MAGA’s inner circle is coming clean on why, exactly, the intern-to-influencer pipeline is so strong in Donald Trump’s White House.
It’s no secret that Donald Trump, 79, is now orbited by a considerably younger crowd than during his first term.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made history as the youngest person ever to hold the job at 27—the same age as Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, who Vanity Fair also reported is likely the youngest person to serve in that role.
In fact, 27 appears to be something of a magic number in Trumpworld. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s director of public affairs, Benno Kass, is also 27, part of a broader crop of twenty-somethings who have rapidly ascended from intern-level obscurity to positions of real influence.
While some of these rising stars have nepo baby ties—such as Wilson, whose father Steve Cortes is a former Trump adviser—insiders told Vanity Fair that bloodlines aren’t the main appeal.
“These are sort of cradle MAGA people,” Raheem Kassam, founder of conservative news outlet The National Pulse, told Vanity Fair.
“These are people now who have grown up with MAGA as the mainstream in their lives, rather than people who came to it either reluctantly or one foot in, one foot out.”
For a president who has long prized loyalty above competence or experience, the allure of a pure, ideologically pre-formed MAGA generation is obvious. During Trump’s 2024 transition, candidates were reportedly asked not just about their résumés but about their views on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the outcome of the 2020 election—less a test of facts than of fealty.
“It’s not necessarily trying to win over people who are seen as opponents, rather than mock and belittle them and deride them and aggress them,” Kaseem added.
Like Trump, he relies on his young, star-studded staff to be in attack-dog mode rather than answering questions. Like, Tricia McLaughlin, 31, Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, who has been caught making false claims about the criminal records of detained immigrants and the conduct of ICE agents.
Others, like former White House and DOGE aide Katie Miller, move on to spreading the MAGA message outside the Capitol.
The trend extends beyond communications alone. Axios reported last year that while Trump was the oldest person ever sworn into office, his cabinet was the youngest in three decades
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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