The new Miss America Cara Mund believes in climate change & reproductive rights

2018 Miss America Competition

If there’s one thing that Donald Trump can’t stand, it’s a woman who doesn’t fall in line or fall in love with him. Imagine how bad it will be when the woman is a beauty queen for one of his pageants! Last night, Miss North Dakota was crowned Miss America. Her name is Cara Mund. She’s 23 years old and a Brown University graduate who plans on going to law school. In a surprising twist (??), the Q&A section of the pageant was surprisingly political, and Cara Mund got a question about Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.

Q: One hundred ninety five countries signed the Paris Agreement in which each country sets non-binding goals to reduce man-made climate change. The U.S. is withdrawing from the agreement, citing negligible environmental effects and negative economic impact. Good decision? Bad decision? Which is it and why?

Mund: I do believe it’s a bad decision. Once we reject that we take ourselves out of the negotiation table, and that’s something we really need to keep in mind. There is evidence that climate change is existing, so whether you believe it or not we need to be at that table, and I think it’s just a bad decision on behalf of the United States.

[From People]

Good for her. After she accepted the Miss America crown, Mund met with reporters and she doubled-down on her answer and then some:

Meeting with reporters after winning the crown, Mund stood her ground, saying she wanted first and foremost to give a real answer to the question.

“I wasn’t really afraid if my opinion wasn’t the opinion of my judges,” she said. “Miss America needs to have an opinion and she needs to know what’s happening in the current climate.”

She’s not concerned about any pushback from Trump, who said the Paris accord was a bad deal economically for the United States and who also called global warming a hoax. Trump had not mentioned Mund or her comment on the Paris accord on Twitter as of early Monday morning.

“He is our president and we need to support him,” Mund said. “I may not agree with all of his opinions, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to support the president.”

In an interview with The Associated Press before preliminary competition began, Mund, who lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, said her goal is to be the first woman elected governor of her state. She said she wants to see more women elected to all levels of government.

“It’s important to have a woman’s perspective,” Mund, who had an internship in the U.S. Senate, told the AP. “In health care and on reproductive rights, it’s predominantly men making those decisions.”

[From WaPo]

She believes climate change is real and she wants more women at the governing table so that women have a larger voice in health care and their own reproductive rights. I don’t know, you guys. I think our new Miss America might be sort of woke? I hope we don’t find out five hours from now that she loves to use the n-word online.

A few more things – facially, she looks a bit Duggar-esque, right? Also, that is the biggest “bouquet” of roses ever, in the history of pageants. It’s like they handed her a TREE.

2018 Miss America Competition

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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65 Responses to “The new Miss America Cara Mund believes in climate change & reproductive rights”

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  1. Nicole says:

    Nah she’s not that woke because I’m never supporting this president. So yea she gets some points but you don’t have to support a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic Russian agent orange.

    • HadToChangeMyName says:

      She’s not that woke if she’s still participating in beauty pageants.

      • Esmom says:

        LMAO.

        To be fair, I think there might be a decent chunk of money at stake, so maybe that’s her motivation?

      • Megan says:

        I work with a former Miss [Insert State]. The prize money is in the form of lucrative college grants and the use of a car during your tenure.

      • Kathleen says:

        @HadtoChangemyName, this is an ignorant comment. The bottom line is that a lot of these women are using this as an opportunity to have a voice they wouldn’t otherwise have and/or win money for school. When I competed, I won over $30,000 in college scholarships and I used the money to pay back student loans when I was totally broke. It also gave me a chance to get involved with causes I cared about in a way I couldn’t have without the title. Pageants are flawed and we can debate if we would need them in a world that provided equal opportunities for women to succeed or earn scholarships but the bottom line is that some of us work with the opportunities we are given, do what we can, are true to ourselves in the process and are perfectly “woke” in the process. Women are free to do what they want with their own bodies and own talents and it’s not up to you or anyone else to police that. Thanks.

      • Megan says:

        I used to be cynical about pageants until I started working with a pageant winner. She used her scholarship money to transfer to a top tier college that had previously been too expensive for her. She says that leg up made all the difference for her.

      • HadToChangeMyName says:

        @kathleen – the beautiful thing about agency and empowerment – which you’re touting – is that I’m entitled to my opinion about beauty pageants and you’re entitled to yours.

