Press

ROKK Solutions partnered with news publisher Axios to host the Communicators Live Washington event at the International Spy Museum, convening industry leaders for conversations looking at the challenges and opportunity shaping the media landscape in the age of Trump 2.0. 

Axios journalists conducted interviews with Karoline Leavitt, the Trump White House Press Secretary, and Jay Carney, currently Global Head of Policy and Communications for AirBnB and former White House Press Secretary under President Barack Obama.

In addition to the interviews with Leavitt and Carney, ROKK Co-founders and Partners Ron Bonjean and Rodell Mollineau joined Axios’ Nicholas Johnston for a wide-ranging “View from the Top.” Topics included how communicators should navigate Washington’s new media landscape, how to have authentic messaging and insights from ROKK’s first ten years as a company.

Watch the full event here and read the Axios recap article here.

Interested in learning how ROKK can help navigate Washington’s new media landscape? Get in touch.

Photo credit: Cameron Smith on behalf of Axios

Pete Hegseth’s leaked Signal chats are still making headlines but how are Congress and the President reacting? Market fluctuation and tariffs have also stayed in the headlines over the past few weeks but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that the relationship with China is unsustainable. ROKK Partner Kristen Hawn appeared on Bloomberg’s Balance of Power to discuss this and more.

A lapel pin in the likeness of President Trump, worn by the chairman of the F.C.C., raises some questions. Earlier this month Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, decided to swap out his usual American flag lapel pin. Instead of the stars and stripes, he pinned a gold medallion in the shape of President Trump’s profile, about the size of a quarter, to his blue suit and wore it to meet with a Georgia congressman, Buddy Carter, and later to a meeting at the Justice Department.

Ron Bonjean spoke with The New York Times on what this lapel pin may signify within the Republican party.

The headlines coming out of D.C. have been fast and furious this week, including tariffs, federal layoffs and deportations. ROKK Partner and Democratic strategist Kristen Hawn joined Bloomberg’s Balance of Power to discuss these topics and more. 

Elon Musk’s DOGE and Trump’s executive orders are pushing Congress’s upper chamber from ineffectiveness to obsolescence. Will John Thune, the new Majority Leader, let them?

Ron Bonjean, Republican strategist and ROKK Co-Founder, shared his insights about Trump’s battles with the judiciary system and Republicans in Congress who are toeing the line between preserving their own authority and the political imperative to stay on Trump’s good side. Read the full article in The New Yorker.

Vice President JD Vance will assume the role of finance chairman for the Republican National Committee—an unconventional move for a sitting vice president, but one that also places a top ally of President Trump within the party’s campaign wing ahead of the 2026 midterms.

ROKK Co-Founder Ron Bonjean spoke with NPR about how this new role will position Vance for a 2028 presidential run and whether it will help Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

As change and chaos grips our politics, and business leaders try to find their footing, the desire to take bold action can be tempting. Activity is satisfying. It’s catharsis. It gives you a sense of control when things feel turbulent—“at least we’re doing something.” Big actions also produce a flurry of deliverables that help calm anxious principals, outside groups, and C-suite executives. Action is perceived as strength, inaction is weakness.

Annie Clark, Senior Vice President, shared her insights from years of tough battles on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail on how principals, C-suite executives, and business leaders can focus on the fundamentals with PRNEWS.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) speech late Tuesday was a bright spot for Democrats in a night that saw the party criticized for its chaotic response to President Trump’s address to Congress.

Ron Bonjean and Kristen Hawn offered their perspective from both sides of the aisle and how effective Democrats were in delivering their message at Trump’s speech to a joint Congress in The Hill.

President Trump will address the nation on March 4, articulating his vision for America and promoting the executive orders he has signed during his first few weeks in office. As always, his speech and rhetoric will dominate the news cycle—and catapult entire industries into the spotlight.

Regardless of whether the president does or does not mention a particular company or industry, it is imperative that corporate communicators be prepared. Abbey Schieffer shared her checklist for communications pros to prepare for Trump’s speech in O’Dwyers.

Whether presidents are in the Oval Office or overseas, they have a tail: 13 journalists who make up what’s known as the “press pool.”

Focused on reporting the president’s actions and statements, the pool itself tends to blend into the background. But it is suddenly in the spotlight as the White House has made an unprecedented move to select some of its members.

Senior Vice President and former senior producer for CNN, Kristin Wilson, shared her insights into the White House press pool in the Boston Globe.