Donald Trump in the White House and Kim Kardashian Discussing Prison Reform (Welcome to 2018)

Is this the most 2018 thing, or what?

I’m guessing the Trump White House needed some intellectual heft to fall back on.

I’m even more certain that he wasn’t getting that when the nepotism kicked in and he tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a portfolio of responsibilities that covered everything from solving the opioid crisis to bringing about peace in the Middle East.

The husband of his favored child, Ivanka, had to have some position, and even though he struggled to get proper security clearance for the entire first year of Trump’s administration, he was the perfect guy to hand such a broad list of responsibility.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that with the security clearance kerfuffle in the rear view mirror, at least, Kushner is bringing out the big guns to tackle prison reform.

Big, reality TV mega-guns.

According to reports out today, Kushner will be hosting reality TV star, Kim Kardashian at the White House, to discuss this very serious issue.

Stop laughing. It’s not a joke.

The entrepreneur and reality television star has advocated for a pardon for a low-level drug offender named Alice Marie Johnson, who has served more than 20 years in prison.

Prison reform has been a key issue for Kushner. Earlier this month, the White House-backed First Step Act, which would expand programs for prisoners and allow for more home confinement, was approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

Kardashian West has said she supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but her husband, Kanye West, has signaled his support for Trump.

To be sure, the woman Kardashian is advocating for, Alice Marie Johnson, deserves to have her case looked over, and she could prove to be an important model for future prison reform measures.

Johnson is a 62 year old great-grandmother. She is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, for what is a first time drug offense. As of 2018, she has been in prison for over twenty years.

From the background I could find out Johnson’s case, she became mixed up in drug trafficking after going through a divorce in 1989, losing her job with FedEx, and then losing her youngest son in a motorcycle accident.

Said Johnson of her crimes:

“I made some very poor decisions out of desperation. I want this part to be clear: I acknowledge that I have done wrong. I made the biggest mistake of my life to make ends meet and got involved with people selling drugs.”

Also:

“I became what is called a telephone mule, passing messages between the distributors and sellers. I participated in a drug conspiracy, and I was wrong.”

A Memphis newspaper claimed Johnson was in charge of a multimillion dollar drug ring from 1991 to 1994, dealing in cocaine trafficking. Just how accurate that estimate may be is not clear.

Johnson’s daughter has offered that her mother has been a model prisoner during her time in prison. She mentors other female prisoners. She’s apparently found a gift for writing, directing, and producing plays that are put on outside of prison.

She has also taken advantage of various classes within the prison system and has received multiple class certifications.

A petition started for her release by her daughter currently has nearly 265,000 signatures. It was originally presented to President Obama, but he turned it down.

Presumably because a black grandmother in prison for over 20 years on a first time drug offense was less important than commuting the sentence of a transgender Army analyst, barely into a 35 year sentence for treason, and conspiring with enemies of the United States.

I’m really not sure about how people are ranked in importance on the liberal social justice scale.

Kardashian found out about Johnson through a Twitter post. She tweeted it at Ivanka Trump, and Ivanka got her in touch with Jared.

And if you don’t think Kim Kardashian is totally serious about this, she’s leaving the camera crew behind.

Who knows? Maybe she’s more than fake eyelashes, gross Instagram posts, and famous-because-her-daddy-was-rich.

Given where we are, as far as what passes for political discourse these days, this seems completely normal.