      • Kathleen says:

        @Hadtochangemyname, the beautiful thing about agency and empowerment is that those who are secure in their own don’t feel the need to police women they don’t know. You don’t have to like pageants. You don’t have to DO pageants. THAT is your choice. But you aren’t exercising some kind of agency and empowerment by declaring that any woman that enters Miss America “can’t be woke.” That’s not your call to make. Also, stop calling it a “beauty pageant.” That’s not how these calls identify. At Miss USA—yes. But that’s not how Miss America identifies or how these girls ID themselves.

      • Shannon says:

        Meh. She’s taking an opportunity. I look at beauty pageants the same way I look at some dude offering to buy me a drink. “If you’re dumb enough to give it to me, I’m smart enough to take it.”

    • downTime says:

      Her buddy, Miss Texas, said the orange thing should have denounced nazis right out of the gate of Charlottesville- said they should have been called “terrorists”. She added the orange thing was wrong and needs to help all Americans feel safe. I don’t know if this girls are “woke” or not, but they were brave and said some very important things to ‘mericans.

      • Shirleygail says:

        Ya, but they’ll be dismissed as “girls talk” and will likely not influence those they need to influence for a couple of years, yet. I like that she’s aiming for the Senate!
        Which is distinctly not woke for eons and beyond….

  2. Redgrl says:

    Countdown to Trump saying she’s ugly or the worst Miss America ever starts…now.

  3. detritus says:

    Longest most ridiculous stemmed roses I’ve ever seen. Who wants fiften pounds of stems? That stuff gets heavy AF after five minutes.

    • Larelyn says:

      IKR? I was actually thinking about how short she must be to make those things look so gargantuan! And what does the rose bush these things come from look like??

  4. Scal says:

    Apparently all the deplorables are upset at the ‘liberal’political questions-when they literally ask topical questions EVERY YEAR. The only thing they did differently this year is have two rounds of questions-silly off the cuff and tough ones. To make it more fair as in previous years some girls got fluff questions and some got hard ones depending on the judge. This year they all got the same types.

    Did you see the talent portion where one contestant had a yodeling double ventriloquist routine?! It was AMAZING. Best talent of the night.

  5. Fiorucci says:

    Everything she said is true. Bad job on the makeup, in some pics it’s so white in the middle of her face/around her eyes.

  6. Jen says:

    Truly amazes me that “believing” in climate change in 2017 is considered controversial or even notable.

    • Seán says:

      Yeah and it shows what a sad state America is in that something commonly accepted aroind the world is still such a hot button issue in the US.

    • Alexandria says:

      Flat earth movement people be like…hold my beer.

    • godwina says:

      ITA. I was just creeping down the comments section to write something like that.

      Here’s a bit of food for thought for folks–can we say “accept or not accept climate change” instead of “believe in”? The latter just enables the deniers. Reproductive rights for women may be a “belief” (since it’s a matter of opinion) but science is science, and one either accepts evidence or not. I’m super on board this movement.

      • Esmom says:

        Agree. “Believe” implies there’s no data to support it.

      • Jen says:

        @Godwina Good point!

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        Yep, was just coming around to it.

        “Belief” is for matters for which we cannot gather evidence, things that we cannot directly observe or measure, things we can’t test, things that aren’t falsifiable.

        In matters explained by science because we can directly observe or measure them, and test whether we can predict them using the scientific method, we can use a lot of other great verbs:

        learn, teach, understand, respect, promote, value, FUND

      • adastraperaspera says:

        Using the word “belief” to talk about climate change just plays into the hands of deniers.

    • Megan says:

      I’m looking forward to reading Kurt Anderson’s new book, Fantasyland, about how Americans think it is their right to believe things that are not true.

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        Wow. That sounds interesting. Of course, it’s not only part of the American culture, but it has become essential to the ruling party, so …

    • Tryannosarahs says:

      Seriously. It isn’t belief, because most beliefs boil down to a probability judgement and you use your best judgement and a combination of faith (sometimes mostly faith) and previous experiences of like stimuli to make a decision.

      “I accept the facts in support of and scientific evidence behind anthropogenic climate change.”

      There, Cara. We fixed it for you.

  7. Norman Bates' Mother says:

    I was expecting yet another blond bombshell as Miss America, so I was a bit suprised by the choice at first as she looks like a combination of a Duggar sister with Miley Cyrus circa 2010, but after reading her answers, I get it. Good job for picking someone with a brain and ambitions!

  8. Jess says:

    Well this is a nice change. I haven’t kept up with Miss America in ages but she definitely seems like a good choice, good for her.

  9. Feedmechips says:

    Most ridiculous bouquet ever. I can’t stop seeing a bunch of asparagus stalks.

