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Caitlyn Jenner’s Run at Newsom
Yesterday, former reality star and athlete Caitlyn Jenner (born Bruce Jenner) announced her candidacy for Governor of California, thanks to a recall effort aimed at current Governor Gavin Newsom. Jenner is working with a team of former Trump communications strategists, and it appears Brad Parscale helped produce this breathtaking first advertisement announcing her candidacy:
WATCH: I came here with a dream 48 years ago to be the greatest athlete in the world. Now I enter a different kind of race, arguably my most important one yet, because California is worth fighting for! pic.twitter.com/BHglwn5ZSE
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) May 4, 2021
In response, we saw the political media scoffing at Jenner’s announcement. You remember those experts, don’t you? The same ones who laughed off a 2016 Donald Trump candidacy, and who learned exactly no lessons from the experience. Jenner has a winning communications team, high name recognition, a great deal of cash to fund a run, and a deeply unpopular opponent. Sound familiar?
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I know there’s at least one more conservative Republican running, but my goodness – isn’t this race going to be delicious with Jenner in it? A Republican, Trump-supporting transsexual? Fire up the popcorn popper . . .
I am ambivalent about Jenner. I am, frankly, ambivalent about the entire concept of transgenderism. I do believe in live and let live, and don’t particularly care about how others choose to live their lives. However, the recent history which has pushed transgenderism and other alternative lifestyles into the forefront of almost everything political has made it a bit more bizarre to me and unappealing to hear about. The fact that Jenner has remain essentially an intact male makes me really question where his/her head really is. I find the use of pronouns in this particular case awkward. I have known and been friends with quite a few homosexuals in my life. I find it is pretty easy to accept their lifestyles about which I do not care to hear anymore than I care to hear about the bedroom behaviors of my heterosexual friends. My feelings tend to be in the direction of just keep your personal life personal.
Having said that, I would certainly not be against Jenner’s running against Newson and winning. I find Newsom particularly unpleasant, even from a distance. California being what it is, may very likely choose to elect a transgender candidate just to prove its virtuosity.
I don’t have a problem with Jenner running for office. I don’t have a problem with Jenner’s name change. I don’t have a problem with Jenner’s hairstyle or clothing choices. I absolutely have a problem with being forced to participate in Jenner’s fantasy that he is a woman. I absolutely refuse to refer to him as “her”. To call him a woman is to participate in an assault on the truth.
I don’t know if it’s some cousin-once-removed of Schadenfreude, but I can’t help enjoying the prospect of Jenner’s candidacy just a bit.
I can’t get behind Jenner even to remove Newsom. Isn’t there someone else to support? The person obviously has mental issues. It’s one thing to be born with a disorder and a decision has to be made, it’s another to believe a fantasy. I hope someday Bruce gets his head right and comes back to reality.
I have a problem with celebrity allowing someone to walk away from misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter.
The trend in the trans discussion is not going well. I think that when conservatives call Bruce Jenner “Caitlin,” and call him “her,” they have already conceded the lie that is at the heart of the trans claim. Bruce Jenner is not a woman.
If he wins, will he be the first female governor of California?
It is particularly troublesome for a so-called trans person to end up in a position of public authority. This sends a strong signal of the acceptability of his bizarre behavior. We seem to be in something like an epidemic of the trans insanity, as documented by Abigail Shrier. Election of a mentally deranged trans person as the governor of our largest state would not be a favorable development.
I agree but with Democrat’s agenda, this is a saner alternative. Let’s hope other candidates get in the race with something more to offer than celebrity.
It’s a very good commercial. It’s disconcerting to hear his voice, which is masculine and normal, coming from the face he’s chosen. But that won’t be off-putting to everyone; for California, he’s closer to normal.
Again, it’s a very good commercial, and considerably more conservative than I expected, even given his comments about deregulation and economic conservatism.
As for pronouns: I’m of the opinion that every American should be free to choose his or her pronouns. In that spirit, I choose masculine pronouns when referring to males (such as Mr. Jenner), and feminine pronouns when referring to females. That’s just me: everyone else is free to choose the pronouns they want to use when referring to others. I respect that.
Henry you articulated that much better than I could. Agree with all your points but the biggest problem for me was connecting the voice and the face. It was just so strange I couldn’t get past that & focus on the message.
As has been well-expressed by others in the thread (@eugenekriegsmann, @tyrionlannistern, @arizonapatriot) Mr. Jenner’s announced candidacy as a Republican essentially forces the GOP to accept his both his mental illness (gender dysphoria) and its resultant lifestyle choices as normal and healthy. If he wins (doubtful) he will be one more unqualified celebrity in a position demanding real political skills and leadership vision. If he loses (likely) his run will still have essentially forced the California Republican Party to “normalized” the lifestyle, weakening the party nationally.
As an ex-pat Californian, I don’t have a dog in the fight, I guess. But it still breaks my heart to watch from afar as my one-time home destroys itself. I can’t cheer or applaud Jenner’s decision to run, and I suppose the California GOP is too weak to resist.
I don’t know that the state GOP has any legal recourse, PH. My impression — I could be wrong — is that anyone is free to register as any party, and anyone is free to declare himself or herself a candidate in the recall election. I’m not going to beat up the GOP for allowing what it can’t prevent, if that’s the case.
And I honestly don’t think his running will be a boost to the already powerful trans movement. If anything, I suspect it will draw attention to it in a negative way, demonstrating that, like most such identity movements, it’s more about being leftist than about sexual identity.
