Karoline Leavitt & CNN's Kaitlan Collins Keep Butting Heads (& We Sense A Nasty Feud Brewing)

Karoline Leavitt has never had a good relationship with CNN, but her latest clashes with anchor Kaitlan Collins are serving up more tension than we've seen before. At just 27, Leavitt made history as the youngest person to ever become the White House press secretary, but don't expect any gold stars from Collins. The CNN journalist is far more interested in pressing hard questions to Leavitt, who always has a response, convincing or not.

Most recently, the two squared off after the White House barred an AP reporter since the outlet refused to swap out "Gulf of Mexico" for the administration's preferred "Gulf of America" to ensure worldwide uniformity. Collins asked Leavitt, "Is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don't use the language that you guys believe reporters should use?" (via X). Leavitt fired right back, defending the administration's right to refuse audience to reporters who represent things according to their facts.

And that wasn't their first heated exchange. On January 29, Collins grilled Leavitt over the administration's mass firing of 17 inspectors general, bluntly asking, "How is the administration deciding which laws to follow and which ones to ignore?" (via YouTube). But if something about these clashes rings familiar, it's because both women seem to be following a very popular playbook.

Karoline Leavitt and Kaitlan Collins' clashes go beyond the usual left versus right friction. Both women seem to be taking a page straight from the Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Jim Acosta playbook by leaning into the drama. And as history has shown, this strategy works. During Donald Trump's first tenure, Sanders and Acosta were just as fiery, turning press briefings into must-watch TV as they publicly sparred and championed the views of their respective political sides. Acosta reveled in his brutal feud with the Trump White House, and Sanders was always ready to shut him, and the Democrats, down. The payoffs were success and fame for both parties.

Acosta's profile rose (and rose even further after his dramatic exit from CNN), while Sanders cemented her status in MAGA world. She parlayed that into a political career and eventually ran successfully for governor. If Leavitt and Collins keep butting heads and pleasing their respective audiences by attacking the other side, they stand to gain far more than any of us watching at home. And let's be real: study after study has shown that rage sells. All these two have to do is keep the other side outraged, and the promotions will practically write themselves. Given that their futures depend on it, we'll likely see even more clashes between Leavitt and Collins.