Caitlyn Jenner’s Twitter account is having an identity crisis.
It’s not particularly rare for a political campaign to create fake social media accounts to drum up ‘organic’ support online. If anything, it’s a dark open secret. What’s rarer, however, is when a campaign is caught in the act. On Tuesday night, Jenner replied to her own tweet with a message that suggested another Twitter user wrote it.
The wannabe California governor first ran into trouble after calling out the current governor Gavin Newsom on Twitter. Jenner responded to a tweet that opposed the state’s recall saying, ‘Why? Do you want more unemployment? More from? More illegal immigration bringing COVID? Schools closed? BS! Forget #GavinNewsom.’ Hours later, the former reality TV star turned politician quote-tweeted herself.
‘Honestly shocked she would retweet that. Thank you! A very important story that needs to come to all Californians,’ Jenner wrote in the third person to her 3.4 million followers. Terminally online Twitter users, Cockburn included, immediately noticed the unusual wording and suggested Jenner, or someone with access to her Twitter, forgot to switch to a burner account.
‘Proving that conservatives continue to use burner accounts and bot accounts to feign support,’ one user replied to the suspect tweet. ‘I guess it makes sense that if you don’t know how to switch accounts on Twitter, you also might not know how to delete embarrassing tweets like this,’ another said. Jenner deleted the post not long after.
Of course, Jenner may have a burner account where she replies to herself with puffily-worded tweets to project the sense that conservatives actually want a 71-year-old androgyne representing them on the national stage. Or perhaps, her Twitter was suffering a similar sort of dysphoria to its owner. In which case, everyone dunking on her apparent social media ineptitude would be a bigot. Whatever the truth may be, Jenner should immediately adopt this defense right after sending a check to Cockburn’s PO box.
The embarrassment comes after Jenner missed out on the GOP gubernatorial debate last week. Recent polls place her behind more seasoned candidates like conservative radio show host Larry Elder and former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer. Although, the hiccups don’t seem to have slowed down her campaign.
Jenner will head to the US-Mexico border on Friday to oversee the border’s security. The trip will form part of a tour in which she meets with border enforcement officials and residents affected by illegal immigration. Initially, the trip was promoted as a bus tour, but instead, the former Olympian will travel by air.
Suffice to say, despite setbacks; Caitlyn is putting her head down and fighting on. No industry can inculcate a total lack of shame like reality TV. Lucky for her, that can translate remarkably well in politics — just ask the 45th president…
