Last week, Alice Johnson’s life sentence was commuted after spending one-third of her life in jail while serving a harsh sentence for nonviolent drug offenses. People have been organizing for years for her release, but it’s two extremely unlikely characters who helped this finally happen: Kim Kardashian and President Trump.
When news of the Kardashian/Trump summit broke, people were understandably split. Considering the Trump administration’s support of policy that creates more Alice Johnsons (but without the hope of release), many denounced his act as a gesture to seem sensitive to issues that disproportionately impact the black community. Others pointed out the objective good of righting this one of many wrongs, even if it’s the result of an unlikely advocate.
But what does Kim Kardashian, the unlikely advocate behind the release, think? In an interview with Van Jones on CNN we get an answer—and in one moment, it looks like he struck a cord. During the one-on-one interview, Jones posited a few reactions to her activism for her official response.
Van Jones: [Reaction] Number 2: Trump is using you as a political pawn. So now you’ve kind of endorsed him in a way. You’ve given him legitimacy; you might be in a campaign video. He used you.
Kardashian: [pause] I think … I think Kanye has already given him legitimacy. So I don’t, you know, in that way. So I don’t think I would be used, you know? And at the end of the day, he heard me out. We got the job done. So … I, I don’t think, ‘What could he use me for?’
Watch below. This question begins at 1:03.
Kardashian seems like she is trying to convince herself as much as the audience that she totally wasn’t used. The problem is that she can say whatever she wants, but what Trump does with this pardon isn’t in her control. It’s a bit naive of her to not even consider how she may have been used as a pawn (don’t celebrities worry about that for things that are much lower stakes?), but hopefully this interview may trigger more self-reflection about the many moving parts of what she decided to do.
This is in no way to encourage or condone bashing of Kim Kardashian. I think in our celebrity culture, we often celebrate these good deeds. And helping this woman is a good thing to do; it’s just that this good deed wasn’t done by a normal leader under normal circumstances.
Trump thinks in a very transactional way. All of his interactions with people are about what they can do for him; he measures the quality of his relationships by running a tally of who gives what and when. This pardon isn’t an act of pure kindness.
Kardashian engaged with the White House and, fortunately, it was for a good. Unfortunately, it’s yet another sign of what makes Trump is so dangerous: he’s willing to use his broad presidential power to grant favors to the wealthy, celebrity friends, and his allies.