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Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Katie Zacharia premiered as the brand-new White House Press Secretary Tuesday morning, and aside from a sharp neckerchief-and-blue-blazer ensemble, it didn't go well. At all. She took only three questions, the first from a Breitbart plant; the presser lasted 14 minutes, and when it ended, the nabobs nattered negatively, asking why she was hired in the first place, beyond her looking the part. The Daily Mail reported that Donald Trump hired her over Chief of Staff Susie Wiles preference for Scott Jennings, which is the sort of reporting that signals “not it!” The only news that emerged from the briefing was that the White House asked for Kimberly Guilfoyle’s resignation as Ambassador to Greece after a growing grift scandal. Guilfoyle came into that role with diplomatic experience limited to co-hosting The Five, being engaged to Donald Trump Jr. for a while, and, oh yes, once being married to Gavin Newsom. If nothing else, she’s got range! It's not a good time for the Trump administration less than three weeks out from what looks like a disastrous midterm, but Trump and JD Vance’s closing argument appears to be… making gay jokes?!
01. White House Hiring Incompetence Goes Mainstream as Zacharia’s 14-Minute Debut Goes Badly
[Going Mainstream]. Monday Guilfoyle was about to get the chop. Tuesday a new press secretary announced it in a 14-minute briefing that became the bigger story.
The one piece of news out of the White House briefing room Tuesday was that the ambassador to Greece had been asked to resign. Katie Zacharia, on her second day, read her opening from a page, went about 14 minutes and took three questions; one drew the Guilfoyle news. Her husband, in town for the week, became “my president, excuse me, my husband.” Later, beside Trump, she was asked where she’d passed the bar, and her answer was “When I moved to China.” The State Bar of California told CNN it has no record of her being licensed there under either of her names.
Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned within hours, calling the allegations false. The Journal reports that when it published the $100,000 texts she told White House officials they were AI-generated, and that the officials didn’t believe her. Trump, asked by ABC how surprised he was, said “she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.” She was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. and spoke at the 2020 convention.
Politico’s person close to the White House said of Zacharia, “You either got it or don’t. And she don’t got it.” The Post called her visibly nervous. Hannity aired one clip of the briefing, Peter Doocy’s question, and said the press is out for blood. Wednesday CNN ran Guilfoyle and Zacharia as one block and read out first-briefing times by its count, Leavitt 46 minutes, McEnany 31, Spicer 79.
TAKEAWAY: Was Zacharia’s debut really that bad? Maybe, but it’s an impossible place to break the ice, and she was clearly not ready for prime time. But the media pile-on says more about this administration’s unpopularity than it does about her challenging first day on the job.
02. Trump and Vance’s Closing Argument Is Gay Jokes as Vance Guesses at Talarico’s Search History
[Gaining Traction]. Tuesday morning the story was Trump rating Husted’s body. Then Vance went to Tyler and guessed at Talarico’s search history, twice.
Vice President JD Vance opened a rally in Tyler, Texas, Tuesday with “I love you too, sir. In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I’m the vice president, not James Talarico,” then, on Talarico’s past comments about transgender children, “you gotta wonder what the internet search history of a man like that looks like.” Asked to explain, he said people who talk like Talarico “tend to have some pretty unusual search histories. Maybe he doesn’t. Just guessing.” That was the day after Trump told a Youngstown crowd, about Senator Jon Husted, “I looked at his a*s and I looked at the whole.”
Jesse Watters said on The Five that Trump “says a lot of stuff that we all think and we don’t say and sometimes it sounds a little gay, but he can get away with it because he’s straight,” then opened his own show with the clip and “It’s a little gay but that’s okay.” Ingraham aired the clip as a kicker. None of Fox News’s five primetime hours aired Vance’s Talarico line. Four CNN hours did, and Jake Tapper called it “not exactly the sign of a party convinced that they can win on their record or on ideas.”
Wednesday Morning Joe gave the two riffs about ten minutes, much of it on Vance’s eyeliner. Fox & Friends and CNN had neither at six. At seven CNN aired the line, and John Berman called it “a single entendre.” Fox & Friends aired Vance in Tyler too, the part calling Talarico “a fake” and “a fraud,” and left that line out.
