Caitlyn Jenner announced her bid for governor of California on Friday and reaction was swift, and in some cases, pretty transphobic. She is running on the GOP ticket amid a recall effort aimed to take down Democrat Gavin Newsom.
The question on a lot of people’s minds is, what will the Kardashians do? TMZ reports that they do not plan to hit the campaign trail with her because many of their political views don’t mesh, and fallout from her divorce from Kris Jenner makes it too tricky. Caitlyn did reportedly give them the head’s up. Kim Kardashian never even endorsed her (now estranged) husband Kanye West when he was running for president, so it’s not a huge shock.
Real Time host Bill Maher mocked her bid, saying: “And a lot of people, of course, are saying, ‘Isn’t it strange for a trans woman to be in a party that is passing anti-trans laws all over the country?’ And Caitlyn said, ‘Yeah, I get that. It’s just something about being in a party that doesn’t respect me that makes me feel like I’m home with the Kardashians.”
Some of the missteps were accidental. On The View, co-host Joy Behar misgendered her, and apologized afterwards for the missteps. The former Olympian and transgender activist told Behar it was OK on Twitter, writing: “I know where your heart is. California has bigger issues than pronouns.”
Others expressed plain old confusion on social media, not on the basis of her trans status, but on her politics. One wrote: “Wait. Caitlyn Jenner is running for the same party who wants to ban trans from serving in the military, and puts up signs like this… What am I missing?”
