Kim Kardasian went to Washington again this week, and she was in the White House again. Much like the first time she went to the Trump White House, I believe Kim Kardashian has just made a series of transactional choices to give Trump what he wants – a photo-op with a celebrity, any kind of pop-cultural currency – in exchange for what she wants, which is more attention on justice reform, getting more pardons or commutations, and attention for the causes with which she is now aligned. I don’t love it or like it, but it doesn’t matter – Kim is doing it, and Kim has decided that these are the transactions she can live with. Her visit to the White House yesterday was to attend the Second Chance Hiring and Re-entry event.
On Thursday, Kim Kardashian took Washington, D.C. by storm at the Second Chance Hiring and Re-entry event at the White House. She met with President Trump to discuss the recently passed First Step Act, which gives nonviolent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. While at the White House, the 38-year-old beauty mogul gave a powerful speech about what she’s doing to help former inmates and her fight to do more.
“After speaking to Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner], who really fought for me to get here,” she began her speech. “I plead the case of Alice Johnson, who the president granted clemency to, and after that I really spent so much time going to different prisons, because I really had no connection to anybody on the inside, and really, it just felt like for me, I’m at the place in my life where I wanted to make a difference… I wanted to do the right thing. But I didn’t know how or what to do. After going to visit so many different prisons and really sitting down with lifers with every situation you can possibly imagine, my heart just completely opened up, and I wanted to do more.”
“I am so happy to be here today among people who want the same thing,” the reality TV personality shared. There, she revealed the big way she and others plan to help former inmates. “I’m so happy to announce today that we have a ride share partnership, where formally incarcerated people will be gifted gift cards so they can get rides to and from job interviews, jobs, family members. That is so important, so needed.”
One of the biggest issues with recidivism is ensuring that convicted felons can get jobs once they’re out of prison. It’s why there’s been a larger movement to take questions about “have you been convicted of a crime” off job applications in many states. Kim seems to be focusing on the unsexy minutiae of “how does someone without a driver’s license get to a job or a job interview.” It might seem like a small, basic thing, but it can make all the difference in the world to a convict trying to re-enter society.
Here’s the video of Kim at the White House, plus more photos of Kim with the Trumps.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I can’t knock anyone trying to fix a broken system, but I heard someone say that they think Kim is hedging her bets that if Trump wins again she can get some kind of high ranking position out of it? I haven’t read anything to support this claim so it might have just been one person’s opinion….
OriginalLaLa it would not surprise me. She is “attending” law school now, is she not? Sounds to me like they may be right!
Could Kim possibly be any worse than the people he’s putting in high ranking positions now?!?
Really. My grouchy Senior Cat could do better than people now in his Cabinet. She does try to steal food, but she does it openly. And she would certainly not sit at a table and pledge fealty to Trump as the current Cabinet has done. She would growl and hiss at him and unsheathe the claws if he bothered her.
Honestly… good for her. She’s not my favourite person by any means but like Kaiser said on Twitter, she’s definitely got the moral/ethical high ground in that room, and what she’s doing is really worthwhile. I bet she was gritting her teeth through it all. And I quite like her ‘politics wig’.
I really liked that wig too!
Nope. She’s chosen to be photographed smiling next to the monsters who ripped thirteen thousand innocent children from their parents, to be abused, frozen, denied food, water and medication and systematically sexually abused in concentration camps.
The First Step Act has BEEN PASSED. Its effects would have been the same without her giving PR coverage to a regime of unimaginable cruelty.
Thank you. She just recognized that this time, this president will give her access and illusion of “politically active”, next step from “mainstream (Vogue) celebrities of the A list” -credibility Kanye connection gave her.
This president is desperate for any kind of positive press and she’s using that to further up her brand: no matter the fact that she’s shaking hands with a criminal and a human rights violator, monster of the highest order.
That’s all there is.
The passage of legislation does not guarantee funding. If Trump decides he is no longer interested in criminal justice reform, Republicans will defund it in a heartbeat. That said, I strongly object to Kim normalizing Trump.
