Conservatives Should Learn Tough Lesson From Saga Of Caitlin Clark

Conservatives should learn a tough lesson from the saga of WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.

For a long time, conservatives championed Clark as one of their own. She was a humble phenom who took college basketball and the WNBA by storm. Throughout her rookie season, she was unfairly bullied by her fellow professionals on numerous occasions. Liberal sports pundits also treated her like garbage. Although he later retracted the remark, EPSN host Pat McAfee called Clark a “white bitch.” Jemele Hill suggested sports fans only care about Clark because she’s white and straight.

Amid these attacks, conservatives thought they could mold Clark into an ideological ally. Even though she was not an outspoken conservative, she had the right enemies: the racist left. Much to the chagrin of bitter liberals, Clark ascended to the top purely on her hard work and talent, earned accolades and broke records galore because she kept her nose to the grindstone even though she was receiving unfair treatment.  (Stream the Daily Caller’s ‘Demand For Hate’ documentary HERE)

However, it seems Clark recently burned a bridge with many of the same conservatives who treated her as an idol of sorts, standing athwart the tides of liberal woke culture. In an interview with Time magazine, Clark debased herself and talents by pandering to the race-sensitive left.

“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing,” Clark said.

The ire from the right over Clark’s “white privilege” comment is best encapsulated by podcast host Megyn Kelly, who excoriated the athlete for over her “self-flagellation.”

“Look at this,” Kelly posted on X. “[Clark]’s on the knee all but apologizing for being white and getting attention. The self-flagellation. The ‘oh [please] pay attention to the black players who are REALY (sic) the ones you want to celebrate.’ Condescending. Fake. Transparent. Sad.”

Kelly — and my colleague, the inimitable Mary Rooke — are dialed in, throwing truth darts, and I completely agree with them.

But there’s a deeper lesson conservatives should take away from the rise of Clark: that not everyone who appears to be against the left, not everyone who, however vaguely, embraces conservative traits and seems right-coded, should receive fawning, red-carpet treatment. (RELATED: ‘T*ts For Trump’: Conservatives Have A Big Problem When It Comes To Fighting Liberal Orthodoxy)

In the age of social media, both sides, conservative and liberal, are constantly trying to pull in non-political figures into their orbit. A great example is the Hawk Tuah girl. Conservatives tried to make a girl who went viral for making a lewd remark about blow jobs into a right-wing icon. That is anything but conservative. Once the viral-ness and hype around the person fades, another figure surfaces to replace them. And so on and so forth.

What does that achieve? Absolutely nothing. It does not build a strong culture of conservatism; it only degrades it, slowly with each new fad.