CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Kayleigh McEnany has had a lot of people talking about her, and not all of it has been good. As the new political commentator for CNN,

Kayleigh has opinions that are hard to ignore and cause controversy in political circles with her support of Donald Trump and his policies.

To add to this furor, Kayleigh McEnany had no political experience before being hired by CNN as their political commentator, unlike most of the other people who occupy this role at other news organizations.

Let’s start with the good

Kayleigh McEnany is a conservative political commentator for CNN. Raised in Hamden, Connecticut by Irish-Catholic parents who owned a pub, she has worked on multiple campaigns for Republican candidates.

At just 27 years old, her impressive resume includes having served as an advisor to one of America’s first female presidential campaigns (Carly Fiorina).

She graduated from Harvard Law School with top grades and was awarded in 2016 for being one of the country’s most influential young lawyers under 40 years old.

In 2006 she hosted Fox News’ TV show called Real News. With her law degree and educational background, Kayleigh can provide political commentary on social media networks such as Twitter where she currently has more than 474K followers.

Now for the bad

On a recent episode of Anderson Cooper 360, in which he hosted back-to-back interviews with both candidates for mayor of Toronto – incumbent John Tory and challenger Jennifer Keesmaat – CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany said some quite outlandish things.

This is just one example of many; we all have our opinions on who the best candidate is. What’s not okay is that this was her final opinion about these two leaders: I’m not voting for someone I can’t get along with, she stated. I don’t think I’m going to vote at all.

This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with her co-workers on CNN–but an American expressing apathy towards an election happening in another country? Really?

If a non-American pundit showed apathy towards an election in another country, everyone would be up in arms. At its core, democracy is not just about policy decisions but also about its citizens’ right to have a say in government – even if we disagree with our fellow citizens or don’t always like their political candidates.

We may dislike one of our elected officials from time to time, but that doesn’t mean we should elect someone else who acts more like us at every opportunity. That’s called electing leaders by personality traits rather than qualifications or policies. And that’s not how America works!

And now for the ugly

Kayleigh McEnany is a conservative analyst who was hired by CNN in September 2016 to represent them on news-related shows. She claims that her appointment was not politically motivated despite her being an outspoken Trump supporter during the election season.

McEnany’s presence on CNN sparked both anger and joy among viewers as she proceeded to blatantly lie about many issues that plagued Trump’s campaign including his stance on climate change, treatment of veterans, and LGBTQ+ rights.

During one show she went so far as to say every single US military serviceman backs Donald Trump when in fact only 60% of them do. This would indicate that one-third don’t back Trump’s policies.

Let’s end on a high note

Despite my initial shock when I first watched her on TV CNN last night, I was pleasantly surprised by how articulate she was and how calm she seemed. She is engaging to watch – there’s no denying that.

She looks like your average,  CNN everyday Millennial girl. At 25 years old, she has shown herself to be intelligent, level-headed, and patriotic. She is also a little naïve – expecting American flags at Trump rallies while admitting they should be out all the time;

defending free speech about immigrants coming into America despite having parents who are immigrants themselves; talking about birthright citizenship as if it were an issue even though it’s not enshrined in our Constitution.

It’s clear to me that she is an exemplary young woman with a bright future ahead of her. This election will be over soon and we can all move on from it as a country. In my opinion, even if Trump loses (which I hope he doesn’t) there should still be a place for Kayleigh in American politics.

I’d love to see her get into government down the road – maybe run for congress herself someday – once she has more political experience under her belt.

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