Normally when liberal media folks find out a celebrity is a conservative Republican, they ignore the development or dismiss it as irrelevant. But Caitlyn, formerly Bruce, Jenner, is quite the different story, with the transgender former Olympic athlete coming out as a fan of *gasp* Ted Cruz.
Here's how Adam Howard opened his 16-paragraph story on MSNBC.com today headlined, "Caitlyn Jenner’s Clinton slam is latest example of conservative streak":
After emerging as an icon of the trans community last year, Caitlyn Jenner has become increasingly vocal about the 2016 presidential race, although her political allegiances may come as a surprise to some LGBT rights advocates.
Of course, you're more likely to be "surprise[d]" that someone has certain "political allegiances" if you view that individual as pigeonholed by his or her membership in a certain group, in this case, transgenders, who, apparently, are supposed to be lefties.
After explaining the kerfuffle over Jenner's slam of Hillary on a recent episode of I Am Cait, Howard rattled through a litany of reasons why Jenner should despise the Texas Republican:
Ironically, Jenner has expressed an affinity for the candidacy of Sen. Ted Cruz who has shown very public, stubborn resistance to the notion of equal rights for trans citizens. Last fall he described making schools more accommodating to trans students “lunacy” and accused the Justice Department of “trying to force [school districts] to let boys shower with little girls.” And in January he harped on the restroom issue again, arguing that when it comes to a male transgender students they should use faculty facilities because “inflicting him on the teachers is probably better than sticking him in the shower with the teenage girls.”“You know, the funny thing is, my 5-year-old knows there’s a difference between boys and girls,” Cruz said on a conservative radio show last November. “And yet modern leftists can’t figure that out.”In 2014, the LGBT publication The Advocate named Cruz the “Phobie of the Year” for his vociferous opposition to same-sex marriage rights and for introducing a bill that February that would amount to essentially “unmarrying any couple who set foot in a state without marriage equality.”
Jenner’s transition made her a bit of cause célèbre in some left-wing circles, which appears to make the reality star, who identified herself as a longtime Republican during a high profile interview with Diane Sawyer last April, uncomfortable.
“We’re 18 and 1/2 trillion dollars in debt, our economy’s going to collapse,” she said on her show. “Sometimes these girls think that now that I have transitioned that everything has to change. You can’t be conservative anymore, you have to be a liberal. No, I don’t believe that. I think I can keep all of my views the same because I feel in my heart that’s the way to go.”
Jenner echoed similar sentiments when defending Cruz in a separate interview with The Advocate. “Number one, if we don’t have a country, we don’t have trans issues,” she said, adding later: “Socialism did not build this country. Capitalism did. Free enterprise. The people built it. And they need to be given the opportunity to build it back up.” She has acknowledged that Democrats have been the better party when it comes to addressing the rights of the LGBT community, but argues that Republicans are “just worried about much bigger issues than the trans issues.”
Some critics have argued that Jenner has long benefited from her considerable wealth and white privilege, and that dichotomy has continued since she transitioned, while trans women of color and those who live in impoverished circumstances are still subject to disproportionate discrimination and violence in their communities.
“I’m white. I make a good living. And I get all that. I’ve heard that right from the beginning. I’m not going to make excuses for myself. I’m very happy that I’ve worked very hard in my life and I’m successful. It’s kind of the American dream,” Jenner told TIME last December. “We’re fortunate to live in a country where we can do that. I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish in my life. But I’m also smart in the sense that I know how to use that to make everything better.”
However, not everyone is impressed. Last month, Jenner got a mixed reception from an audience of University of Pennsylvania students when she reportedly claimed, “I have gotten more flak for being a conservative Republican than I have for being trans.”
“The fact that she equated two completely different issues, invalidating one by doing so, is a problem in itself,” College freshman Kenneth Lac reportedly told The Daily Pennsylvanian after the event.
So Jenner is simply a rich, old Republican who's out of touch and needs to be lectured about the intricacies of social-justice warrior-style political correctness by an Ivy League college freshman?
And MSNBC wonders why it's a struggling network.
