President-elect Donald Trump is considering restructuring White House press briefings in a way that could leave traditional media outlets sidelined. Rather than engaging with established media, Trump may invite new media personalities like Megyn Kelly or Joe Rogan to host the briefings. Donald Trump Jr. shared details of the plan on Monday during an episode of his podcast, Triggered with Donald Trump Jr., alongside Michael Knowles.
Knowles inquired if White House press secretary-designate “Karoline Leavitt is looking at the new press briefing room chart, [if] maybe it’s time to reorder that chart and maybe take away some people’s seats.” Trump Jr. responded, “We’re gonna break some news here,” continuing, “I literally had this conversation with — I was flying back, I was on the plane with my father, I think it was coming back from the SpaceX launch with Elon [Musk] last week. And we were talking about the podcast world and some of our friends and Rogan and guys like you.” He also said that his father responded, “That’s a great idea, Don. So that may be something in the works.”
The White House briefing room has seating for only 49 credentialed members of the press. While the White House controls the credentialing process, the independent White House Correspondents’ Association determines who is seated and where. During his first administration, Trump temporarily banned CNN’s Jim Acosta from the briefing room, though the White House ultimately relented after CNN pursued legal action, allowing Acosta to return. Podcasts have grown significantly in prominence, especially since Trump left office, but the White House Correspondents’ Association may not be receptive to new media outlets. It remains uncertain whether Joe Rogan or Megyn Kelly would be interested in taking a seat at future press briefings, but they could send representatives of their shows.
Former CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza speculated on Monday about the possibility of Donald Trump Jr. running for president in 2028, suggesting that he could inherit his father’s “political movement.” Cillizza pointed out that President-elect Donald Trump chose Vice President-elect JD Vance as his running mate after Trump Jr. strongly advocated for the selection. On his YouTube channel, Cillizza suggested that Trump’s loyalty to his family might ultimately lead to Trump Jr. taking charge of the MAGA movement rather than Vance.
“I think the guy has real charisma. I know a lot of people hate him, but he has real charisma and an understanding of what motivates the base that has elected his father. He is also, interestingly, kind of a — unlike his dad, who is a total technophobe — I mean, Donald Trump, you know, uses a phone, I guess, but not really a computer,” Cillizza said. “Don Jr. is actually very savvy when it comes to the changing media landscape and the way social media has transformed everything.”
“So I just looked these numbers up. He has 13 million followers on X. He has eight million followers on Instagram. His Triggered podcast, which runs on this site called Rumble, which is the conservative alternative to YouTube, is widely listened to and followed,” Cillizza said. “And his sensibility on social media is — if I had to make a comparison — it’s kind of like Elon Musk’s. He’s kind of a troll. Don Jr. likes to troll liberals. That’s what he does really, really well. And you know who loves that? The MAGA base.”
While acknowledging Vance’s role as vice president-elect, Cillizza questioned whether the usual line of succession would apply in this case. “We’re talking about the Trumps here, right? So I don’t know that we can draw that conclusion yet. I have heard —I have seen reported — I’ve heard anecdotally that Don Jr. is interested in running for office. Don Jr. likes campaigning,” the former CNN contributor said. “He likes getting out there. He likes mixing it up. We also know that if Donald Trump the elder is loyal to anyone — and that’s questionable — but if he’s loyal to anyone, it’s his family, right?”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.