Two of Andy Puzder’s business pals generated big news earlier this month, joining forces to make for the unlikely political pairing of Kim Kardashian West and Donald Trump.
As CEO of CKE Restaraunts, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Puzder famously featured Kardashian West in racy fast food advertisements. Asked about her successful lobbying of Trump, who agreed to pardon Alice Marie Johnson after a meeting with Mrs. Kanye West, Puzder lauded the pre-eminent Kardashian sister in a Friday interview with the Washington Examiner.
Noting he has “no problem at all with Kim Kardashian talking to President Trump,” Puzder added, “I think she’s a lot smarter than people give her credit for and I actually like Kim. I think she’s a good person.”
“Kim Kardashian was one of the people that I got to know the best,” he said. “I really didn’t know the young ladies that we used in our ads. I met a couple of them, but Kim I got to know probably better than the rest.”
“I would run into her at Lakers games because we had floor seats and her sister was then dating Lamar Odom, and so I used to see her all the time, and see her mom all the time, and her mom was always trying to get me to use the younger sisters in an ad, and Kim would go ‘Mom, would you just leave Andy alone?” Puzder joked. “But Kim was a pretty good friend, and she’s very smart. Her persona isn’t to be the smart girl, it’s to be the beautiful hot girl, but she’s really smart.”
“You don’t become as famous as Kim Kardashian with really no movies to you name, no recordings to your name, she’s really marketed that brand. Much as Donald Trump has marketed his brand— Trump had success in business as well— she understands marketing the Kim Kardashian brand,” he continued.
Though Puzder noted he’s generally annoyed by the entertainment industry’s insistence on weighing in on politics, he added, “I hope the president did some good. I hope he balances out the terrible adverse influence out of Hollywood. I hope he reaches a younger audience to the extent they care what these people say.”
Puzder withdrew his nominee to serve as President Trump’s Labor Secretary last year amid resurfaced allegations of domestic abuse, though his ex-wife had retracted them. These days, he’s in regular contact with the White House as a media surrogate, and remains an ally of the administration’s. Even though he withdrew from the process the day before his hearing was scheduled to begin, Puzder’s former work with Kardashian West was enough to generate some buzz after Trump announced him as the nominee.
But the former CEO, who recently released a book on “The Capitalist Comeback,” has nothing but praise for the star of his salad commercials.
“I think she’s smart enough to know she could accomplish something good and meaningful. And she’s a good enough person to put aside the risks to accomplish that. And she succeeded. I don’t think it’s the last thing she’ll succeed in doing,” Puzder predicted.
