Ousted Miss Michigan Kathy Zhu struck a chord with grassroots conservatives across Michigan after Miss World America stripped her of her title.
The National Women for Trump gave her a standing ovation at the Heathers Club in Bloomfield Hills on July 26. Leaders there celebrated her presence with a Facebook post.
The Sunday after her appointment to the National Women for Trump Advisory Board, Zhu passed 150,000 followers on Twitter.
Team Trump welcomes Kathy Zhu to the Official #WomenforTrump Coalition Advisory Board! @PoliticalKathy is a patriot who has continued to stand for American values despite being stripped of her crown.
Thank you for your support of President @realdonaldtrump! 🇺🇸
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) July 25, 2019
The Michigan Star sought reaction from the grassroots of Michigan politics.
Elena Oelke, a Trump supporter and real estate broker in Southwestern Michigan, thinks it’s great that Zhu is joining the National Women for Trump Advisory Board.
“She has a great story to tell and it would bring attention to how conservatives are treated and mistreated for their views and opinions expressed in a public eye,” she said.
“I can relate to every legal immigrant,” said Oelke, who immigrated from Russia. “I know that you have to work harder then everyone, and no one gives you any special treatment like they do to illegal immigrants.”
Zhu, a University of Michigan student, stands by her deleted Twitter posts and denies the storm of accusations leveled against her.
“I think that everything I’ve said is considered free speech because it is backed up by statistics, facts, something I have experienced or my opinions. I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” Zhu previously told The Detroit Free Press. “I don’t think I am Islamophobic, but I am going to criticize something that doesn’t fit within my morals when I see it.”
The July 25 Decency Minute from Fremont, Michigan responded to Zhu’s tweet about the Muslim Student Association on her campus by pointedly calling out the hypocrisy of the Left.
“Some women in Iran are removing their hijabs as a sign of resistance to the oppressive Sharia regime that rules their lives,” said Bill Johnson, broadcast host and director of the American Decency Association. “At least 29 women have been arrested for doing so.”
“Yet, instead of seeking freedom for these oppressed women, the left demonizes all points of view but its own, and as they do so, right and reason are eradicated from the public square.”
Zhu has said that the experience has been more positive than negative, and noted that she wouldn’t take the crown back even if Miss World America offered.
“I enjoy snarky comments that hint at the left’s hypocrisy,” said Shelly Gregoire of Battle Creek, who is challenging a Democratic incumbent for the Michigan House in 2020. “I’m just glad she’s on the right side! If she comes out hard as a constitutional conservative, we’d be doing well. She’ll be a great asset to helping Trump take Michigan again in 2020.”
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Abigail Nobel is a reporter for The Michigan Star.
Photo “Kathy Zhu” by Kathy Zhu.
