Hey Donald Trump, ‘Respect’ Is a Verb and You Don’t Do It

Last night the Statue of Liberty fittingly went dark for an hour, as if to say she too has had enough of the Dark Age of Trump.

Don't Miss Sarah Jones's Essay On Kristi Noem Titled Predatory Is The Point On The Daily.

President Donald Trump’s twitter account managed to squeeze out a few bland, forced sounding words of mild support for women on A Day Without Women and International Women’s Day, but the empty words only serve to highlight his predatory, grotesque presence in women’s lives.

Here’s what the p*ssy grabbing serial sexual assaulter tweeted, “On International Women’s Day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in America & around the world.”

Grab your red vomit bucket for this one, “I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy.”

Um, no. Just no. And stay with me here, because this is why we can’t “just give him a chance.” Trump never gave women a chance, never even showed them a pretense of respect by offering an apology for his many outrageous insults and physical assaults.

It’s not just about the sexual assault or the anti-women policies or the bullying or the discrimination against Muslims or the contempt for “urban” communities or mocking of the disabled or the attacks on the LGBTQ community or the rise in anti-Semitism, it’s a combination of all of these things together. It’s what I coined Trump Traumatic Stress Disorder on November 10th, 2016.

It’s the fact that most women who have any experience with gender based violence know instinctively that Trump is a predator. He is the repugnant man who thinks his money and power make him so attractive to all women that he can do whatever he wants with them.

Trump doesn’t see us as human beings. We are pieces of meat, we expire at 35, we are worth nothing to him and his kind but what they appraise us as worth as a sexual victim. In fact, to be viewed as sexual prey to be used by them is their idea of our top aspiration.

Most of the women I know have been victims of gender based violence of some kind. It’s very common. So common it’s an epidemic, and one that men like Donald Trump perpetrate, endorse, support, enable, and encourage.

So no, he doesn’t get to pretend he respects women on international women’s day.

The man who stalked behind Hillary Clinton at a debate making thrusting motions, the man who bragged he could grab women by the p because he was a “star”, the man who remarked on a ten year old child as future sexual prey, the man who bragged about attacking numerous women, the man who called female journalists c*nt to their own boss, the man who said no one would vote for Carly Fiorina because of her face, the man who said it doesn’t matter what they write about you so long as you have a “young and beautiful piece of a$$,” the man who trades in his wives like a leased car — this man, this unrepentant, vulgar sad sack of a man who couldn’t get a woman without his money or power does not respect women.

Trump thinks he’s a womanizer, but what he really is is a pimp or a trafficker type. This is why he thinks all women are gold-diggers. He preys on vulnerable women who want or need his money and power. This kind of self-delusion is easy to fall into, and he’s not alone in letting fame and money go to his head, but because he is the president now, and supposed to be a role model, it’s particularly problematic.

“You have to treat ’em like s—-” Our President has said of women.

This is a man whose followers regularly send women journalists rape threats (a daily occurrence during the campaign), mimic Trump’s out of date, low brow, pathetic insults of “bimbo” and “c” word, and regularly insult women’s appearances as a political rebuttal. They’ve found the one man in America who makes them feel like they’ve got it. Like attracts like.

This is a man who said Hillary Clinton couldn’t satisfy her husband so how could she satisfy America – this man does not respect women.

We know respect when we see it, and it doesn’t walk in on teenage beauty pageant contestants to see them naked because it can.

Respect, like love, is a verb if it is to mean anything.

Respect would be valuing women based on something other than their looks. Respect would mean apologizing for not only his many outrageous comments calling women pigs and dogs, but supporting legislation to protect non-rich women economically, physically and as mothers in the workplace and at home.

Like his words about respect, Trump’s own image and brand is vulgar, nouveau riche desperation smothered in gold gilt. Trump has none of the noblesse oblige that embodies the spirit of true leaders, no matter their class or financial status. Trump is not a leader, he’s a slick thugster, a carnival grifter just like his father. That this man sees himself as superior to anyone is quite a stretch. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he assumes wrongly that this means he’s entitled, he’s worthy. He is not. Power, money and position do not necessarily translate to respect and in this case, not at all.

The past few months after the stunning “election” of Donald Trump have been a horrific battle for so many women. A battle born of believing that your fellow countrymen and women voted for a man who bragged about sexual assault, bragged about harming and using women’s bodies like they were nothing.

‘What kind of world is this?,’ we ask ourselves daily.

Well. It turns out it’s the kind of world where when a man like Donald Trump gets into office, however he got there and this is still unclear but it required and got Russian help, women of all ages and colors are not going to go silently.

This is the last gasp of overt, abusive patriarchy. Republicans in Congress are too weak and cowardly to stand up to this man and so make a mockery of their alleged “family values”, but the women of the world are not afraid. They are on it.

It’s so over.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

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.

Connect with Sarah on Post,  Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.