Why all the president’s women are looksmaxxed, blonde, and more likely to be fired

October 17, 2026 — 8:32am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

No gift articles left

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

The now-former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, who was sacked on Saturday after just five days in the job, was described by herself and her boss, US President Donald Trump, as a lawyer. But as with so much in the Trumpiverse, the truth of that claim was doubtful.

When asked by reporters this week in which state she passed the bar exam, Zacharia replied: “When I moved to China”. This response was a perfect leitmotif for the Trump era – evasive, nonsensical and implausible in its deniability.

Media outlets such as The New York Times later reported that Zacharia had graduated with a law degree from Pepperdine University, a Californian Christian college, but had not been admitted to practise law in any state. According to the Wall Street Journal, she sat the California bar exam after graduating, but did not pass. Zacharia later admitted that was the case.

Zacharia says she worked on “international transaction law” during a stint in China, but it seems unlikely she practised law there – China doesn’t generally allow foreigners accreditation in its jurisdiction.

The focus on Zacharia’s credentials, and her apparent embellishment of them, came after she gave her first press briefing, which was amateurish in the extreme. She opened with a gushing monologue about how honoured she was to work for Trump. “I have wanted to work for him for a very long time,” she told the White House press corps.

She took only three questions, and couldn’t answer the most pressing inquiry – whether the United States has suspended intelligence-sharing........

© Brisbane Times