Perhaps. I can’t claim to know that the CA GOP has the means to stop him, anyway. Still, it’s all just so sad…
Very well put, as usual, Henry.
If all we can say is, “You’re nuts,” we will lose and lose and lose. By all means, split the conservative vote—and reap what you sow.
What do you mean by this?
My deduction is that you think that we need to yield to the trans nonsense, or we’ll lose, presumably because a bunch of conservatives are on the other side. If that’s true, then we’ve already lost.
I actually think that you’re wrong. I think that the bulk of the people are sick of the trans nonsense, and the sodomy stuff too. I think that they’re afraid of being called names, and don’t like making hard decisions. But I may be wrong. Again, if I’m wrong, we’re basically in Brave New World already and, to mix my metaphors, we’ll have to wait for the Gods of the Copybook Headings to teach people a lesson. Again.
If you are worried about splitting the vote it seems to me you should be worried about voter apathy as well. We all want to win, and I’d say most Republicans are fine with a squish to flip CA since a far-right person can’t win the state. But a lot of conservatives simply won’t vote for Jenner. Instead of being mad at us for calling him crazy, maybe you should be mad at him for entering the race. Why can’t Jenner drop out so a Republican without baggage can try to win? Even Susan Collins gets conservative votes – because she doesn’t have baggage.
Jenner’s ad is brilliant. I love the quiet reference to Ronald Reagan, a California governor himself, created by invoking Roger Winthrop’s “Shining city on a hill”. I love Jenner’s obvious deep affection for America and for California and his respect for the people of the state. I appreciate his willingness to expose his scarred face and rough masculine voice in the ad.
Jenner is a brilliant choice of candidate for his ability to tie the progs up in knots. A conservative Republican trans-woman. Beat that, leftists.
Jenner is a woeful candidate for governor. As a trans female, he starts off with psychosis. He is part of a deranged celebrity family and has never atoned for taking an innocent life. His lack of political and business experience will make him, like Ahhnold, Jesse Ventura and Evan Mecham, an ineffective governor and easy fodder for the leftist steamroller.
He can’t possibly be a worse governor than Gruesome Newsome. Voiding all of Gruesome’s executive orders on Day 1 would be enough to satisfy that. But he may further weaken conservatism in California and allow the left to be even more fully ascendant after his term ends, as they are now nationally after Trump.
This is a really difficult situation. We need a California conservative with legislative and executive experience, not another beautiful person, to replace Gruesome.
Be funny IF for all the talk of inclusiveness and bla bla bla that the first Trans Governor of a state is a republican or the first female president is also a republican. Democrats will just blow brain gaskets that they’re not that inclusive. Its worth voting for Nikki Haley just to see the melt down.
It’ll also be quite instructive to see if democrats will be shy on the Trans issue – or will they be calling her all the phobic names that they can think of… I already know the answer, I wonder if the backlash will be enough to fracture the democrat coalition?
If Mr. Jenner wants to change his name, that’s his business. It’s when people refer to him as a “her” that the problems start.
I guess in California the best the republicans might do is nominate a pervert, but I hardly think it is laudable.
When California republicans last got a majority in their state assembly they elected Willie Brown to be the Speaker, again. Jim Brulte was the leader of the party. He still is. California is lost. It will not return in our lifetimes. We should stop paying any attention to them at all until they start doing something to fix themselves.
Huh?
Nope.
You misunderstood my comment, which was perhaps a bit subtle. By choosing pronouns, I mean choosing the pronouns you choose to use when speaking. I will pick the pronouns I will use what I speak. Every American has that right.
I choose to refer to men using masculine pronouns, regardless of the pronouns they might rather I use. Because the words I use are my choice, not theirs.
I see, and I agree.
I’d agree, but . . .
Jenner claims to have had the surgery:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20-20-recap-caitlyn-jenner-confirms-she-underwent-final-surgery-in-gender-reassignment
I’m going to assume it’s true, so I will refer to Jenner with female pronouns because that’s part of the “treatment”. Anyone who has gender dysphoria to the point they undergo the entire regimen of treatment, including the lopitoffomy for male-to-female transsexuals (or addadictomy for FTMs) will get my sympathy, but also my respect.
And yes, Jenner is still a male per genetics . . .
I guess we’ll have to put Laura Bush behind bars too:
https://www.ranker.com/list/laura-bush-car-incident/katia-kleyman
But I know what you mean – Laura Bush wasn’t a celebrity back then. Still . . .
I mean that as far as I know Jenner has not pushed the totalitatian trans agenda, but on Ricochet has nonetheless been called mentally ill. I also mean that the party that seems most intolerant will lose. Andrew Sullivan does not “yield to the trans nonsense” and yet he does not need to indulge in name-calling. See these notes, for example.
If Jenner’s policies align with my policy choices, what do I care if she wears a skirt? And yes, I will gladly use “she” if a person requests it, even as Jordan Peterson will. It is simple curtesy, not capitulation to totalitarianism. (I vehemently oppose laws about pronoun use.)
Gee, that’s also my argument about why I hope Trump won’t run. (When he announced in 2015 I thought he was a Democrat trojan horse. I voted for him twice, but sometimes I still think that.)
Now THIS is an argument I can buy.
Exactly. Let’s not play games with the mentally ill. Get him the help he needs to return to wholeness. But please, Republicans, run a serious candidate.