I covered part of Kim Kardashian’s appearance at the New York Times DealBook Conference this week. Kim appeared at the conference with her mom and her husband, Kanye West. It was mostly about Kim and her many businesses, and in addition to talking about Instagram and mental health, Kim discussed spon-con, her law studies and meeting with Donald Trump. You can read the NY Times’ coverage of the discussion here. Highlights, mostly from Kim but I added one Kanye section:
Kim on business partnerships and activism: “I am really cautious about what I spend. So if I overspend on something and a paid post happens to come in at that time, I’ll weigh it out and think, ‘O.K., well I have to pay for x, y, and z.’ Now it’s a little bit more personal for me. If I have a paid post that comes in and I think, ‘O.K., well this can fund x amount of people that are behind bars, that can help free them with simple legal fees that they just can’t afford, then that would be worth it to me, even if the post might be a little bit off-brand for me.’ I really weigh out different things now than I used to.”
Kim on meeting with President Trump: “I focus on prison reform and the President has done amazing things in prison reform. I will also speak up when I feel like something is not how I feel like the world should be and that could be immigration or other things. I’m very focused, there’s a lot that we have to get done in prison reform and I believe I will be more beneficial if I just focus on that at the moment. So I’m grateful for that relationship in that area and I focus on that. But that was a big thing where so many people advised me, ‘Don’t go to the White House.’ And that didn’t make sense to me because I was like, if someone can get out of prison and get their life back versus my reputation of going to the White House — when there is only one person on this planet that can make the decision and that would be the president — and that was even a question for the media, that just absolutely didn’t make sense to me. I would go see anyone in power that would have that decision to change someone’s life.”
Kim on starting her own law firm one day: “I’m definitely working really hard and it’s a commitment that I’ve chosen to take this time away from my family to study and to not go out with my friends and live a different life. And I’m so O.K. with that. I love it and I just hope that one day I can start a firm that will help with prison reform. I would love to hire these men and women that are behind bars because they know the law better than most lawyers.”
Kanye on starting a church and social media: “But just as a male opinion, looking at my daughters and looking at my family and as we are starting this church and saying that this innovation and community and what we’re doing with education and what we’re doing you know in politics even now like we have 12,500 acres in Cody, Wyo. Trump has actually opened up the ability to buy more land and in America — you know America, you can buy land and we can be owners and we don’t often have to be just the product of what black Twitter tells us what we’re supposed to do… This has been taken out of every single one of my interviews so I’m going to say it now: My father’s a Black Panther, my mother was arrested to fight for us to have the right to vote, but it was the right to vote for who we tell you to vote on.”
Let’s start with that bulls–t Kanye quote. Yes, Kanye is descended from black activists who fought for the right to vote. And now this a–hole is out here in the Sunken Place, sidling up to the white patriarchy, the same white men who make the oppression of marginalized communities their political platform. It’s not that Kanye doesn’t have the RIGHT to vote for Trump. It’s that he shows off his profound ignorance and lack of history by doing so.
As for what Kim said about meeting with Trump… as I’ve said from the beginning, Kim weighed it all and decided that she was okay with a “ends justify the means” transaction with Trump. I hate-respect it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
Any news on her baby bar exam results?
If she had taken it and passed, trust me we would have heard about it. I don’t know when she studies. She’s always on vacation or being pap’d here and there. Seems like the girl has a lot of free time lol.
I’ll be impressed if she eventually takes and passes the California bar, as she must to be an actual attorney, but something tells me that she will lose interest and never do it.
“The President has done amazing things in prison reform.” “Trump has actually opened up the ability to buy more land.” I’m just not in the mood for her a**-kissing nonsense today.
I think the quote about buying land is actually from Kanye and not Kim.
Ok, yes.
Can’t stand either of them.
I respect Kim for this decision, putting other people’s needs before her own. I don’t love Trump but I love this strong economy, it is benefitting my family. I decided it wasn’t worth hating any President, I just don’t have the energy. I vote every election and keep informed. But if you can do some good during this presidency, go for it!!!
Every single industry is somewhere between bracing for a correction and outright panic over the impending collapse. Trump inherited a strong economy built by 8 years of hard work and careful regulation under Obama, and he’s spent 2 years dismantling all of it. You may be doing well right now, but if you’re “informed” you realize that this reckless maniac has done nothing but take credit for the work of others and imperiled the future to make things look good temporarily.
THIS A THOUSAND TIMES. THANK YOU TQB, FOR THIS STATEMENT.
Thank you.
Well said, TQB.
Not to mention that the “strong economy” is built on a sharp increase in public debt.
@TQB. Standing ovation for your spot on point. Trump has done nothing but weaken a strong economy. The stock market is not the economy. His little tariff war cost farmers their incomes for the year. I could go on & on but your response needs no additions
Thank you!
