Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr, has denounced university graduates as lazy basket weavers who contribute nothing to society”, prompting backlash online.
Ms Guilfoyle went on a rant against Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program while appearing on Rob Schmitt Tonight on Newsmax on Sunday.
She claimed that it was nonsense to pay off loans for “people [who] want to have some bizarre basket weaving degree, and they want all of us to subsidise their laziness and their inability to even try to contribute to society”.
In making the remark, Ms Guilfoyle joined a string of Republicans who have come under fire in recent days for their snide responses to Mr Biden’s plan. The group includes Ted Cruz, who called graduates who will receive the loans “slacker baristas”; Lauren Boebert, who claimed the program funds “Karen’s daughter’s degree in dance theory”; and Marco Rubio, who told how easy it was for him to pay off his own loans by writing a book.
Critics were quick to group Ms Guilfoyle’s salvo with attacks from her fellow Republicans.
One commentator said: “The denigration of education as an elite past time to be shunned and mocked is one of the stranger corruptions infesting modern conservative politics.”
Another said: “The GOP decision to openly insult the tens of millions of Americans with student loan debt strikes me as an odd choice.”
“I’m cool with this ‘you suck, this country sucks, and also your kids suck’ strategy. Truly brilliant and I think they should come out against puppies next,” another user said.
Others criticised her for speaking out against college loans when she was reportedly paid $60,000 for a speech that lasted barely three minutes during the rally that preceded the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Ms Guilfoyle has not yet commented on the claim, made on CNN by Jan 6 committee member Zoe Lofgren.
More recently, Ms Guilfoyle made another controversial comment while speaking about Pennsylvania Lt Gov John Fetterman, who is running against Dr Mehmet Oz for the state’s Senate seat.
She called him “dangerous” and said: “It’s appalling to me the number of murderers, people who have committed violent crimes that [John Fetterman] has actually let out … that’s what people don’t get — he’s a very dangerous choice.”
She continued: “It reminds me of the days when we talk about Dukakis. [Mr Fetterman] actually let out two Hortons — two murderers — onto the streets, and I think that it’s important and that we drill down on this and get to the bottom of it because this man wants to be in the United States Senate.”
