Caitlyn Jenner mocked for rambling interview insisting ‘a guy called Lee’ and other ‘budget people’ helped her understand California’s $3 trillion economy

Jenner describes how her experience of selling ‘a billion dollars worth of exercise equipment’ has helped her develop leadership skills

Caitlyn Jenner is facing ridicule following an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash where she mentioned how “a guy called Lee” and other “budget people” helped her understand California’s huge economy.

When Bash asked the 71-year-old reality TV show star, who is running for governor of California, if she feels “qualified” to take on the fifth-largest economy in the world, Jenner responded: “Yes, because I’m going to surround myself with some really great people.”

“I had meetings this week with budget people—I just was so impressed,” she said.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star refused to name anyone she met in particular as she doesn’t “want to expose anybody.”

“I had meetings on regulations, with the Hoover Institution, and this one guy, Lee, was just, like, the best, so smart, been working on regulations in this state for the last 10 years, has solutions,” she said.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, you’re, like, my new best friend, OK?’ I learned so much from him in such a short amount of time, but it’s people like that that I feel like I have the ability to attract to Sacramento, that can make a difference,” she said.

According to the kind of response Jenner gave in terms of discussing economic policy, many spectators noticed an evident Trump-like model.

A user wrote on Twitter: “I still think Caitlyn Jenner needs to be ignored. Imagine if Trump never got all that media attention when he ran for office.”

Jenner defended her lack of experience for the position by highlighting how her entrepreneurial journey has trained her to be the governor of California.

She said: “I have been in the entrepreneurial world. People think — you’ve been in show business, think of you as a reality star. Certainly, I’ve done that, but entertainment is a business, and you have to run that business.”

“But I’ve also done other things. We sold a billion dollars worth of exercise equipment on television. I’ve had aviation companies. I’ve just always been involved in being an entrepreneur and tried to inspire my children to do the same thing. And they’ve done very well in that department,” she said.

One user wrote on Twitter: “So selling exercise equipment on television is a qualification to be the governor of California?”

This article was amended on 12 May 2021 to remove a tweet that misgendered Ms Jenner, and a reference to that tweet.