Oh if Kim passes anything she will scream it from the rooftop. She needs to turn her attention to & help her clearly impaired husband
Economists will tell you that the President, be it Obama or Trump or whoever, has minimal impact over the economy despite wanting to take credit or get the blame when its strong/weak. There are numerous resources available that can explain the complexities.
It’s amazing what people will overlook, or where they give credit, for the sole reason their bank accounts are in good shape right now. And yes, a correction is coming. Probably not as bad as the recession earlier in the decade, but you can already see it in slowing housing starts and decreased earnings in investments.
Yeah, the economy is real strong. We’re literally on the brink of collapse but you keep telling yourself that.
Actually, Trump is destroying the international alliances that the Greatest Generation sacrificed so much to create.
translation: I value my wallet over the lives of refugees, the safety of LGBTQ and minority groups and over the genocide of the Kurds. Hope you sleep well at night.
Excellent translation indeed.
Just because the current President says he is responsible for the upswing, doesn’t make it so. As @TQB said, the current financial and economic strength is based on the policies Obama enacted when he was President. Trump has done very little to cause the upswing, other than to instill the public with confidence in the economy. Yes, Trump has slashed regulations and cut corporate taxes but most economists agree that that will only provide short-term benefits with the potential of having long-term problems. And he hasn’t done anything to curb the growing inequality between the haves and the have-nots. Having said that, economists are saying a recession is on the horizon that the next President will inherit whether its Trump or someone else. And I’m sure that Trump will blame the recession on the President following him if he loses the election.
Wow your ignorance is terrifying.
We spent years saying she should do something with her celebrity, so no complaints from me.
I second that!
Yeah. This is what she does with her celebrity – embiggen herself, spread the false narrative she and trump are doing so much for prison reform, get credit for all the long and hardwork the true activists have been doing. Hugh Jackman has been called out for his friendship with the Kushners. Kim is praising Trump and spreading the false idea that the “the President has done amazing things in prison reform” yet she gets the pass that she “weighed it all and decided that she was okay with a “ends justify the means” transaction with Trump”?!! What is wrong with you people?! The only end she’s justifying is whitewashing her image and y’all buying it.
I ask this question honestly with no shade: What do they even talk about when they’re alone together? Kim has always seemed very focused, very goal-oriented. Kanye is….let’s say, erratic at best. Does he just rant at her while she scrolls social media? Do they have lively debates? Discuss the Bachelor?
I know L.A. has some interesting personalities but Yeezus help me it all feels like they’re not just on separate pages; they’re on completely different books
I’ve wonder the same thing. But then, that’s a wall I don’t want to be a fly in either. LOL.
When she did a video interview with Vogue (I think), he was in part of it as she was giving a tour of her house. And I felt really bad for her, because he was interrupting and making weird comments as though he was a child. I doubt they have very interesting discussions.
Trump signed a document that other people like Cory Booker worked hard to draft and push through both houses of Congress. That is all Trump has done on prison reform.
EXACTLY. He just takes credit for the work of others.
I was about to type the same thing. Trump did nothing, Kim just tweeted and posed for pics. Neither of them did the grueling years of hard work it took to get prison reform to where it is now (and it still has a long way to go). Kim and Trump give themselves way too much credit.
So this might be controversial but here I go. Kanye supports Trump bc they are the same, the care about making money for themselves! They are both business men who failed numerous times but had rich friends to bail them out and support new business ventures. Trump is the 1% and so is Kanye. Kanye does not care about anyone but himself, his ego and his bank account.
Actually, I think they both suffer from learning disabilities and mental illness.
I dont think it has anything to do with either of those things, I think its indictive of rich people who keep “yes” men around who keep telling them that they are geniuses. But thata just my opinion.
Maybe it’s all three….
You could be 100% right
The idea that someone who is not yet a lawyer, and not even actually in law school has any concept of what makes a good lawyer, or thinks THEY should be the head of a firm, is… well, the kind of egotistical dummy that would be married to Kanye. So, sure.
I agree ~ so presumptuous of her.
And that little bump coming from the side of her Canadian tuxedo bustier looks like a lipo port!
I wondered what that bump was.
“I would love to hire these men and women that are behind bars because they know the law better than most lawyers.”
No. As someone who works in the legal field and sees pro se defendants on a regular basis. Just. No. The fact that she thinks this, tells me everything I need to know about her knowledge of the legal field.
Just here to say it’s truly backwards and ignorant to praise Trump for prison reform when he and most conservatives have contributed and see no qualms about falsely and indefinitely imprisoning refugees, breaking families apart, and allowing them to be harmfully and fatally neglected, and physically, mentally and sexually abused, abusing their human rights in general.
