Dethroned Miss Michigan Kathy Zhu joins President Trump's reelection campaign
DETROIT — Kathy Zhu, the Michigan pageant queen who was stripped of her title over old social media posts that were deemed insensitive, is joining President Donald Trump's reelection campaign.
“Team Trump welcomes Kathy Zhu to the Official #WomenforTrump Coalition Advisory Board!” Team Trump, official Twitter for the Trump Campaign, tweeted Thursday evening about the 20-year-old University of Michigan student.
"I am so excited to now be part of the #WomenforTrump Coalition Advisory Board! Let’s get Trump re-elected for 2020," Zhu tweeted back.
Dethroned Miss Michigan Kathy Zhu: It's harder to come out as a conservative than gay
Zhu was stripped of her title of Miss Michigan and as a participant in the Miss World America pageant after the organization deemed the content of her social media "offensive, insensitive and inappropriate," according to a letter from the pageant that she posted on her Twitter account.
A self-described liberal turned conservative, Zhu seems to be relishing her sudden notoriety. Her twitter following passed 150,000 on Sunday.
“Wow! 150,000 is a YUGE number! “ Zhu tweeted as @PoliticalKathy. “Thank you to everyone for your continued support.”
On Friday, she was the featured speaker at a Women for Trump luncheon in Michigan.
"It seems harder to come out as a conservative than it does as being gay," Zhu said at the luncheon.
"People wanted to ridicule me," she said. "There were so many times that my account got hacked from the left."
Stripped of title: Miss Michigan stripped of title over 'offensive' social media posts
Make America Great Again hats and embellished Trump shirts were on display at the entrance to the luncheon, but everyone's attention was focused on Zhu, who was met with a standing ovation.
Zhu still defends the two now-deleted tweets that she blames for her dethroning as Miss Michigan.
The first is an incident that dates to 2018, in which Zhu went up to a Muslim Student Association booth celebrating World Hijab Day and declined to wear a hijab when prompted.
She then tweeted: "There is a 'try a hijab on' booth at my college campus. So you're telling me that it's now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?"
The second is a reply to another user in which Zhu says: "Did you know the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community before blaming others."
Free Press staff writer Andrea Perez Balderrama contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kathy Zhu joins President Donald Trump's reelection campaign
