‘Ridiculous’: Critics give Karoline Leavitt a history lesson

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Yahoo News reports the internet gave White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt an instant fact check after her unresearched claim over on Monday.

Leavitt’s comment on Fox News followed U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend, which Leavitt attributed to “strength” that none of the presidents that preceded Trump had.

“And nobody knows what it means to accomplish peace through strength better than President Trump,” Leavitt told Fox News entertainers. “He is the one who came up with that motto, and that foreign policy doctrine, and he successfully implemented it in his first term.”

Social media quickly brought Leavitt up to date on world history.

“Emperor Hadrian would like a word,” wrote Bulwark writer Joe Perticone on X, as did others.

“Actually @PressSec — it was Roman Emperor Hadrian who came up with ‘peace through strength.’ Not Donald Trump,” said another commentator.

Other critics pointed out that not only had Hadrian allegedly coined the phrase but it has also been adopted by other U.S. presidents, and was even a slogan for members of the U.S. military.

“Leavitt is ridiculous – either impossibly dumb or an incredibly blatant liar,” said author James Surowiecki on X. “‘Peace Through Strength’ was the motto of the US 8th Air Force. Barry Goldwater used the phrase in campaign ads in 1964. And, most famously, it was a slogan of Reagan’s. Trump did not come up with it.”

“I mean she can’t really think that, right?” asked law professor Ben Yelin. “It was very famously a Ronald Reagan slogan.”