This. And Kimmie is really starting to look grotesque.
I agree with you Elkie. I cannot believe people don’t see it. But this goes back to what I said about Kim and also Kayne on the swift thread which they wouldn’t post. These are two a game manipulators.
Yes, personal feelings aside – this is excellent work
I also feel that we need to support a woman’s right to change and grow throughout their life.
Her work is thoughtful and is making a difference, she could simply be sitting at home , sitting on her ass counting her money.
That’s how far we have fallen; someone who got famous from a sex has a “higher” moral ground.
It seems so reductive to continue to hark back to what someone used to do as a way of holding them back.
I was a stablemaid and now I’m a medically qualified therapist. Would it be fair if everyone mentioned that every time I have a lecture or worked with a patient?
Sex is not immoral, Louise. There are ways to be critical of Kim Kardashian without engaging in whorephobia. If Channing Tatum had done this instead of Kim K, I doubt you’d make that comment.
What has she done to her face? She looks really weird. It is like she is morphing into her mother.
At one time Kim was a very beautiful woman.
There are many women with elements of her face- Wendy Williams, Brandy Glanville, Melania and Queen Rania. The fillers merge the features of the women into one.
omg queen Rania ruined her face :-O I don’t like fillers at all
Yea it is weird and it makes me sad because her original face was beautiful as is. I mean whatever you thought of Kim when she first came on the scene, she was undoubtedly beautiful.
I am impressed by her continued commitment to these issues, honestly. She seems genuinely passionate about it and if she were doing it purely for publicity she probably would have picked a more universally appealing cause like sick kids.
I think we’re just used to seeing her all filtered in her curated insta pix. In reality, she has gotten a hard face and is definitely looking her age.
She’s still a young woman but she looks hard and overdone.
She looks over-‘Toxed and over-filled to me. And it has taken all character (what there ever was of it) out of her face. Now she looks like a Wax Museum version of herself.
I am impressed. Somehow you managed to use the word “character” and Kim in the same sentence.
I agree with you, minx. On the plus side, she seems to have modified/moderated that bloody baby-girl voice she used to babble in.
It makes me laugh that of all the causes she could align herself with, she chose justice reform. I mean, it sort of makes sense with her law school classes and all. It’s admirable that she’s using her fame for something positive. She has Trump’s attention, so she may as well use it for something good.
She really needs to lay off the fake tan. I think you’re right about the transaction part of it, and while I certainly don’t knock the work that she’s been doing, it is gross to see her pictured with all the Trumps as well.
I admire that she is thinking of a deeper purpose in her life. But, as always, this is an opportunistic power play. No other POTUS would have given her this level of access to the White House. And there are existing organizations that she could be doing real work with at other levels. Instead, we get two (four if you count Ivanka and Jared) opportunistic narcissists manipulating each other for media attention. Hard pass.
Who cares if it’s opportunistic if it helps others? Can you imagine a homeless person refusing food and shelter because it’s coming from someone looking for a photo op? She doesn’t have to do anything for anyone. I’m sure the people she’s gotten released from prison don’t care if she benefits from their good fortune. She’s ok in my book.
The act already passed.
Word.
I work in a homeless shelter for youth and all these roadblocks to improvement are true.
Go on Kim.
Except it doesn’t just “help others,” it also helps Trump and his family immensely. The opportunism is from all of these parties, and they all benefit. She has decided that her PR wins are worth the cost. I disagree.
A colleague of mine saw Steve Mnuchin give money to an homeless person today. Should he have refused it because Mnuchin is complicit?
We spent years saying she should use her platform to do something useful, instead of promoting a vapid lifestyle, now she has found a cause, she is studying and using her voice and still people aren’t happy, she is doing something, she is trying to improve, so no, I don’t want to criticize her.
@megan, pics or it didn’t happen
Spoiler: it didn’t happen
Is Trump trying to check out her cleacage?
