that travels with the president, relaying his day-to-day activities to colleagues. This month, the White House eliminated a regular pool slot reserved for independent newswires.

Even more sweeping changes could be on the way, with reports that the White House could take control of the briefing room seating plan. Some conservative reporters could be assigned the coveted seats at the expense of traditional outlets.

The White House Correspondents’ Association has criticised the crackdown, complaining that the shakeup undermines the briefing as a venue to hold the administration to account. The partisan conservative outlets rarely challenge the government line, instead tapping into right-wing talking points like immigration and culture war touchstones like transgender rights.

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Leavitt has also unveiled a permanent “new media seat”, assigned to a rotating cast of alternative digital outlets and conservative influencers, which is granted the first question at each briefing.

On Tuesday, the seat was allocated to Tim Pool, a right-wing podcast host who was named last year in an indictment after inadvertently taking money from Russian state media to echo Kremlin propaganda and undermine US support for Ukraine. Pool used his question to criticise mainstream outlets “represented in this room”, which he claimed had “marched in lockstep on false narratives” against Trump.

Friction between the two media groups has mounted as Leavitt’s briefings veer between clashes with veteran reporters and glowing replies to softball questions served up from conservative corner.

The administration counters that the shift towards new media more accurately reflects the way that Americans get their news today. Trump harnessed conservative social media and podcasts on his march back to the White House last year.

“There’s some disdain, for sure,” one new reporter said of the relationship. “People who are used to getting questions aren’t any more. There’s been this dynamic shift. It’s like, ‘We’re not prioritising you any more.’”

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Some have tried to reach across the divide. Others have little sympathy for their mainstream colleagues. “Basically they’re all communists,” grinned John Fredericks, a radio and talk show host, as he wrapped up a piece to camera on the sweeping driveway to the West Wing.

Fredericks, 67, is delighted to see the tables turned after the “disgusting” press treatment of Trump in his first term. “We were surrounded by hostile media that had no interest in getting to the truth,” he said. “Now they realise that if they don’t behave, she’s gonna throw them out, right? There’s no constitutional right to be there.”

The power wielded by the conservative outlets was underlined in February, during the disastrous Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine. Glenn used his question to ask why Zelensky was not wearing a suit.

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“That question was meant to really see how much respect he had for this country and the American people for funding his war,” Glenn told The Times, suggesting that Zelensky’s army fatigues showed a “lack of respect”.

“I felt that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover,” Glenn added. “The president has said he wants to be a peacemaker. I want him to be. We all want the bloodshed to stop.”

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Softball questions have always been a part of the White House briefing, but some of the new reporters have been accused of overreaching to prove their loyalty.

Even among fellow conservatives, there was eye-rolling two weeks ago when Cara Castronuova, a reporter with Lindell TV — run by the Trump loyalist and 2020 election denier Mike Lindell — addressed the president’s annual health check.

“Will you guys also consider releasing the president’s fitness plan?” Castronuova urged a smiling Leavitt, claiming that the president looked “healthier than ever before”. She added: “I’m sure everyone in this room can agree. Is he working out with Bobby Kennedy, and is he eating less McDonald’s?”

Fredericks groaned at the memory of that exchange. “I understand you support the president, right? But asking ridiculously softball questions doesn’t serve the press room. It doesn’t serve the people, it doesn’t serve the audience,” he said. “They’re learning, so you give them a pass, but it’s not helpful.”

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[1] Url: https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/trump-influencers-white-house-tim-pool-natalie-winters-srm6x3cz2

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