Caitlyn Jenner's Donald Trump Message Goes Viral

Caitlyn Jenner's social media post, in which she promoted the reelection of former President Donald Trump as a surefire route to "world peace," has gone viral.

Jenner and her friend and manager Sophia Hutchins were among the group of invitees in attendance at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD). The dinner is a more than a century-old annual event for journalists, politicians and celebrities which honors political journalists and raises money for scholarships.

Following the event, 1976 Olympic gold medalist Jenner took to X, formerly Twitter, to share footage of Hutchins flipping the bird and seemingly yelling expletives at a group of people purportedly protesting Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

Israel and Hamas have been locked in a war after the armed wing of the Palestinian political party attacked southern Israel in October. Much of Gaza has since been razed in air strikes by Israel, with huge numbers of the strip's 2.3 million residents forced to flee their homes.

Gaza health officials estimate that more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, and Israeli officials say that roughly 1,200 people were killed in the initial Hamas attacks, during which a further 253 were taken hostage, per the Associated Press.

The White House has become increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military response in the Gaza Strip. Israel has also faced pressure from the international community, as several celebrities speak out on the conflict while others have opted to forgo public discussion of the matter.

Posting footage of Hutchins facing detractors on Sunday, Jenner expressed her continued support for presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee Trump.

"After my manager, Sophia Hutchins, and I were mobbed and harassed by Hamas terrorist sympathizers on our way into #WHCD she had a very similar message for them," Jenner wrote, sharing an emoji of a hand flipping the bird. "Surround yourself with a team of fighters—it's the only way! We must restore world peace by re-electing @TeamTrump."

As of press time, the post had garnered more than 350,000 views. Hutchins shared the video on Instagram, as well as a photo that showed Jenner making the same middle-finger gesture at protestors. Newsweek has contacted representatives of Trump and Jenner via email for comment.

In a follow-up post, Jenner praised her friend as she reiterated her assertion that voting Trump back into the White House is the "only way" to bring world peace.

"Sophia is committed to not only the eradication of terrorists in the U.S. but one of the hardest working, most intelligent, devoted supporters of @TeamTrump re-election [because] that is the only way there will be world peace," Jenner stated in her post. "You don't find fighters like this very often!"

Hutchins, who, like Jenner, is a transgender woman, has made similar remarks about Trump in the past as she also praised him for his stance on LGBTQ+ issues.

"The facts are Donald Trump is the president for world peace," Hutchins said on social media last week. "Donald Trump is the president for economic prosperity. Donald Trump is the president to get our country to get back on track, not just domestically but all across the globe. Put LGBT social issues aside, which by the way, he is the best president for LGBT people in the history of the country, folks."

Trump has at times sought to cast himself as more moderate on LGBTQ+ rights than other Republicans, infamously waving an upside-down pride flag while campaigning for president in 2016. He has said he is "fine" with same-sex marriage and has sold LGBTQ+ pride merchandise in the past.

But he has still faced critics who say he has embraced traditionally conservative policies that would chip away at LGBTQ+ rights.

On the campaign trail, Trump has said he would sign executive orders to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. Supporters of these limits say people should be adults before making these health care decisions, but critics say supportive care helps improve the mental health of transgender individuals, and that only a small minority of people who transition when young say they later regret doing so.

While Jenner now supports Trump and backed him during the 2016 presidential campaign, she spoke out against him in an op-ed published by The Washington Post in 2018.

"The reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this president," she wrote at the time. "The leader of our nation has shown no regard for an already marginalized and struggling community. He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity.

"He has made trans people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energize the most right-wing segment of his party, claiming his anti-transgender policies are meant to 'protect the country.' This is politics at its worst. It is unacceptable, it is upsetting, and it has deeply, personally hurt me."

Jenner called her efforts to work with the Trump administration a mistake and criticized the then-president for his pursuits against LGBTQ+ rights, including his ban on trans soldiers and his reversal of former President Barack Obama's protections for trans schoolchildren.

"It's clear these policies have come directly from Trump, and they have been sanctioned, passively or actively, by the Republicans by whose continued support he governs. My hope in him—in them—was misplaced, and I cannot support anyone who is working against our community," Jenner wrote. "I do not support Trump. I must learn from my mistakes and move forward."

She has since openly supported Trump on his 2024 presidential run. Jenner is also an outspoken critic of transgender women participating in sports, and last year said that "indoctrination" of America's youth has led to the transgender community being "oversaturated."

Jenner, who publicly announced her transition in 2015 and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2017, claimed in 2022 that she and her staff had been inundated with death threats and hate mail from the "so-called 'inclusive' LGBT community" in reaction to her views.