Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:21 pm
I’ve finally found a silver lining to Donald Trump’s existence, and even I dare say his elevation to presidential candidate. And for this, I thank Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s overt misogyny and sexism draw attention to the motive and meaning of the Republican Party’s policies designed to control and punish women for their independence.
From Paul Ryan’s bill that attempted to give a woman’s rapist more control over her body and life than a woman is allowed in many Republican controlled states to the Republican attempt to shove a transvaginal ultrasound wand between our legs for no reason other than to punish us, Republican policy has offended and outraged women.
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There was the Republican “legitimate rape” slip and their attempt to legislatively redefine rape as only “forcible rape” and to redefine a victim as an “accuser.”
But it was sold with paternalistic condescension, masking the noxious misogyny hiding beneath. We were told it was about babies. And who doesn’t love babies.
But Republicans tried to turn the Violence Against Women Act into a Pro-Violence Against Women Act. Republicans wanted women in jail who harmed a fetus unintentionally. They let men go free for abusing women and killing a fetus, while jailing women for having a miscarriage. They came up with a bill that encouraged neighbors and family to report on pregnant women who suddenly were no longer pregnant.
Indeed, Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence tried to force funerals for fetuses.
We knew it wasn’t really about babies, because when the babies were born, Republicans treated both the woman and the baby like trash who deserved to starve, unless they were middle-class and white.
We knew it wasn’t about life, because Republicans have been crafting legislation that would force pregnant women to die in order to save the fetus.
We knew it wasn’t about life because they push war and the death penalty and keep trying to repeal Obamacare.
We knew it wasn’t about life or families because even when children were slaughtered during the Sandy Hook attack, Republicans refused to allow even the most basic gun sales reforms.
Republicans refused to even consider making it hard to sell guns legally to people on the terror watch list.
However, we couldn’t convince women who didn’t pay a lot of attention to policy. We often couldn’t have a discussion with our fathers or brothers about what they were supporting, because they could hide under the “small government” argument and no amount of pointing out that controlling women’s bodies is the embodiment of anti-liberty, big government intrusion landed.
And then along came Donald Trump.
While a troubling amount of people still support him and don’t seem to be able to articulate an actual real reason for it that stands up under scrutiny, many have found Trump’s bragging about sexual assault a bridge too far.
Donald Trump’s hatred toward women, as evidenced in his treatment of them – including young girls – as pieces of meat, turns off a lot of good men and has awoken many Republican women. They say that Republicans’ refusal to take back their endorsement of Trump is proof that the left was always right.
And they are correct.
We were right about Republican policy. It is anti-woman. It is a war on women. It is an assault on our liberty.
Donald Trump is the ugly face of the real intention behind the Republican policies. It’s indecent, it’s wrong, it’s disgusting, it’s immoral and it’s uncivilized.
Republicans don’t get to lecture women about morality anymore or claim they know best. Anyone who supported Donald Trump when he first opened his mouth about Muslims and Mexicans knew he was bad news and had terrible judgment.
Trump attacked a Gold Star family and tried to humiliate Hillary Clinton by seating women her husband allegedly had an affair with in his family box at the second debate. This is clearly a sick man.
Now he’s trashing women who’ve come forward to say that he did the things he bragged about in the leaked Access Hollywood tape. Donald Trump sneers that they aren’t pretty enough for him to sexually assault. And Republicans stand by him.
So now women know exactly who Republicans are and what is behind their hateful policies.
Thanks, Donald Trump.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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