TAKEAWAY: One is reminded of the trope of a schoolyard bully that finds himself losing a debate and suddenly resorting to homophobic name-calling, with toadies laughing at JD, “Yeah, good one! You got him,” all the while knowing that he got his ass handed to him.
03. Trump Siding With Putin Costs Him Six GOP Senators
[Gaining Traction]. Sunday six senators objected to the diesel deal. Tuesday twelve told Trump to rescind it, and Iowa’s GOP nominee broke with him on stage.
Twelve senators wrote Trump Tuesday that the diesel deal “is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.” Six are Republicans, among them Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn, who weren’t on Sunday’s statement, and Susan Collins, who was.
Axios counts five straight days of concessions to Putin since Friday’s call, including Trump brushing off reports that Russia is helping Iran target US forces. Zacharia was asked at Tuesday’s briefing whether the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine and said she’d get back to the room. Trump revealed later that “we’re sharing Intel.” On The Five, Harold Ford Jr., the show’s “Democrat,” said trading the Graham sanctions “to get 12 hours of diesel” is “not a good deal,” and nobody on the largely pro-Trump panel argued.
Wednesday Morning Joe read the letter at the end of its first hour and brought Senator Angus King on in the second to say “there should be 53 Republicans on that letter.” CNN This Morning played Hinson’s clip in its first minute. Fox & Friends didn’t mention the letter or the deal in its first two hours of Wednesday’s show.
TAKEAWAY: On the one hand, it's not good to give Putin such an easy win, even if it's a naked attempt to lower gas prices (even though it won't hit the pump until long after election day). On the other hand, a divided nation is temporarily united in condemning this craven political play!
“We need to lower gas prices in this country. We need to lower diesel prices. But I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it.”
That’s Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson in Iowa, at her final debate with her Democratic rival Josh Turek Tuesday night. She was openly dismissing the diesel deal Trump announced Friday in a state Trump carried by 13 points in 2024. The Senate Leadership Fund took over the airtime there this week that the House GOP super PAC gave up. Turek said he agreed with her. (KCRG)
Where the prediction markets and the coverage disagree. Odds: Kalshi, as of 8:31 AM ET Wednesday. Morning Frame does not offer betting advice.
This newsletter holds no position in any market listed. Not betting advice.
Elon Musk’s Starlink Limits Ukraine’s Drone Capabilities: Ukraine announced that SpaceX capped the speed of its moving terminals overnight without warning. Ukrainian drone operators lost signal and scrapped missions, and SpaceX hasn’t yet explained why. Poland pays about $50 million a year for Ukraine’s service, and its Foreign Minister asked Musk on X, “Are you playing politics with your products again?” (Forbes)
Sometimes the raw data tells the better story…
That Time a Hot Mic Caught Obama Promising Putin a Deal. Just Before an Election.
During a March 2012 event in Seoul, Barack Obama leaned over to Dmitry Medvedev and asked for Russian patience on missile defense, which was caught by a hot mic. “This is my last election,” he said. “After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev replied, “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”
Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans ran on that clip through to November, because it showed a sitting US president privately telling Moscow that American voters were the only thing in his way. Fourteen years later, President Trump is handing Putin a diesel deal three weeks before an election that seems to be all about the price of gas.
Based on transcripts from the 6 and 7 a.m. hours of Fox & Friends, CNN This Morning, News Central, and Morning Joe.
Trump praising Jon Husted’s ass for all to see. JD Vance gay-baiting James Talarico. These are not the closing arguments one might expect less than three weeks out from the midterm elections, which reveals two things. Republicans would much rather get the news talking about these off-the-cuff and decorum-flouting statements instead of gas prices and a disastrous Iran war. Also? Trump doesn’t understand that his schtick is no longer working, and judging by the behavior of many Republican candidates, it seems to be making things worse for them.
The Morning Frame tracks which political stories are spreading, which are stalling, and how you can tell the difference. Powered by Narrative Prism.