Caitlyn Jenner was born as a boy named Bruce and grew into a heck of a man. After his college football career was cut short by a knee injury, the young man switched to the decathlon. Competitors must excel in 10 very different sports including jumping, sprinting, pole vaulting, shot putting, discus throwing and distance running.
Bruce was a dedicated and gifted athlete. He won the Gold Medal in the Olympic Decathlon in 1976 at a time when the Soviet block routinely cheated with drugs. He not only won, but set a world record in doing so.
In the game of life, Bruce was just getting warmed up. He’s been married thrice and fathered six children. He became successful as a writer, auto racer, businessman and television star. He married a Kardashian and, unrelatedly, was on the cover of Wheaties. There was a lot to admire about Bruce.
But the thing I admire most about the man is that he looked deep within himself and found a herself. Bruce became Caitlyn.
I have no aspirations to become a Caitlyn myself, thank you very much, but I’m stunned by the courage Bruce exhibited when he came out as a transexual six years ago when trannies weren’t exactly trendy.
It gets even better. Caitlyn is a Republican. That drives the left crazy but it comes as no surprise to me. People who are competitive and courageous are typically Republicans. Their goal is individual achievement, not claiming the spoils of class victimhood.
Athletes especially know that their individual achievement is directly proportional to the effort they put into it. This is why sports is so appealing. It’s one of the last refuges of merit in a society bent of abolishing the concept. Don’t expect the world record books to be changed anytime soon to reflect proportionate representation, and don’t expect faster and slower time clocks depending on the race of the racers.
The left doesn’t like merit, and they don’t like the meritorious. Merit and the meritorious get in the way of their identity politics.
For the left, it gets worse. Caitlyn admitted to being a devout Christian. Upon learning that, the left went wild(er). They tweeted:
- “Bruce Jenner is so confused, mixed up, messed up, completely out of her ever loving mind . . . sickening.”
- Jenner is “a stupid f*ck.”
- “Bruce Jenner, I can’t believe you’d admit to that way of life. That’s disgusting.”
- “Personally, I am disgusted.”
- Jenner is “a media whore.”
Unfazed, Caitlyn is now running for governor of the once great state of California. She joins a long list of celebrities-turned-politicians in the state, including Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sony Bono and Clint Eastwood. In California, celebrity is powerful.
Caitlyn’s opponent, the current governor, is a failed and corrupt girly man who’s been a politician for decades. He’s known mainly for fouling up California’s COVID response. After he prohibited get-togethers, he along with lobbyists and other well-connected types dined at a Three-Star restaurant and lied about the arrangements. His administration disbursed billions in COVID relief to fraudulent claimants even after being warned. His vaccine roll-out was among the worst in the nation.
The people of California have now petitioned to recall the failed governor. In the recall election, the governor’s main opponent will be Caitlyn. I can see her on another Wheaties box.
the Aspen beat 
Run, Caitlyn, run! Finally a superstar is ready to save California. Surely she’s woke enough for the masses? At least she’s tough enough for the liberal onslaught about to unleash the dogs.
Great column, as usual. While I am not a fan of the transgender rage, you made several valid points about merit and courage worthy of my reconsideration.
imho, California is too corrupt to be saved by anyone. Thanks to California’s welcoming of whomever wishes to cross its southern border, the state has been overwhelmed by millions of low-skilled non-English speaking people who only know socialist-type governance. The State’s voting systems are totally corrupt. The California schools, once amongst the finest in America, are now among the worst. California’s once great cities are now urban nightmares, beset with drugs, crime, filth and many thousands of homeless people. The contortions of the State’s finances would put the CFO of a private company in jail. And the political leaders of California are as surely a train wreck as California’s infamous train to nowhere that has wasted billions of taxpayers’ dollars on absolutely nothing, save financial windfalls for a handful of political donors. How men and women have systematically destroyed a state so gifted with fabulous weather and natural glory is horrifying. btw, the French Laundry, the fabulous restaurant where an unmasked and not socially distanced Governor Newsome attended the (likely $15,000 tab for 12 people) dinner party is just typical of the places where Newsome and the other politcos have their almost daily extravaganzas. If one wanted to cause a revolution, just follow Newsome or Pelosi around with a camera for a week or so, and acquaint WTP of just how high our “leaders” live (on the backs of the populace).
