Donald Trump Jr. unfavorably compared the appearance of President Joe Biden’s assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, who is transgender, to Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympian and former “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star running for governor of California as a Republican.
How it started: On Sunday, Trump posted a split-screen image to Instagram with Jenner’s picture on one side and Biden’s health official, Rachel Levine, on the other.
- “It seems to hold true no matter what!!!!” Trump, the eldest child of former President Donald Trump, wrote in a caption to the photo. “Conservative girls are just better looking… maybe that’s why the libs are always outraged for no reason.”
- Jenner, a transgender icon who has criticized Donald Trump in the past, is looking to unseat California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election later this year.
- Former Trump aides are reportedly assisting Jenner on campaign strategy.
How it’s going: While Donald Trump Jr. was ostensibly taking a swipe at liberals, his apparent endorsement of Jenner did not sit well with some hardline conservatives, who accused him of facilitating the normalization of transgender ideology.
- While the Trumps still enjoy the overwhelming support of the Republican base, there have been grumblings from dissidents on the right who say the former president’s recent actions show there is little difference between him and the establishment GOP he was supposed to oppose.
- “It was just one year ago that Jenner disavowed and condemned Trump,” American Greatness senior writer Pedro Gonzalez tweeted on Sunday. “So, here is your reminder that Trump and his team aren’t going to conservative anything but will actually move the right to the left on the most important issues of our time while helping the enemy.”
- Last week, Donald Trump’s endorsement of Rep. Elise Stefanik over Rep. Chip Roy for the third-ranking Republican leadership position in the House sparked outcry from populist conservatives who criticized Stefanik’s moderate voting record.
