Karine Jean-Pierre Goes Full Word Salad On Topic Of Transgender Athletes In Women's Sports: 'Complicated Issue'
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got all kinds of discombobulated when asked about the White House's position on transgender athletes in women's sports.
FOX Business' Hillary Vaughn asked Jean-Pierre about a statement made by Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
That statement was "The idea that we have biological boys playing girls sports. It is the women's issue of our time."
Vaughn simply asked if the President of the United States agreed that this is a women right's issue.
What then spilled out of Karinne Jean-Pierre's mouth made about as much sense as trying to read what remained on the floor after a dog knocks a game of Scrabble off the table.
You can make out some words but nothing makes a whole lot of sense.
"So we've talked about this many times. This is the Title IX, specifically," she said. "Look. And again, we've talked about this multiple times."
Yes, she really did say we've talked about this many times multiple times. It's like question-dodging Inception.
"It's a complicated issue. And there are a wide range of views on this," she continued.
I'm going to need to respectfully disagree with you on that one, Madame Press Secretary. 1). It's not that complicated, and 2). There are really only two prevailing views on the topic: yes, biological men should be allowed to compete against women, or no, they shouldn't.
"The Department of Education proposal rule, as you know, that gives schools the flexibility to establish their own athletics policies. And so while establishing guardrails to prevent discrimination against transgender kids, and that is something that is incredibly important that the President wants to make sure that we also do that as well."
Pick a buzzword, any buzzword.
"So I'm just not going to get ahead of that."
Fair enough. Her job is to speak for the president so she doesn't want to get him into a bind, especially when he's historically unpopular, and there's an election coming up. I get it.
Then if you missed anything she said up top, she repeated it all over
"As I said, there's a proposed rule Title IX that the Department of Education has laid out, so I'm just not going to get ahead of that, as it relates to the Department of Education."
Vaughn — because she is good at doing her job as a reporter — was not deterred by that fresh-tossed word salad and followed up with another question. She asked whether the President, as a grandfather of seven (yes, seven) including granddaughters, thinks it's okay for girls to compete against boys, despite the inherent increase in injury risks.
"Does he think it's fair for girls to have to compete against biological males?" Vaughn asked.
"I've just answered the question," KJP responded. "It is a complicated issue. It is truly a complicated issue with a wide range of views, a wide range of views."
Did they move the White House briefing room into some kind of a cavern? Because I'm hearing one hell of an echo.
"There is no yes or no answer to this. It is complicated," she continued. "There is a rule that the Department of Education has put forward, and we're gonna let that process move forward.
"And it is, again, we want to make sure that while we establish guardrails with this rule, that we also prevent discrimination as well against transgender kids. But again, a complicated issue with a wide range of views and we respect that."
What is interesting about Jean-Pierre's complete non-answer (although there isn't much) is that this is a stark contrast from one of her previous statements. Back in June, she asked a reporter who asked a similar question, “What you’re alluding to is that transgender kids are dangerous.”
So, it seems the Biden administration may be realizing that there is overwhelming support for protecting women's sports.
Score one for rationality, Who could have seen that coming?
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