Thank you for what you wrote! I also live (survive) in ca and find myself so angry when I educate myself on the depth of the corruption I can hardly speak so it’s good to know others feel EXACTLY like me but you explained it great! I try not to let it get to me but from my viewpoint it does feel kind of hopeless.
Yep. Saviors gotta get elected, and that ain’t happening. While our eyes were on the six or seven states that — right before our eyes — were stealing the November election, nobody cared about the election in California since it was a foregone conclusion. Even Jesus — who, come to think of it, didn’t fare too well in his election contest with Barabbas — couldn’t carry a place that makes ancient Jerusalem look enlightened. And Jenner is the ultimate gentile — Republican, Christian, and WHITE. And, horror of horrors, probably a product of the Middle Class.
So who’s gonna bring election reform to California — Republicans? HA! The courts? Double HA! Those guardians of the Constitution, The Supremes? HA HA HA!
I’ll decide what I think about this when I hear what kind of Republican agenda Jenner favors, and also what leeway a governor has in California to improve things. If Jenner is pro-freedom and anti-regulation, it might be good. If Jenner just wants to be less radical than the current Democrats, then it won’t make any difference.
Let’s not forget that when Bruce came out as Caitlyn he was made People Magazines “Woman of the year” thus supporting the notion that men do everything better…
Let’s hope she wins and becomes the first trans Governor of California.
Great post, Glen. Confirms to me why Conservatives are having such a hard time fighting the mob. Caitlin Jenner may be a successful individual but not being as heroic as Caitlin it’s hard for most of us to push through the woke morass. It’s impossible to imagine a rioting bunch of individuals. Can I suggest that we leave Twitter to the trash that inhabit it. I’m happy not to know what’s going on in that sewer.
Please recall how the last celebrity “conservative/Republican” governed after replacing the Democrat governor of California before you get all celebratory about Bruce/Caitlyn. BTW, I am convinced that what Jenner (I’ll skip the drama over pronoun choice) suffers from is autogynephilia. As postulated by Blanchard, there is a spectrum of types of autogynephilia:
• Transvestic—Fantasy of wearing women’s clothing.
• Behavioural—Fantasy of engaging in typical feminine behaviour (e.g., knitting with women).
• Physiologic—Fantasy of pregnancy, breast feeding, menstruating.
• Anatomic—Fantasy of having a woman’s body, including partial autogynephilia, where the focus is on a mix of male and female body parts.
I suggest Jenner falls in the most radical of these categories. Do you really want a demonstrably mentally ill person in your governor’s chair?
Ay, there’s the rub. On every front (homelessness, sexual aberration, the obsession with racial identity, the hatred of traditional virtues — you know, stuff like law and order), wokeness is a celebration of mental illness (at least as you and I define it).
The best that can be said about Jenner, who probably spends 90% of his day looking in a mirror, is that he hasn’t totally lost his mind — just a portion of it. (You’ll notice that I’ve had no trouble choosing the correct pronouns 🙃)
Some of my tribe dislikes this piece. Their argument is “He’s mentally ill.” To me, that’s not much of an argument.
She’s clearly an outlier in her sexuality. And it gets even weirder than I’ve let on — she’s apparently always wanted to be a woman but has also always been attracted to women, not men.
But does that make her “mentally ill”? She’s clearly not insane under any legal definition. She’s not a danger to others. She’s a very, very high achiever.
I certainly don’t share her sexual proclivities, and can’t even relate to them. But I’m also not into BDSM, for example, and cannot relate to that either. But I’m not prepared to say it constitutes a mental illness. To say a person with traits we cannot relate to is mentally ill, is really no more persuasive than saying, “I’m right and you’re wrong.”
