California gubernatorial hopeful Caitlyn Jenner told CNN on Monday that the famously media-friendly Kardashians “are scared of what the media’s going to do” to them if they get involved in a Republican campaign.
During an extended interview on “Anderson Cooper 360,” the Olympic gold medalist revealed how the cast of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” will handle the 2021 recall election.
“Here’s the deal with them,” Jenner told CNN. “My kids are not involved whatsoever with this … because they’re scared — one, for my safety, and scared of what the media’s going to do.”
Jenner commented on the seeming contradiction of the stars of a long-running reality TV series — whose most intimate moments have been made public for decades — choosing to shy away from the cameras.
“My family has certainly, you know, been out in the media, and they’ve taken their shots, and they don’t need to take any more,” Jenner said.
The 2021 Republican hopeful revealed a secret conversation the family had about the election before formally announcing a candidacy:
I said, “I’m not going to ask you for one tweet. I’m not going to ask you for one thing. You guys go and live your life. This is my deal. This is my decision to do this. And I’m going to tell the media, stay away. Don’t ask them.” And I told them, just [say], “No comment.”
Jenner’s family is not wrong to be concerned. The media have so viciously and regularly dragged GOP candidates’ families through the mud that even the Kardashians are turning down this kind of media coverage.
Here are just a few examples:
- Barron Trump is autistic. In 2016, then-cohost of ABC’s “The View” Rosie O’Donnell started a whisper campaign that President-elect Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron, suffered from autism. No confirmation has ever come that the boy is on the autistic spectrum. Still, the rumor eventually made it into print in the Santa Monica Observer by Samuel Alioto. A year later, social media branded Barron a “special needs kid” for playing with a fidget spinner.
- Sen. Tim Scott’s prosperous grandfather. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has frequently told the story of his illiterate grandfather dropping out of school in the third grade to become a cotton farmer. His family “went from cotton to Congress in one generation,” Sen. Scott says with justifiable pride — and patriotism. That was more than The Washington Post would allow, as its fact-checker Glenn Kessler attempted to uncover inconsistencies in the Scott family’s Horatio Alger story. Ultimately, he confirmed its major details — but not before slathering his findings with enough carefully worded questions to instill doubt in some readers.
- Melania Trump, battered woman. In 2018, two well-exposed writers claimed in passing that President Trump probably beat his wife. Rolling Stone writer Jamil Smith speculated that “the prolonged, poorly explained public absence of Melania Trump could be about concealing abuse.” David Frum asked whether it would break the law if President Trump “punched the First Lady in the White House” and “then ordered the Secret Service to conceal” his spousal abuse. The first lady was, in fact, recovering from a kidney surgery.
- Sarah Palin’s pregnancy truthers. 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin discreetly announced that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, had gotten pregnant — after Democratic bloggers claimed the Alaska governor faked her own pregnancy to conceal Bristol’s. To add insult to injury, David Letterman cracked wise about her visit to a New York Yankees baseball game the following summer: “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankees game. During the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”
On the other hand, the media studiously avoids engaging in negative coverage of Chelsea Clinton or Sasha and Malia Obama. During the 2008 Democratic primaries, MSNBC suspended host David Shuster for saying he felt as though Hillary Clinton “pimped out” 27-year-old Chelsea Clinton by having her call superdelegates on her mother’s behalf. After he offered a heartfelt apology, the Clinton campaign lobbied NBC’s parent company, GE, to fire Shuster. (NBC eventually terminated the host in 2010.) Although Malia Obama has been caught on film smoking marijuana, the former first daughters have received the most media coverage for their mother, Michelle, publicly fretting that they will one day experience racial profiling.
Western media provide the negative PR of the Democratic Party. If the legacy media show up, the Kardashians would be well advised to follow Jenner’s example and run.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.