    • Esmom says:

      Giant, tree-like roses courtesy of changing climate perhaps? That’s probably not true but in any case I’m sure science had some sort of hand in the development of such long, perfect stems.

  10. Pansy says:

    I can’t quit laughing at that bouquet!!! Where do you get Rose Trees?!

    • emma33 says:

      I kind of imagine them growing straight up out of the ground like asparagus stalks! Too funny. But, glad she won, she sounds like she’s going places.

    • tealily says:

      Yeah, like, are they manipulated to grow that way?? So weird.

  11. Calla Lily says:

    Has Trump ever had anything to do with the Miss America pageant? I thought he was involved with the tackier Miss USA pageants?

    • Mandymc says:

      That’s what I thought too.

    • Kathleen says:

      No. Trump has no affiliation with Miss America. This article should be corrected. Miss America is not “one of his pageants.” They have never wanted anything to do with him and they are a non-profit, guys. No one “owns” Miss America.

    • Millenial says:

      I’m surprised it took until the 11th comment for someone to mention this. There are two big national pageants. Miss America and Miss USA. Trump owns Miss USA. Miss America (IMO) has always been the more “wholesome” one. It’s technically a scholarship pageant, not a beauty pageant.

      • Caity says:

        Miss America also includes the talent portion, so it’s not entirely about your exterior. In the grand scheme of pageantry, definitely superior to Miss USA

  12. Nicole says:

    Also Miss Texas had the best moment of the entire night
    https://twitter.com/goldengateblond/status/907083544303869952

  13. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    I have tears… that “bouquet.” I’m seeing SNL Skits and Halloween costumes. Omg. I’m seriously going to carry a blooming topiary when trick-or-treating with my kids next month.

  14. Even her face in the photo says “Why am I holding this f*cking tree!!??

  15. Wow says:

    She looks like Miley Cyrus to me in that opening picture.

  16. Kathleen says:

    Donald Trump has NEVER EVER had any affiliation with Miss America. It is not one of “his pageants.” Miss America is a non-profit org and is owned by no one. Trump owned Miss USA and Miss Universe—for profit corporations that have an entry fee. Miss America is a scholarship org which no entry fee and all funds that the girls win are paid directly to their schools for their student loans. I’m sorry to be nitpicky here but as someone who actually did compete for Miss America at one point this kind of mistake is really bothersome.

    • lyla says:

      yes, came here to say the exact same thing. i’m not a fan of pageants, but even i know that trump doesn’t have anything to do with miss america and that miss america always had the better rep. to quote miss congeniality, “it’s not a beauty pageant, it’s a scholarship program.” also, if i’m not mistaken, you need a talent for miss america, but not for miss usa.

      and i agree, she looks like old school miley.

  17. feebee says:

    I’m an unfortunate soul who upon hearing North Dakota thought… didn’t Trump travel there a week or so ago?…. Hmmm.

    That aside and the very little time I have for beauty competitions, good for her. Outdated platform as it is, it’s still a platform and if it’s used for good then well, power to her. Just saw Miss Texas got a question about Trump’s response to Charlottesville. These ladies have to be on point and it sounds like, for the most part they were.

    There’s no need for 4 foot roses.

  18. why? says:

    Today is 911, and the King of Lies and Fake News decided to honor this day by asking the Supreme Court(Neil Gorsch who is doing everything possible to support everything that The King of Lies and Fake News does) to reinstate his Muslim Ban. Where is the compassion?

  19. Ankhel says:

    I really don’t want to be mean, but. Is she what passes for an exceptional beauty in the US? Because she looks like every other teen who ever cooked me a burger. Only heavily made up and wearing a ton of extensions. Pretty, yes. Cute, yes. Stunning…?

    • Kathleen says:

      Miss America isn’t a beauty pageant. It’s not about who is the “prettiest.” The judging at Miss America is focused on someone “well rounded.” A significant portion of their score comes from their private interview, academic record, speaking skills, charity work and talent. They aren’t looking for the “most beautiful.” They are looking for someone who is strong across the board and, normally, brains come first in MAO.

  20. why? says:

    We are living in bad times. The Supreme Court is now an extension of the president. Instead of ruling in favor of the people, it’s more interested in keeping The King of Lies and Fake News and his WS friends happy. The Supreme Court reinstated the King of Lies and Fake News’s refugee ban(the 9th circuit placed restrictions on the refugee ban). When will the GOP say enough is enough? Neil Gorsch needs to be removed from the Supreme Court because he is tainting it. Notice how when Neil wasn’t on the Supreme Court, the SC had no problems standing up to the King of Lies and Fake News?