A White House roundtable discussion on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, took an awkward turn when President Donald Trump complimented the physical appearance of a conservative commentator who claimed she had recovered from so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome. The exchange during the 90-minute meeting sparked widespread criticism on social media, with observers describing the moment as “creepy” and “embarrassing.”
The incident occurred during a session where the 79-year-old president convened with cabinet members and conservative influencers to discuss Antifa, the anti-fascist movement his administration has designated as a domestic terrorist organization. Attendees included Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who opened the meeting by praising the president’s efforts to dismantle what they characterized as radical left-wing networks.
Among those invited to share their experiences was Brandi Kruse, a 37-year-old former mainstream television journalist from Seattle who now hosts a conservative podcast. Kruse told the president she represented living proof that people could recover from what MAGA supporters call Trump Derangement Syndrome, a derogatory term used to describe liberals’ opposition to the president. She claimed to have suffered from the condition for approximately eight years before her views shifted.
Kruse explained that abandoning her critical stance toward Trump had improved multiple aspects of her life. She indicated she was now happier, healthier, and more successful since making this transformation. Then, in a comment that would generate significant backlash, she added that she believed she had become somewhat more attractive after shedding her negative views of the president.
“Very attractive,” Trump immediately responded, drawing laughter from others in the room. He later added that he felt pleased she no longer harbored what he and his supporters characterize as derangement regarding his presidency.
The roundtable included other independent journalists who shared their encounters covering protests in the Pacific Northwest. Jonathan Choe, who identified himself as an investigative reporter for Frontlines Turning Point USA and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, urged the administration to examine alleged connections between Antifa and the homeless crisis. He claimed the movement was heavily embedded in the homeless and housing nonprofit sector, though he provided no supporting evidence for this assertion.
Katie Daviscourt, another independent investigative journalist, recounted being injured during a protest at a Portland ICE facility. She told attendees she was sitting before them with a black eye and concussion after being struck in the face with a pole while reporting outside the facility the previous week. Daviscourt described how black-clad anarchist militants, concealing their faces behind facial coverings, had been assaulting reporters attempting to cover their activities.
Kruse also used the platform to criticize mainstream media representatives present in the room. She told the White House correspondents directly that she could not care less what they had to say about the meeting, emphasizing that the gathering was not intended for them. She expressed no interest in convincing them that Antifa posed a genuine threat, suggesting that if they had not reached that conclusion by now, they never would because they did not want to acknowledge it.
During the session, independent journalist Nick Sortor referred to the White House press corps as “the garbage standing over here,” prompting laughter from several attendees. Trump then turned the moment into a running gag, polling his MAGA guests about which mainstream television networks they considered the worst. At another point, Sortor, who had been arrested the previous week during a demonstration at the ICE building in Portland, produced an American flag he claimed had been burned by a protester in Portland. Trump asked him to give the flag to Attorney General Bondi so prosecutors could pursue charges against those who burned it.
The meeting occurred amid escalating tensions over Trump’s push to deploy military forces in Democratic-controlled cities as part of his administration’s crackdown on crime and support for mass deportation operations. A federal judge in Portland had temporarily blocked his plan to send troops into the city after determining no violent insurgency existed to justify such action. In Chicago, hundreds of National Guard members from Texas and Illinois were being deployed ahead of a court case where state leaders hoped to prevent the president’s military intervention.
Trump indicated earlier in the week that he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 if necessary, a federal law permitting the president to deploy military forces to suppress what he deems an insurrection. He told reporters that if people were being killed and courts or local officials were impeding his actions, he would not hesitate to use that authority.
Critics quickly circulated video clips of the exchange between Trump and Kruse on social media platforms. Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote that he was glad he had not eaten lunch that day, or he would have thrown up. Other commentators characterized the moment as perfect source material for Saturday Night Live sketches and further evidence that the MAGA movement operates like a cult. Despite the discussion of organized Antifa activity traveling between Portland and Seattle, no evidence of such coordination was presented during the roundtable.
Trump closed the event with one final ding at reporters in the room before departing. He said he was leaving to address ongoing efforts to secure a Middle East peace deal. “I think you could stay a little longer, but, you know, the problem is, although you have some very honest journalists in here, you also have some mostly largely dishonest journalists, like MS-DNC and CNN,” he said.
