Maureen Dowd Calls Donald Trump the 'Kardashian' of Politics (Video)

Donald Trump is the Kardashian for the political world, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd observed on Thursday, comparing the Republican candidate to the reality TV family along with other monsters like Beowulf’s invincible Grendel.

“He reminds me of a Kardashian,” Dowd said. “I have never seen a political candidate who is so able to generate news and attention every minute of every hour of every day.”

Speaking at TheWrap’s Power Women Breakfast in Washington D.C.’s W Hotel Thursday, she called the GOP front-runner “egregious” for how he “brought a level of vulgarity” to politics, and likened him to the demon Grendel, impenetrable to any threat except that of classical hero Beowulf.

But “that’s how politics is right now,” Dowd, the winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, said, adding: “Nobody knows anything.”

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Speaking on a panel led by TheWrap’s CEO and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman, Dowd acknowledged that this year’s presidential race has upended conventions, making it impossible to predict what will happen next.

And she said the nature of media has diluted the impact of columnists like herself. “It tickles me to turn on the TV and see all the pundits talking and talking, and none of us knows anything,” she said.

Dowd became a columnist on The New York Times Op-Ed page in 1995. She is author of two New York Times bestsellers, “Bushworld” and “Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide,” and has covered seven presidential campaigns. She served as the Times’ White House correspondent, and wrote “On Washington,” a column for The New York Times Magazine.

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Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times, said that the media circus around Trump has stunted the power of investigative reporting. “You feel like you can do all the fact checks we want, we can do all the investigative pieces of Trump University…it doesn’t seem to make a dent,” she said.

Bumiller echoed Dowd’s befuddlement at how divisions in this country have given rise to voters’ flocking to candidates for defiant attitudes they represent without regard to the issues they stand for.

“It’s incredible to us here, how people can say ‘I can’t decide between Trump and Bernie Sanders.’ I can’t get my head around that,” she said. “They’re completely far [apart], on every issue.”

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As Washington bureau chief, Bumiller oversees the Times’ coverage of the nation’s political capital. Previously, she was the newspaper’s Pentagon correspondent from 2008 to early 2013 and its White House correspondent from 2001 to 2006, also writing a weekly column, White House Letter, about the people and behind-the-scenes events of the presidency.

After expanding the Power Women Breakfast franchise to New York and San Francisco last year, TheWrap’s breakfast Thursday inaugurated the series in DC, bringing together influential women of entertainment, media, technology, politics and brands in key cities to network and connect.

Joining the hosts on stage were presenters Adrienne Elrod, director of strategic communications and surrogates for the Hillary for America Campaign; commissioner Julie Brill of the Federal Trade Commission; commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel of the Federal Communications Commission; and CreativeFuture CEO Ruth Vitale.

The event was sponsored by Box, Okta, Personal Care Products Council, CreativeFuture, Discovery Communications and National Geographic Channels.

Watch video of Bumiller sharing her memories of Nancy Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II below.

Maureen Dowd, Adrienne Elrod Join TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast DC (Photos)

Sharon Waxman, CEO of TheWrap, and Adrienne K. Elrod, Director of Strategic Communications & Surrogates, Hillary for America, speak on a panel during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on March 10, 2016 in Washington, D.C.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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Maureen Dowd, a New York Times columnist, speaks during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, speaks on a panel during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner of the FCC, speaks on a panel during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Karen Appleton, Senior VP of BOX, Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner of the FCC, and Julie Brill, Commissioner of the FTC, speak with Sharon Waxman on a panel during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Karen Appleton, Senior VP of BOX attends the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Lezlee Westine, Personal Care Products Council, speaks at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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A shot of the crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman speaks to Rep. Debbie Dingell (D - Mich.) at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Julie Brill, Commissioner of the FTC, speaks to the women attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on March 10.
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TheWrap's CEO and Founder Sharon Waxman, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on March 10.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman with New York Times Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller, Creative Future CEO Ruth Vitale, BOX senior VP Karen Appleton, Adrienne K. Elrod, Heather Podesta and Lezlee Westine at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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The crowd attending TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on March 10.
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Karen Appleton, Senior VP of BOX, hugs another guest at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman speaks to a guest at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Rep. Debbie Dingell engages in conversation with other guests at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Karen Appleton, Senior VP of BOX, Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner of the FCC, and Julie Brill, Commissioner of the FTC speak with Sharon Waxman on a panel during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on March 10.
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Guests attend TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Table arrangement at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Karen Appleton, Senior VP of BOX attends the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Maureen Dowd, columnist of The New York Times, and Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times, strike a pose during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Adrienne K. Elrod, Director of Strategic Communications & Surrogates, Hillary For America, attends TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington D.C. on March 10.
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Jessica Rosenworcel and Julie Brill at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington D.C. on March 10
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Lezlee Westine, Personal Care Products Council, poses for a photo during the TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington D.C. on March 10
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Guests attend TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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Jessica Rosenworcel, Sharon Waxman and Julie Brill pose for a photo at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Karen Appleton greets other guests at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Rep. Debbie Dingell meets other guests at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
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Guests attend TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on March 10.
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