This year, I’ve made an effort to not give a crap about the wannabe fascists populating the second Trump administration. In Donald Trump’s first term, I paid attention to the palace intrigue and followed their public statements and activities. This time around, I’m protecting my peace. As such, I’ve given zero attention to Karoline Leavitt, a woman with the vibe of someone who dropped out of Bible college because it was too hard. Leavitt is the 28-year-old White House press secretary and she’s married to a much-older man. She puts a dead-eyed cult spin on the administration. Well, alongside Vanity Fair’s big exclusive with Susie Wiles and the Trump senior staff, VF hired photographer Christopher Anderson to capture some portraits of Trump’s inner circle. One of Anderson’s things is “extreme close-ups” of his subjects. Long story short, the Trump people are ugly. And the close-up of Leavitt exposed her lip injections and that fact that she’s aging in dog years. She’s absolutely furious about it too.
When Vanity Fair published its two-part interview series with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, the magazine also featured other prominent members of President Donald Trump’s second administration, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Leavitt, 28, who is described as the Trump administration’s “mouthpiece” by Vanity Fair, was photographed up-close for a portrait in which apparent lip filler injection sites were clearly visible. The image sparked near-immediate disbelief online, with one commenter writing, “jumpscare” and another remarking, “no trigger warning is insane” on Vanity Fair’s Instagram post.
The image was taken by photographer Christopher Anderson, who is known for his close-up portraits, which have also been published in The New York Times, Esquire, and The Wall Street Journal, among others.
“Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years,” he told The Independent after the Vanity Fair story — and its accompanying images — went viral on Tuesday, Dec. 16. “Particularly, political portraits that I’ve done over the years. I like the idea of penetrating the theater of politics.”
Anderson also photographed Wiles, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, and deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs James Blair. While all of their portraits were taken in a style similar to Leavitt’s, the photographer insisted he was not trying to portray anyone in an unflattering manner.
“I know there’s a lot to be made with, ‘Oh, he intentionally is trying to make people look bad’ and that kind of thing — that’s not the case,” Anderson told The Independent. “If you look at my photograph work, I’ve done a lot of close-ups in the same style with people of all political stripes.”
He did say he “found it interesting to be even closer” to Leavitt than the other White House officials featured in his Vanity Fair portfolio. “Above all else, [I] try to cut through the image that politics want to project and get at something that is more truthful,” Anderson added.
When reached for comment about Anderson’s interview with The Independent, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told PEOPLE, “It’s clear that Vanity Fair intentionally photographed Karoline and the White House staff in bizarre ways, and deliberately edited the photos, to try to demean and embarrass them….Karoline is a beautiful person and truly one of the most incredible people you will meet in politics, and she is doing an extraordinary job serving the American people as the White House Press Secretary.”
“…To try to demean and embarrass them…” Anderson simply photographed them close-up. They’re mad because Anderson did NOT edit them or Photoshop them. They’re mad that Leavitt’s lip injection scars are visible to the naked eye. I love how all of the right-wing dumbasses are crying about the Vanity Fair piece and the photos, like all of these people didn’t know that they were speaking on the record and POSING FOR PHOTOS.
Photos courtesy of Vanity Fair’s IG, Cover Images.