The question about people with non-standard orientations or feelings is really how they relate to others. To my knowledge, for instance, Jenner has not insisted on puberty-blockers or sexual transition surgery for children, nor is Jenner advocating such actions. To my knowledge, Jenner has not advocated the inclusion of genetically male individuals in K-12 or college female sports competitions. If Jenner were to begin support for such policies, this would be a case where Jenner’s personal traits affect public policy on issues I could not support.
I think this run is based on the calculation that celebrity might result in a win. I still would need specific policy proposals to decide anything other than that almost anyone would be an improvement over the current governor.
Glenn, you’ll notice that my pronouncement about mental illness had a qualifier: “at least as I define it.” I’m enough of an Existentialist to acknowledge that truth is up for grabs in a number of areas. But I’ll defend my pronouns to the death: I won’t call someone “she” whose biology says otherwise.
And no, Jenner is not CRIMINALLY insane (a danger to others), so he can “have at it” as far as I’m concerned.
I think Katherine’s distinction is excellent. But I suspect that Jenner’s “celebrity” has more to do with his sexual expression than with his high achiever status as an athlete in days of old — which isn’t a very good qualification anyway, if Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura are indicative of future political accomplishment.
Yes, celebrity based on the sexual expression, and on the connection to the Kardashians.
Someone has pointed out that in a recall election in California, after the “recall” question is a second one on who should replace the outgoing governor. Largest vote total wins; no runoff is required if it’s not 50%. So name recognition may very well be the key to winning.
The regular election for a new governor will follow the recall election by only twelve months. Jenner and Republicans would have only a short time to convince Californians to change gears.
Here is a “self-evident” truth as our Founding Fathers would say … Jenner is a genetic XY male.
Period.
No amount of hormones nor surgical mutilation can change the XY chromosomes present within each and every one of Jenner’s cells.
If in theory it could be done, a cell that is extracted from Jenner and cloned would be a biological male in every sense … a genetic copy of Jenner when he was younger and before the hormonal treatments and surgical mutilations.
The current “Caitlyn” could never carry and birth a child, even in his present form and decades younger, nor could he ever experience monthly menstruation in such a theoretical sense.
Jenner is a “feminized” male … but remains a male nonetheless.
These are self-evident truths … objective truths as dictated by our Creator and by our God’s Nature.
Despite all of this … if the choice comes down to Jenner or Newsom then I’ll opt for Jenner as governor in a Hollywood second. I’m still here in SoCal and the California Democrat Party has become the mirror image of the crony, corrupt, cartel infiltrated PRI party in Mexico.
Liberalism IS a mental disorder.
Jenner has much less of a mental disorder than any California Democrat!
Hey, if it feels good, do it. You obviously have a cultural and religious bias on behalf of Natural Law and the science of biology. There’s a conversion therapy for you, waiting just around the corner. If that doesn’t work, there’s a gulag just beyond it. It’s all about “equity,” comrade.
Jenner is a sick person. I could not vote for him.
I was hopeful about Caitlyn until I read that she’s being advised by Jared’s pal Brad Parscale who says he’s known Caitlyn for a few years. That’s fine, but no one in their right mind would invite the demonstrably disturbed Parscale–or anyone associated with Jared/Ivanka-to advise them on anything.
There is nothing courageous about a man so mentally warped he would physically butcher himself to be something he could never be. He is no more a woman than he is a fence post.
Caitlin just voiced opposition to biological males competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
She has the courage to stand up against the trans lobby. I tell you, she has balls.
BTW, I’m guessing that if she competed today at age 71 in the woman’s decathlon, she’d win gold. Maybe she’ll do that, just to prove a point.
I listened to Jenner’s opening campaign ad. First I watched it, but there was cognitive dissonance because Jenner’s voice is clearly male. Then I listened to it all the way through. Saving California is a goal worth having. If he can make a difference, good for him. Even better will be if other California Republicans begin to understand that they must be vigorous in the defense of freedom if they’re going to fix California.
Jenner favors amnesty for illegals. Well, there goes the idea of Jenner fixing California.
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