US President-elect Donald Trump has continued to reward those who helped him win a second term, handing high-profile communications roles to key campaign staff, one of them becoming the youngest ever White House press secretary.

Last week, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung was named the Trump administration’s White House communications director, and the campaign’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, was named White House press secretary.

The positions are separate, but have been served by one person simultaneously in the past; the press secretary addresses the media on behalf of the president, and the communications director plans and executes White House communications to promote an administration’s agenda.

Cheung and Leavitt have proved themselves to be staunchly – and at times, aggressively – loyal to the president-elect throughout his recent election campaign, giving insight into how they will perform in the roles.

Who is Steven Cheung?

Born to Chinese immigrants and raised in California, Cheung embodies multiple demographics that would stereotypically be considered to be against many of Trump’s policies, which tend towards being anti-China, anti-immigration and conservative.

After a long career in communications, spanning politics to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Cheung served as director of strategic response during Trump’s first presidency and also worked for Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.

Steven Cheung is well known for aiming verbal barbs at Trump’s opponents. Photo: AAP

He now appears to be firmly entrenched in Trump’s inner circle.

In private, Cheung is reportedly regarded as a nice guy to people on his side.

According to The New Yorker, far-right outlet Breitbart Washington Bureau chief Matthew Boyle described Cheung as “big, fluffy and loveable”, just like his nickname ‘Panda’ (apparently taken from his old Twitter handle @CaliforniaPanda).

Trump reportedly refers to Cheung as his “sumo wrestler”.

Cheung’s public persona is much more sharp-edged.

He is well known for aiming fiery barbs at Trump’s opponents.

Cheung labelled Trump’s criminal cases “witch hunts”, and once told Forbes President Joe Biden could “barely put two coherent sentences together and slowly shuffles around like he has a full diaper in his pants, often falling on his ass in front of the world”.

He labelled Kamala Harris “chicken sh-t” and joined Trump in calling Harris’ running mate Tim Walz “Tampon Tim”, referencing Walz’s work as Minnesota governor that guaranteed access to period products in public schools.

Cheung has deflected backlash to Trump statements by people suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, and has repeatedly called critics ‘cucks‘ on social media.

Who is Karoline Leavitt?

At 27, Leavitt is set to become the youngest White House press secretary.

Leavitt, a one-time Congress candidate for New Hampshire who also worked as assistant press secretary during the first Trump administration, was described by the president-elect as “smart, tough, and … a highly effective communicator”.

After Trump’s 2020 defeat to Biden, Leavitt worked as communications director for Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who has been tapped by Trump to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations.

During a June interview on CNN’s This Morning, Leavitt made headlines due to a heated exchange with host Kasie Hunt after lashing out at journalists’ Dana Bash and Jake Tapper for their “biased coverage” of Trump before their roles as moderators of the debate with Biden.

Hunt abruptly ended that interview after Leavitt refused to change topics.

Leavitt has adopted Trump supporters’ mistrust of traditional media outlets, labelling many “fake news”, and defended Tony Hinchcliffe’s viral racist comments at a Trump rally as just “jokes”, despite other Trump staff attempting to distance his campaign from the controversy.

Although Leavitt appears to be less vocal on social media than Cheung, largely sticking to posting press releases, the public can expect to hear more from her in the future as she fronts regular White House press briefings.