In a new column for GraziaDaily, journalist Lucy Vine looks at why there are so many women out there rooting for a misogynist US President...
For me, it’s not really the overt hatred. It’s not when he implied Fox news journalist Megyn Kelly must be on her period because she was asking him difficult questions during a debate. It wasn’t when he said women who had abortions deserved “punishment”. It’s not about when he called a lawyer “disgusting” because she requested a break to breastfeed, or when he sent a New York Times columnist a picture of her face circled with “The Face of a Dog” written across it. It’s not even the countless deplorable things he’s said about women (“you have to treat them like shit” “she’s a big fat pig”, “bimbo,” “slobs”, “disgusting animals”, “useless”, etc).
Those things are, well, very bad. But, for me, it’s when he thinks he’s being nice that I get scared. When he congratulates women and offers what he would call ‘compliments’, it’s not just patronising – it’s worse than that. All those times he’s patted womankind on the head and told us in a surprised voice that we’re good at what we do, what he’s saying is that we are surpassing his very, very low expectations. I believe him when he says, “I love women”, I just think he’s saying it in the same way we applaud when a dog performs tricks on Britain's Got Talent.
He fundamentally doesn’t believe women to be as good as men. He thinks a woman’s main responsibility is to look good, and when they fail in that respect, they are without point or worth. We’ve seen it over and over again – not just in all those comments he’s made about the female appearance (including his daughter’s) – but also when he’s confronted by a strong woman, and he immediately resorts to physical insults. Because, to him, “ugly” is the worst thing a woman can be. A woman is only her appearance. That is her worth. So how much worse could it get than to say she isn’t worth his amorous attentions – what else would we women have if he didn’t want to have sex with us?
Which is why it’s so astonishing that there are still women in the US who support him. A recent poll claimed 70% of US women view him unfavourably – which means close to a third do not. And this week a poll by the Washington Post and ABC News found that, increasingly, it’s looking like Donald Trump has a genuine chance of becoming the next US President. He and Hillary Clinton are statistically tied, with Trump leading 46% to Clinton’s 44%. She’s dropped 11% since March, and that is, in no small part, down to an upsurge in female voters.
In an interview on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour this week, Kelly Dittmar from the Centre for American Women and Politics said female supporters seem to be drawn to Trump mostly because of his policies on national security (he wants to eject all Muslims from America and plans to build a wall to keep out the Mexican “rapists”). “We know some women are most concerned about national security,” says Dittmar. “And are willing to overlook the things he’s said. For some women it’s tied to his stance on immigration, they support the wall he’s talked about. Others appreciate his authenticity. They see some of his rhetoric, not as offensive to women, but as evidence that he’s willing to tell it like it is. Even when that goes over the line.”
It’s interesting, this “authenticity” line, that keeps coming up. Trump lives and dies by the bitch-at-school’s ‘I’m just being honest’ line. But he is so often not honest. He’s been caught out in outrageous lies over and over again. Even very recently when he denied posing as his own publicist back in the nineties (if you haven’t heard the tapes yet, go listen to them right now, we’ll wait). He denied that he was “John Miller” despite already admitting 'yes-it-was-me,' years go. He forgets what he’s lied about in the past – that is the hallmark of a serial liar.
Dittmar also discussed how many female voters see Trump as a favourable alternative to Clinton, given the various sexual assault accusations surrounding her husband, Bill. Last week Trump released a video smearing his opponent on those grounds. But even that tells us more about his views on women than hers. For Trump, Clinton is merely a reflection of her husband. Her worth is in his actions. Bill has done (allegedly) bad things, and his wife – as an extension of him – should be held accountable. It is yet more evidence of Trump’s embedded misogyny. And, guys, let’s not forget Donald Trump has been accused of rape himself. In a recent New York Times cover story, 'Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women In Private', in addition to various disturbing anecdotes about his behaviour around models and co-workers, the NYT repeat claims made by his ex-wife Ivana Trump during a deposition, and detailed again in 1993 Trump biography, Lost Tycoon:
“Donald held back Ivana’s arms and began to pull out fistfuls of hair from her scalp... He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants.
"Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified… It is a violent assault. According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, ‘he raped me.’"
Ivana later backed away from those claims saying they were “without merit”, but what is this world we live in that both American candidates have been linked to sexual violence against women? Isn’t it miserable?
There is so much more to say about Trump’s campaign, and about the bigotry and racism we’ve seen so far – and no doubt will see more of before the presidential election in November. So for now, let’s remember that 51% of the world’s population is made up of women. Trump may not think we have any worth, but women have the power to keep a man who hates us out of the White House. So let’s.