You all know how I feel about Kim at this point, but I’m not going to hate on her for this. These are the types of seemingly minor roadblocks that can really prevent someone from moving on with their lives (not having transportation to a job interview.) If you need a job to get money to buy a car or take public transportation, you need to get to that job interview first. So good for her.
I mean, at this point she can be a kind of leading example. She is a person who has spoken out against Trump, admitted she does not support him and yet still puts it together to lead for a cause that she believes in. She knows that Trump wants her social currency and what people will say about her, but if that is what it takes to get her cause off the ground then no one can really look down their nose at her.
@Cidy – this! You can’t let perfect become the enemy of the good, and she’s doing some good.
I could hardly read the story I was so distracted by her face.
I live in a small town on the other side of the world where literally no one gets surgery…is this the norm for American women? Because Im here to tell ya…it aint pretty. Its horrifying.
Nothing about Hollywood is the norm for American women.
No, this is not the norm here. Most of us can not afford it for one thing.
No, it’s not.
It’s called LA face. It’s horrifying in real life, trust me.
Idk, it’s getting pretty common where I live in Florida. Among wealthy women anyway. I’m not wealthy but I’ve gotten Botox and I’ll probably get it again. I didn’t have the excess cash to do it for awhile. I had a customer the other day with lip fillers. Her upper lip was almost a straight line, that’s how i could tell.
Sorry, but she is still just a dilettante cherry picking low hanging fruit because she knows the bar is set so low it is practically on the ground for her to get good press off this, which is the ultimate goal. She gets to go to the White House, and 45 and his crime family get to pretend they care about any of these issues while she baby talks her way through another unnecessary press conference.
This is not the same thing as actual prison justice reform and it is gross to watch everyone champion her as some kind of saint when her personal benefit is at the heart of it. She is currying favor with a fascist to get attention and neither of them really care about getting their hands dirty. There are untold numbers of people who having been working hard on these issues for years and years and their work is ignored and mocked by the monster in the White House who probably spent most of her press conference trying to peer down her shirt or trying to figure out how he could cop a feel.
She had helped spur the release of at least 2 prisoners. What have you done?
Grabbyhands has pointed out what a farce this is.
Not given a PR sheen of respectability to a regime that has turned thirteen thousand innocent children INTO prisoners?
Thank you. “Baby talks her way through” is apt.
I was going to comment and defend her for trying to level-up and do the right thing. But after reading your comment, I think you’ve struck at the heart of the matter and why she registers as disingenuous, although she is “doing good.”
100% agreed
Very well said.
You may not like Kim or her brand but she is doing something that is to help people so she get kudos. Unlike the basic barbie from yesterday pushing her anti-vax lies trying to trash decades of scientific research just because the state is closing a loophole she had been using to get out of obeying the law.
This country is a mess.
It really is.
I’m shocked this particular administration would have such an event. I’m guessing no one told him what it was actually about?
Good for her for trying, I guess. Her face though…
Nagini and Tom Riddle glommed onto bipartisan prison reform legislation that was already well on its way to becoming law,; I suspect to improve their very tarnished images. And Nagini is very happy to attach herself to her West Coast version Kim. Because cameras.
I’m team Kim, most definitely. She’s bettering herself and a hugely marginalized, under represented group and I’m here for it. I think she looks beautiful.
She and her husband were ignored by the Obama’s and never given the attention Beyoncé was given to be invited to the White House. Two not so intelligent reality stars getting together for PR.
Obama or any Democrat president was never going to be able to pass the First Step act while the Senate was ruled by Mitch McConnell. So you have to work with Trump if you are Kim because Trump loves famous people being around him and the only person McConnell will help is a fellow Republican. She threaded that needle to help people many of us wouldn’t hire or find undesirable. She helped prisoners not cute little kids. I will always admire that.
She’s definitely not helping kids in detention camps, cute or otherwise.
There are other celebrities who can and will do that, and that’s a project that does not require playing nice with The Orange Menace. There is no way he is going to invite anybody working against such atrocities to the White House no matter how much cleavage they have for him to stare at.
