Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed anger about the backlash she has faced for constantly highlighting her identity on a Tuesday episode of “Higher Learning.”
During her book tour, Jean-Pierre has consistently reminded the public that she was the first black, lesbian woman to serve as a press secretary for a president, receiving criticism from pundits including Megyn Kelly, Cenk Uygur and James Carville. On the podcast, she lashed out at critics of her focus on identity, saying it enraged her because they do not understand her life.
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“[I]t pisses me off that people who have not walked in my shoes, who have no idea who really I am as a person, get to tell me how I get to identify myself or not … you can’t tell me how I get to identify myself,” the former White House press secretary said. “You can’t tell me how I get to call myself. Like, screw you … that’s not okay.”
“You have no right to tell anybody how they should identify themselves and how they see themselves in the world,” she added. “You have not walked through my battles. You have not walked through my life. You don’t even know my personal story … that just boils me up.”
Jean-Pierre released her book “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines” on Oct. 21, in which she announced her departure from the Democratic Party and accused it of betraying former President Joe Biden.
She has also faced pushback for persistently downplaying Biden’s cognitive decline. CNN anchor Brianna Keilar pressed her on the topic during an Oct. 24 “CNN News Central” interview.
“Why didn’t you have concerns?” Keilar asked. “Why didn’t you raise them?”
“So I did not have any concerns. I saw him on a daily basis, Brianna,” Jean-Pierre said. “You know that. I saw him every day. I engaged with him every day.”
Jean-Pierre acknowledged Biden “showed age,” but claimed he was “sharp.”
However, Keilar noted that her fellow CNN anchor Jake Tapper even co-authored a book on Biden’s decline, finding that cabinet officials believed he would not be dependable at 2 a.m. in an emergency situation and that he did not recognize actor George Clooney at a fundraiser.
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