Enter the
Zachbot: Trump’s new press secretary malfunctions on podium debut
Katie
Zacharia’s maiden briefing was excruciating – at least her predecessor had
delivered her propaganda hot
David Smith in Washington
Tue 13
Oct 2026 20.22 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/13/katie-zacharia-trump-press-briefing
Well,
that was weird. Katie
Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, made her debut on the podium
on Tuesday with all the warmth, wisdom and political dexterity of an AI
avatar.
Zacharia
was all stilted delivery, nervous tics and lack of eye contact. With an eerie
lack of emotion, she served up pro-Trump talking points, took only three
questions and vanished after 14 minutes. It was like the West Wing had turned
into uncanny valley.
The
Zachbot’s past is indeed a bit of a mystery. The 41-year-old claims to be a
lawyer but later a reporter asked when she passed the bar exam and she gave the
unconvincing answer: “When I moved to China.” She was plucked from relative
obscurity for the White House job after a brief gig at the Department of
Homeland Security and a stint at the Trump Media and Technology Group.
Wearing a
dark jacket with big gold buttons on Tuesday morning, she entered the
standing-room-only briefing room and stepped on to the podium as Trump’s sixth
press secretary. For James Bond fans, that means we’ve reached the Daniel Craig
era. For Doctor Who fans, it means the regeneration that brought us Colin Baker (not the show’s
golden age).
Zacharia
has the blond hair, glossy makeup and Fox News aesthetic of her immediate
predecessors Kayleigh
McEnany and Karoline
Leavitt (her name also begins with a “K” – surely a tell to the AI
detectors). But it was Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, to whom she
inadvertently paid homage.
“Attendance
is at record highs as enthusiastic, hard-working Americans are lining up and
packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans,” she said of Trump’s
campaign rallies, echoing Spicer’s debut that falsely boasted of the biggest
inaugural crowd ever.
In truth,
there have been plenty of empty seats at Trump’s rallies this time around and
an unusually high number of interruptions from protesters.
The
Zachbot read from prepared notes about Trump’s many great accomplishments,
awkwardly glancing up at her audience less than she should, smiling at odd
moments and putting the emphasis on all the wrong words. “A great relationship
…” (looks down, sighs, sounds like her cat just died) “with Venezuela”.
It was
bad. Toe-curlingly, don’t-know-where-to-look bad. At least Leavitt had
delivered her propaganda hot. Evidently Trump’s communications team have found
new and ingenious ways to torture reporters.
Then came
questions, first from rightwing Breitbart News, then rightwing Fox News, whose
correspondent Peter
Doocy wondered whether the US had stopped sharing intelligence with
Ukraine. The Zachbot froze for a millisecond. “I will have to get back to you
on that,” came the auto response.
Next up
was the rightwing Daily Mail, asking about an
alleged bribery scandal involving Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to
Greece, ex-fiancee of Donald Trump Jr and notorious screamer of “The best is
yet to come!” The Zachbot said
coldly: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a
wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well.”
She
nodded awkwardly. It was like every dystopian sci-fi film where the machine
informs some hapless human that they will be terminated in 10 seconds.
The Mail
followed up with “a personal question” that would surely never be asked of a
male press secretary: “Your family is in California. Your husband, your four
children. I’m wondering how you are going to manage that.”
The
Zachbot gave her husband a shout-out and said she loved being with her
children. “The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely
unacceptable. So my president – excuse me, my husband – that’s a good one.”
A slip of
the tongue! A glitch! Had someone spilled coffee on a cool, pitiless datacenter
somewhere out in the California desert?
The
Zachbot went on:
“President Trump is the most family-friendly president we have ever had. He has
hired more women with families and the fact that he knew I had four kids and he
knew this job would be demanding and still placed his trust in me shows I know
I’m capable of being able to step up to that.”
Then she
stunned everyone by wrapping it up and pledging that Trump would soon answer
questions on the South Lawn. It was a tacit admission that the press secretary
job is pointless when there is a president who talks all the time. But
ironically, although the Zachbot took far fewer questions than others on their
debut, she made more news with her Guilfoyle announcement.
How long
can she last? Trump said soon
after: “I thought she was very good.” But the Lincoln Project, an
anti-Trump group, tweeted
an image of the Zachbot beside a lettuce to evoke Liz Truss, who lasted only 49
days as British prime minister.
And
Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump’s communications director for just 11 days, a
period now known as “a Scaramucci”, tweeted:
“The clock is running. Thus far 1/11th of a Scaramucci.”
When the
Mooch is giving you the Grim Reaper treatment, it might be time to
self-terminate.
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