US political group The Lincoln Project posted an image of a lettuce next to Katie Zacharia to see if she could outlast it, shortly before she was fired by Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s press secretary became the latest victim of the curse of the lettuce after Americans copied the Daily Star’s world-famous stunt. US political group The Lincoln Project launched its own version of our legendary challenge to see whether Katie Zacharia could outlast the leafy vegetable.
And the plucky green veg seemingly proved to be victorious again after she was fired last Friday – just five days into the job. Even Trump’s former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted just 11 days, joined in the mocking.
He declared before she was axed: “I want her to get past the lettuce.” Ms Zacharia’s time in the job has now been dubbed ‘half a Scaramucci’.
The group had posted footage of the veggie challenger alongside a framed picture of the spokeswoman, with the message: “Start the clocks”.
It was a direct throwback to our lettuce livestream during Liz Truss’s disastrous premiership in 2022, which saw the 60p veg outlast her time in No10. Ms Truss became the shortest-serving PM in British history after she quit following her 49 days in charge.
The stunt followed Ms Zacharia’s much-mocked debut White House briefing last Tuesday, which lasted just 14 minutes and saw her take three questions.
Following her departure from the position, she posted an image of herself with Donald Trump with a message praising the US President. She wrote: “President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man. It was an honor to work for him.”
Susie Wiles reportedly laid the trap to destroy Ms Zacharia’s brief tenure as press secretary. Her first and only press briefing lasted less than 15 minutes, in which she took just three questions before leaving the room. The performance was widely panned, leading to her sacking.
But while the president had been the one to put an end to her time in the role, Ms Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, was reportedly behind the execution. Known as Trump’s “ice maiden,” Wiles had been completely bypassed by the president in the decision to hire Zacharia, reports claimed.
Before she was fired, Trump claimed that Ms Zacharia had been treated “very unfairly” by the media and said that he’d told her she had a great life and family without having to be press secretary. He said: “She’s been treated very rough. And she’s a nice person. Very nice person. I’ve watched her for years on television. But I said, is this for you, Katie?”
Trump added: “You don’t need this. You don’t have to be treated. I would say the fake news, but just generally, the media has been very rough.”