(AFP) – Donald Trump found himself at the center of a firestorm Thursday over sexist comments he made at a campaign rally — the latest in a string of lewd and contemptuous comments about women from the former president and his surrogates.
“I want to protect the women of our country… whether the women like it or not,” Trump said Wednesday, drawing condemnation from women across the political spectrum led by his White House rival Kamala Harris. The Democratic vice president called the statement “very offensive to women,” just days before an election that experts say could shake out more than ever before along gender lines, with Trump performing strongly with male voters.
It is not the first time the 78-year-old billionaire has come under fire for his approach to women, and his latest remarks are not even the most offensive. In 2016, there was worldwide revulsion when just days before his election showdown with Hillary Clinton, a video emerged of the father of five — from three different women — boasting of using his celebrity to “grab (women) by the pussy.” Despite an outcry, the property tycoon still went on to defeat the Democratic former secretary of state.
For his third presidential campaign, again against a woman after losing to Joe Biden in 2020, the Republican and his campaign have sought to project an image of strength. Trump was earlier this year convicted of financial wrongdoing for covering up payments made to a former porn star and was found liable for defaming and sexually abusing author E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in the 1990s.
During the campaign, Trump has called Harris “mentally retarded” and “crazy,” suggesting she would become “a play toy” for other world leaders if elected. He has also mocked her full-throated laugh. On his Truth Social platform, he has implied that Harris, a former California prosecutor and US senator, owed her professional success to sexual favors.
– ‘Bromance and masculinity’ –
Trump’s recent flagship New York rally at Madison Square Garden came under fire not just for the racist rhetoric of some of the speakers, but also for their overt sexism. One businessman described Harris as being controlled by “pimps.” Trump’s surrogates have also come under fire for disparaging remarks that have bordered on the salacious. Far-right broadcaster Tucker Carlson said a Trump return to power would be akin to an angry father returning home to give his “bad little girl” a “vigorous spanking.” Trump is due to do an interview with Carlson late Thursday.
One of Donald Trump’s media supporters, Fox News host Jesse Watters, said Harris was “going to get paralyzed in the Situation Room while the generals have their way with her.” Watters subsequently insisted the remark was not intended to have a sexual meaning. Conservative influencer Charlie Kirk recently lashed women who “undermine their husbands” by secretly voting for Harris. One of the most notable misogynistic outbursts since the start of the campaign came from Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance. In a video dating back to 2021 that resurfaced this summer, he accused the governing Democrats of being a bunch of “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable too” because they are sad about not having kids.
Such toxic masculinity has provoked concerns even within the Republican Party, which faces extremely tight races in all of the seven must-win swing states needed to take the White House. Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, and who has been nicknamed “birdbrain” by the former president, aired those concerns this week. “This bromance and masculinity stuff, it borders on edgy to the point that it’s going to make women uncomfortable,” the former US ambassador to the UN said, referring to comments at the New York rally.
– Aurélia END
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