Just because he’s making Kim look good on her prison reform crusade, does not a good person nor president make.
For the federal system, they have also cut budgets, implemented a hiring freeze, cut prison programs and are trying to privatize the system, which means it becomes more about profit and shareholders than keeping staff, and inmates, safe, implementing REAL reform, etc.
@Samc
Thanks for the info, I wasn’t aware that was happening as well, but im not surprised because that’s what Republicans* have always wanted anyways.
(*trying to correct myself for letting my Canadian show in the earlier post by saying “conservatives” instead of Republicans lol oops!—though honestly it’s the same shit, different country).
I mean, it’s great that she has this goal, and I’m glad that she’s found a passion, but I’ll wait to see exactly how this pans charity-wise down the road. The problem with a lot of the ultra rich is that social justice issues don’t really touch them, so they treat it like a hat that can be taken on or off as they tire of it. If she really follows through in a meaningful way, great, but for now, I’ll give the credit to the senators and lobby groups that worked on this for years before she capitalized on it.
Dream big Kim!!!
She has all the money and resources to make it come true!!!!
I know it’s cool to hate on everything a Kardashian does but I cannot fault her prison reform dreams. The prison system in this country is a horror show – From for-profit prisons to the way in which the US views the purpose of prisons (strictly punishment v reform opportunities), to overwhelmed public defenders…etc etc etc
If she wants to use her enormous wealth to help change that I am just happy somebody is doing something.
I can say “I want to do whatever “ all day long, that doesn’t mean I’m going to follow through with it. The difference is that I value actions, not words. Until she’s actually done something-aside from take credit from the activists who did the actual work by kissing up to the orange turd-she should not be getting “credit” from anyone with a functioning sense of morality.
I’d call Kim for a lot of things, but I’d never call her to get me or someone I loved out of jail. Sorry, she can work hard all she likes but chile, if I needed something between me and jail it wouldn’t be her. That being said, she has the money to get her access so to each their own.
This is the most proportionate her body has ever looked because, in this outfit, you can’t tell how slim she is everywhere except for her botched ass.
Also, I’m always torn between finding it gross that she’s buying her law degree because that’s so wrong for the people who work SO hard in law school and here comes this dummy shooting to thr front of the line on a technicality. At the same time, though, how can I hate when someone is trying to do good? She’s a total moron but I can’t be mad that she’s trying to do good. God help us all if she ever decides to run for office, though… I fear the brainwashed masses would actually vote her in. Kanye and Kim are both on a mad hunt for POWER
Please, lets not assume Kim is dumb about the law. Let’s not forget that her father, Robert Kardashian was a lawyer so isn’t it possible she learned from him?
Please let us not assume she’s really doing good. She’s in the business of creating images – she’s built her money on it. Nothing is authentic about her or her family. Let’s not forget the time she auctioned off her clothes (some were given to her by the designers) for victims of a natural disaster but only 10% went to them and she kept the 90% for herself. SHE PROFITED FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MISFORTUNES!! That is her doing good. She says with a straight face that Trump “has done amazing things in prison reform” which is a straight out lie. She is Fox Network at this point. If she knew anything about the law, then she surely knows the process it goes through to get enacted and she knows that Trump has NOT DONE jacksh_t about prison reform. In the same way she has done nothing but ride on the backs of those who are doing the real hardwork. She has done very minimal about prison reform – she does not deserve the praise people are giving her credit for. She STOLE this credit from the people who deserve it.
What has 45 done for prison reform? He cares NOTHING for the common man in prison.
This again.
Honestly, there isn’t that much difference between her and her husband, personality wise – they both suck up to 45 for the same reason, which he gives them both what the really want – no strings attached, unlimited praise that neither deserves.
If she really wanted to do good, she could use her unbelievable wealth to help fund non-profits that fight to free innocent people instead of going on a humble brag about being forced to take undesirable paid posts on Instagram so she could occasionally get a free trip to DC to take credit for other people’s hard work.
A PR move that she just keeps doing. After she defended JefferyStar racist comments. She had to come up with something that would reform her image..
This is a genius move.. I’m sure PMK came up with it…
Kim Kardashian has made her career and fortune via the “ends justify the means” rationale. She allegedly had a professional sex tape made of her & Ray J. to jumpstart her bank account & career. She’s had a ton of plastic surgery to optimize her sexuality. She has shamelessly pushed poop-tea to millions on Instagram. So it doesn’t surprise me that she’s willing to work with a racist sex offender to get folks out of prison.
That being said, if she does actually pursue a legal career & open up a law firm dedicated to helping people who have been wrongly convicted or received unjust sentences for minor crimes, all the power to her! I just hope this isn’t another storyline for the Kardashian reality empire.