When Kim Kardashian Met Donald Trump is the Nora Ephron movie literally no one asked for – and yet, yesterday, (May 30), the world bore witness to politics in 2018, and it’s stranger than fiction.
According to @realDonaldtrump’s Twitter feed – the epicentre of the global political circus and frontline of so-called fake news – Kim Kardashian met Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, to discuss prison reform and sentencing.
Except, it isn’t fake news. It’s not a reality TV spin-off with some scenes constructed for our viewing pleasure. It actually happened. In real life. In The White House.
In summation, the formidable pair met to discuss the case of 63-year-old Alice Johnson, a great-grandmother and non-violent first time drug offender, who’s currently serving a life sentence without parole.
Putting her hard-earned fame – part beauty business, part adult entertainment movie and part nepotism – to good use, Kim Kardashian travelled to the White House to ask President Donald Trump to grant Johnson clemency.
Kardashian learnt of the case last year, and reached out to Ivanka Trump to set up the meeting with her husband, Jared Kushner, who also acts as her father’s senior advisor. Obviously.
Johnson was imprisoned for life in 1997 for drug dealing and money laundering after her 15 accomplices all testified against her and had their own charges dropped – despite Johnson’s minor role in the cocaine ring.
It was her first offence.
Despite the good intentions of the meeting, it’s the PR stunt stuff memes are made of, and Twitter has taken the proverbial bull by the horns.
Why? Because – thankfully – we aren’t yet beyond seeing the funny side.
And for the love of memes, of course:
There’s a recurring theme to the admonishments, too. You guessed it.
No one can quite believe we’ve let a reality TV star climb onto such a pedestal, they’re able to discuss prison reform with Kim Kardashian.
Making a much-needed Community reference, one called this the ‘darkest timeline’:
Even the tabloids have got involved – to literally no one’s surprise – with a slightly different angle.
Many are musing over a different kind of Kim, who’s just as prominent on the world stage right now as Ms. Kardashian West; North Korea’s so-called Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.
Just take a look at the not-so tasteful tag line on the front cover of The New York Post:
Trust them to lower the tone regarding a situation we all thought had already reached rock bottom – a reference to the political low point rather than Kardashian’s beloved asset.
In case you missed it, here’s a run-down of America’s relationship with North Korea:
Meanwhile, others have eschewed the important political agendas entirely, and gone with niche references from the beauty and pop culture world.
After all, both in question have experienced the delights of television fame first-hand – and there’s no point sweating the big stuff if The Donald goes ahead and sparks a nuclear war sending the world up in smoke anyway.
This homage to KKW Beauty is everything I never knew I needed in a shade of pseudo-politics:
But those of us in Blighty haven’t let the Americans have all the fun.
Waking up this morning to a brave new world in which you only need a rich dad and almost zero socio-economic, business or criminal psychology qualifications to discuss prison reform with the globe’s most powerful man, us Brits jumped aboard the Funny train too.
Just take a look at this harrowing comparison:
One fella, who goes by @adriangibsob has had enough:
It’s only May. Ambien made Roseanne racist. Drake has pictures in blackface. I have diarrhea [sic]. Kim Kardashian met with President Trump. I still don’t know who the f*ck Laurel and Yanny are and Sza permanently damaged her vocal chords. What the f*ck man.
Amen ‘S.O.B.’, amen:
Meanwhile, Kim has taken to Twitter again to confirm the ‘great meeting’ was, in fact, great – just like The Donald said – and to thank the President for his time.
She added she’s ‘optimistic about Ms. Johnson’s future and hopeful that she —and so many like her—will get a second chance at life’.
You can learn all about Kim’s rise to fame below:
Let’s be honest, if two reality TV stars can’t alter the harsh reality Johnson has been subjected to, who can?
If you have a story to tell, contact UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.