Apparently, Caitlyn Jenner Is Taking Her Leadership Cues From Donald Trump

For better or worse, Caitlyn Jenner is blazing the gubernatorial campaign trail. After giving us an inside look into how “horrified” she is by things like California’s unhoused population and trans girls participating on girls' sports teams, Jenner is now letting us in on what type of leader inspires her most.  

On Thursday, the former athlete appeared on ABC’s The View to discuss California’s recall election and answer questions about some of her plans should she be elected. But things got tense when host Joy Behar asked Jenner about our very own political Voldemort: Donald J. Trump. Behar first asked whether Jenner agreed with the false but widely spread claim among the GOP that Trump, in fact, won the 2020 presidential election.

“A lot of Republicans in this country believe that Donald Trump won the election and not Joe Biden. Are you one of those people?” 

Jenner dodged the question, saying that she’s not going to get into it because “that election is over with.” Instead, although absolutely no one asked, she offered up some insight about what she likes about Trump: “I think Donald Trump did do some good things and what I liked about Donald Trump is he was a disruptor.”

Behar then asked, “But did he win, did he win the election?” Jenner continued to avoid the question, saying, “He was a disrupter when he was president. I want to do the same thing. I want to go in and be a thoughtful disruptor in Sacramento. We need to change the system, and I want to change that system for the positive.”

Jenner, who did not clarify which of Trump's disruptive behaviors she most wanted to replicate (Was it the blatant support of conspiracy theorists? Or the galvanization of domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol?), has spoken in support of — and then disavowed — the former president in the past. She previously shared on CNN that she didn’t vote for Trump in the 2020 election — but not because he supported white supremacists or mishandled the pandemic, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of American lives. It’s because she was golfing. 

Back in 2017, Jenner was famously photographed wearing a MAGA hat. But then, in 2018, she retracted her support for Trump in an op-ed for The Washington Post, citing his attacks on trans rights. However, recently, in a complete contradiction of that op-ed, Jenner has come out against trans students being allowed to compete on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. 

So, perhaps the “disruptive” behavior she wants to emulate from Trump’s presidency includes the rolling back of trans rights? Or is it the lack of thinking before speaking — or making any decisions whatsoever? It seems we’ll have to keep watching this, um, trailblazer disrupt things until the election this fall.