Kim does not have to do everything. One project at a time is good for her. She has good advisers among the people who have been working with these issues for years. It’s a good idea for her to stay private about political opinions right now to maintain access, because this is an issue that Trump is relatively neutral about and so she can help shift him to keep supporting such measures rather than rejecting them, which means getting past McConnell in the Senate (who really should be more concerned about prison reform himself, considering what is surfacing about him and his wife. And so should Trump, actually).
I think she’s a classic narcissist and she’s doing this for the attention, prestige and power. In saying that, I think it’s wonderful that she’s doing it, regardless of her motivations or intention. If the end result is good then I’m Team Kim. She doesn’t have to be genuine or to have pure motivations, the end result is the same so more power to her. I liked Kourtney’s face on KUWTK when Kim told her about this work, Kourtney was a barely disguised human eye-roll 🙂
This is a woman who profited off a natural disaster where thousands of people died and remains missing (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/362677). I feel totally uncomfortable with her speech – it was full of “I’s” , it was more about her, only the last part did she mention anything about the cause. It should be recalled that she knew about Alice Johnson from a tweet. A lot of people have already been working on Alice’s case – for years. She only hitched her wagon on this train when they were nearing the station. I am also very sure that the White House would not have commuted Alice’s life sentence if the true hardworkers were not able to provide the necessary documents. Being the grifters that they are Kim and trump just used the opportunity for image cleansing and media mileage. The Kardashians even have their own church – isn’t that a red flag?
I’ve worked in non-profit and I understand the deals with devils some organizations need to make to bring more spotlight to your cause/ advocacies by working with a celebrity. In this case though, its very clear that the advocacy Kim decided to latch into is second string to her own personal agenda. She does not even mention the people/ organizations that worked hard, really hard on Alice Johnson’s case. The very same people that continues to work hard to free more, especially POC.
Kim described Trump as compassionate – the man who let 5 children (that we know of) die at Border Patrol custody. No, Kim is not doing a sacrifice for the cause. She is a grifter, a con like Trump. She even presents Jared and Ivanka helpful & compassionate as well, in her speech. I am happy that people are getting free with her assistance. Its the least she could do for taking advantage of POC’s culture.
I am quite certain if this happened under Obama, Kim may be (only if she had been doing this for years and truly helped a lot) in the White House along with the other people, organizations who did the dirty work. She will just be one of them and will not be highlighted as the leader. Because she isn’t.
Just like in her auctions, she gives only 10% and the rest of the 90% is hers. Please look into Kiesha Joseph, founder of Prison Rideshare Network (PRN). A person with less than 1% of Kim’s resources but have done so, so much. She wasn’t in the White House.
Yes. The Kardasians and Trump (and Kanye) have a critically important thing in common–they were created by the mob, and they all owe money to the same bad people. Without organized crime, they are nothing.
This. I won’t give someone credit for putting their face on a project, even if it’s recognized as a noble project. In my position, I work with the boots on the ground people. That’s where my admiration goes.
It’s no surprise that she’s working with the Trumps; they’re all running the same con. Those pictures make me sick to my stomach. Every one of them preening and pretending they give a damn when we all know IT’S NOT TRUE.
There’s going to come a time when the people who enabled Trump’s reign of terror are going to have to answer for what they did. I’m sure Kim has hired someone to do that for her. Probably Van Jones, who I can’t look at without wanting to spit. Kardashian probably thought he would get her close to the Obamas but their sense of smell is a little to good for that.
What sadness for Ivanka the only person who agrees to be photographing next to her is Kim Kardashians.
Dirty money interests are working to position her so she can eventually run for office–most likely as a Democrat to ruin our party like the GOP was destroyed from within. This is why she has suddenly taken up this serious new personality and is using California legal education rules to buy a law degree. And all this started when Trump became president, not before. Both she and Kanye show up when Trump needs cover. Don’t be fooled. She is working with him and his anti-American handlers. She is a Trojan horse.
What happened to her exoneration of murderer and rapist Kevin Cooper? Did someone finally read to her the case against him and explain it to her in simple words?
