Why is the New York Times trying to convince us that a former Bravo reality TV star is the Next Big Thing in political commentary?
Earlier this week, I recalled the Wall Street Journal writing a long and mostly positive profile of right-wing podcaster Tim Pool, touting his building of “a media brand influential with those millennial and Gen-Z voters.” Pool recently hosted a discussion debating whether the assassination of Charlie Kirk was faked.
Now I see the New York Times has published a long and mostly positive profile of Jennifer Welch, an interior designer and former Bravo reality TV star, who has co-hosted a podcast since 2022. The Times gushes that Welch is “the rare figure who appeals to the mainstream liberal, angers the Fox News viewer and thrills the dirtbag left. As she challenges Democrats from a more progressive stance, a portrait of Kate Moss in the frame behind her, she provides the sensation of watching the Overton window shift in real time.”
Here’s Welch’s take on Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk:
You are an opportunistic grifter who weaponizes your gender to demean women, and you are a walking, talking, breathing example as to why nobody, number one, wants to be a Christian, and number two, wants to be a female hypocrite such as yourself. . . . This woman should be kicked to the curb.
(The Kirk assassination has really brought out the best in people, huh?)
Welch has argued that Trump voters should be banned from eating at Mexican, Chinese, or Indian restaurants, or using the services of gay hairdressers:
I’ve had it with white people that triple Trumped that have the nerve and the audacity to walk into a Mexican restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, go to a gay hairdresser. . . . White people that triple Trumped should be boycotted, banned from enjoying the best thing that America has to offer, which is multiculturalism. I don’t think you should be able to enjoy anything but Cracker Barrel.
In an October MSNBC appearance, Welch said that Vice President JD Vance “is married to a woman of Indian descent. He has mixed race children. So to all of the MAGA voters out there, if this man will not defend his wife and will not defend his kids, do you think he gives a crap about you or anything to do with you?”
She recently contended, “I just think it’s really important to remind everybody all the time that Elon Musk is a f***ing immigrant that doesn’t pay taxes who is a parasite off the American taxpayer.”
Elon Musk paid $12 billion in taxes in the year 2021, the single largest tax bill in U.S. history.
She is probably misremembering reports about Tesla Motors, the publicly traded electric-car company that Musk runs, which paid no federal taxes in 2024, through entirely legal provisions in the U.S. tax code:
Tesla saved half a billion in taxes last year using accelerated depreciation. Tax breaks for executive stock options shaved a quarter billion off the company’s tax bill. Unspecified “U.S. tax credits” were good for $300 million of tax savings. Musk’s company also used net operating losses to offset current year income, although it’s hard to know how much of that affects U.S. income rather than the company’s far-larger foreign income.
Like far too many figures in the political podcasting scene, Welch can’t be bothered to actually do the research and know what she’s talking about. She doesn’t remember the details well and is not into looking things up; she’s more into vibes and feelings, and that feeling is often anger. Oh, and note that NPR, the U.K. Daily Telegraph, and the The Guardian have also written positive profiles about Welch.
If you see a mainstream media publication touting some commentator as the Next Big Thing, there is an excellent chance that the person being profiled will rank among the dumbest, most unhinged, and least informed people you have ever encountered.