Jenner, Morgan begging you to watch their tantrums

Kathleen N. Walsh, The Independent

Sometimes the world today seems impossibly polarized and every news item boiled down to a story of good versus evil. President Putin versus President Zelenksy. School teachers versus pedophile-obsessed conspiracy theorists.

Reproductive rights versus the State of Texas. But other times, the most odious creatures of public and political life suddenly turn on each other — like the thin-skinned rich idiot deathmatch going down between Piers Morgan, Donald Trump, and Caitlyn Jenner. All we need now is for Marjorie Taylor Greene, Marine Le Pen, and Boris Johnson to jump in and we’ve got ourselves a rumble.

After throwing a fit and storming off the set of Good Morning Britain, professional super-troll Piers Morgan declared himself “canceled,” and so did what every influential, self-canceled white man in media does: launched his own new program, titled Uncensored (get it?), on which he interviews fellow cancelees. The first episode, teased in a trailer clip, featured former President Trump. And can you guess what happened next?

Of course you can. Morgan pressed Trump on his delusional persistence in pressing the election lie — because Morgan makes a living out of antagonism, not because Morgan has journalistic integrity — and Trump responded in his typical “I know you are but what am I” style before storming out in a huff.

“A president in denial,” booms Morgan’s voiceover, cutting to clips of him asking the former president, “You think I’m a fool?” and the former president responding, “I do now, yeah.”

“The most explosive interview of the year,” the voiceover claims, in the tone of a Marvel movie trailer. With respect, sir, this isn’t even the most explosive interview of the month.

It’s not entirely clear who Morgan thought he was appealing to with this stunt, who he’s trying to convince and of what, why any of this is at all relevant in 2022. But we could have just left it at two aging schoolyard bullies fighting over each other’s lunch money — when who should enter the fray but Caitlyn Jenner! Jenner, a wealthy white trans woman, is fresh from an appointment to Fox News as a talking head. The fact that her only political experience is one failed gubernatorial bid is less important than her use as a fig leaf for her coworkers as they continue to help the Republican party dismantle the rights of trans people entire.  Jenner was apparently not pleased with Morgan’s clip, and so announced that she was canceling her own scheduled appearance on Uncensored. Tagging Morgan, she wrote in a tweet, “I have just had my management cancel my appearance with you for this Wednesday because of your repulsive misconduct today.” She quoted from Trump’s director of communications, Taylor Budowich, in the same tweet, saying, “‘This is a pathetic attempt to use President Trump as a way to revive the career of a failed television host’… Couldn’t agree more”.

Jenner also commented on a Donald Trump Jr. tweet, which included a Breitbart article claiming the clip was manipulated by Morgan, fuming, “He is pathetic. Expose him! Never will do his show again! Ever!” Tragic.

So, what is the point of all this noise? What we have here are three people who combine immense class and racial privilege with an aptitude for cheap, reality TV showmanship who have somehow stumbled their way into positions of actual political power and influence. Making a public scene is how they maintain their influence. Getting combative and messy in interviews and on social media generates attention, and thus, their power. Declaring themselves “canceled” by the rabid mobsters on the left has given them bigger and more powerful platforms.

All of this pot-stirring, outrage-provoking, yelling, tantrumming and repeating has been professionally packaged, marketed, and distributed. They’re not really fighting with each other so much as working together to put on a show, like WWE wrestlers or Real Housewives.