Republican Caitlyn Jenner has been in and out of the news quite a bit lately, especially given her campaign for governor of California.
She's had several hot takes that didn't meet with much public approval including saying a commission should determine which transgender girls are worthy to participate in girl's sports.
Her latest screaming hot take had to do with how California should treat its homeless folks.
Jenner told Inside California Politics:
"They're destroying Venice Beach! They're destroying all the businesses down there. They don't need to be there. The crime rate is going up … It's mostly homeless-on-homeless murders. We can't have that in our streets."
Her ideal solution?
Round up homeless folks and put them in "an open field out in some place."
"We have to provide some place for those people to go, whether it's an open field out in some place, or if you notice at the veteran's facility. There's these big open fields and a lot of places there.
You can view the video clip of Jenner's interview below:
New - Caitlyn Jenner says she\u2019s tired of biking to Venice Beach and seeing homeless people destroying it.pic.twitter.com/Blt5FCiwZf— HRC\u2019s Cake (@HRC\u2019s Cake) 1625106341
Twitter users didn't feel the need to hold back in their criticism of Jenner's thoughtless suggestion.
Right out of the Reagan playbook. \n\nAll of society\u2019s ills can be traced to poor people being such a burden.— Michael Charbonneau (@Michael Charbonneau) 1625225965
You can only enjoy the nice parts of beautiful southern California if you have the money to enjoy them properly. Otherwise we are going to round you up & put you in areas away from the public so we don't have to see you, deal with you, or even remember that you exist.pic.twitter.com/bU2E8R8O6w— Dani (@Dani) 1625138455
Yeah, let's have a little more disdain for the homeless - that's helpful \n\nCaitlyn Jenner - champion of compassion\n\nwOw— TheRealDWoo \ud83d\udea3\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83c\udfe1 (@TheRealDWoo \ud83d\udea3\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83c\udfe1) 1625131976
Gee, I hate it when a rich person gets upset when they see a homeless person because the sight of it ruins their day. \n\nLet\u2019s end homelessness so rich people can have better days.— RJ (@RJ) 1625120540
The *cheapest* and most humane way to deal with the "problem" is to provide no-strings housing and case management for every single one of them. So maybe that's what she ought to run on.— The constitution is a rough draft (@The constitution is a rough draft) 1625114067
Homeless people are tired of seeing Caitlyn Jenner biking and wondering how she is a multimillionaire when she hasn't had a job in 30yrs.https://twitter.com/BidenHarrisBro/status/1410424337203556353\u00a0\u2026— Victoria Brownworth (@Victoria Brownworth) 1625130970
So there was a murder of a homeless man in Venice recently.\nInstead of caring about what the Sheriff is trying to pull, providing affordable housing, resources, assistance. She is upset that Venice is being \u201cruined\u201d? VENICE? First time to Venice? Cause it\u2019s not Malibu.— Emily\u26a1\ufe0f\ud83d\uddbc\ud83e\udeb4 (@Emily\u26a1\ufe0f\ud83d\uddbc\ud83e\udeb4) 1625118489
Candidate for CA governor Caitlyn Jenner proposed that the homeless should be moved to big empty fields. Everyone should do their part to make California a better state, so I helped by locating some perfect open fields that the state should take over for this very purpose:pic.twitter.com/YZBl0IDPYs— Mark Spatny VFX (@Mark Spatny VFX) 1625342429
Some folks pointed out some very familiar phrasing.
I was reading through to see if anyone else noticed that. Same phrase, different group being treated like the problem instead of offering up actual solutions to help.— Catteryna (@Catteryna) 1625236828
\u201cHomeless on Homeless murders\u201d a phrase I really didn\u2019t think was going to be the way this day ended.— Vicki Randle (@Vicki Randle) 1625136697
While Jenner's unthinking suggestion of forcing folks into "an open field" conveniently hidden out of sight isn't the way to help, something has to give.
There were an estimated 151,000 people experiencing homelessness in California as of January 2020.