Kardashian and Trump: a perfect match.
I think she’s really using her celeb status for a great cause and she’s working the system in the peoples’ favor by being ok with Trump ( in his mind) , I’m pretty sure she can’t stand him.
Did you watch the video above? She praised his compassion for justice reform! and implied the same with regards to Jared and Ivanka. I think she’s angling for sara huckabee’s job with how good she lies. She loves trump the same way she loves anna wintour – he is giving her the legitimacy she craves. She is not using her celebrity for a great cause – she is using the great cause to further her celebrity. Its all about Kim Kardashian and her good work -barely any mention of the other people and organizations that have been doing this for far longer than she has. If the trump administration is sincere – they would not highlight her as the face of this cause – there are people who are doing more and for far longer than she has. They would have these people as the speakers. If Kim was sincere she would focus on the real hardworkers behind this cause – mention these people, organizations, highlight them. But for the 4 or so minutes she talked, the 4 minutes was about her (my, me, I . . she was giving herself a tribute for a year’s “work” in the cause) and she mentioned the others in the remaining seconds.
Kaiser is right – this is definitely transactional between two cons from a family of grifters, over the expense of the marginalised.
All the things she is saying to flatter Trump and his progeny make perfect sense to me. The man responds to flattery and yearns for recognition by Hollywood types. He is quite capable of signing legislation just because that will get him a photo op with Kim Kardashian and her cleavage.
I’m sure that everything she says and does on this is being orchestrated by the people really working on the issues. It’s not just about publicity, it’s about keeping Trump from blocking progress. The people behind the scenes to not want or need recognition from Donald Trump. They need to keep him from getting bored and distracted, and her speech was more effective for that than the one you suggest. We have a powerful idiot in the Oval Office and have to do things a tad differently as a result.
Did you watch the video? She talked about herself, including the praising of the trumps for 90 or more % of the time and the topic at hand was just 8% or less. Fishes get caught by the mouth as they say. Her “speech” is very obvious and a blatant proof of how she is using this issue to further herself. Elevate herself. Like I said, she should have praised the people the organizations who do the hard work (because its understandable they don’t want to be seen next to the trumps). Talked about the issue and not herself. She even made it sound Alice Johnson’s release was because of her which is so not true. She was responsible for the release of 17 prisoners? Again – not true. People are not being released on Kim’s say so. There is a process that is being followed. Obviously she can’t be doing the legal work as she isn’t capable. So most likely she is giving money – which other people are also doing. Other people are doing something about prison reform and with greater impact than she does but she was the only one brazen enough to make a deal with the trumps. They both realised that the two of them together will be a publicity dream come true. They live for publicity stunts like this.
If trump was truly sincere about prison reform – kim is not the face that he will use. I cannot overstate enough that there are so many people working hard for prison reform right now. The white house could have easily highlighted these people but kim knows how to monetize and leverage publicity. She is getting more here than what she appears to be giving. The family’s motto is 10-90. 10% to spend for the image and 90% for their own profit. This is how low a celebrity-obsessed society has reached – grifting reality stars for a president and a speaker for justice reform. People are praising kim and kim is praising trump.
Ava DuVerney’s When They See Us is currently being shown in Netflix. We all know the part trump spent $85,000 on full-page ads in four city newspapers, calling for the executions of the 5 innocent, teenaged POCs. For kim to say trump has compassion is a travesty and a lie of Sara Huckabee proportions. Its rage-inducing and totally unacceptable. Is kim praising trump worth the focus on justice reform? I say no – because even without kim, people are still working on justice reform, painstakingly so. We have the legislative, the judiciary and the executive branches to make these changes. Contrary to what they are feeding the public, it does not take a kim and a trump only. These grifting cons just found a cause they can use. The public should be more discerning.
Lol…I’d like to see her answer really hard questions about the country or president that she hasn’t memorized the answers to. She can’t even do an interview about herself without her team pre preparing the responses for her.
Good for her. She’s worked around Trump to get something done. More people need to do that.