Donald Trump’s War on Women
Monday’s debate was a night spent solidifying stances: both the explicit and implicit. We heard Donald Trump boast about his plans to build a wall and defeat ISIS, but perhaps what scared me more about his speech, as a young woman, were the points that he implied. While discussing his own qualifications to be president, Trump turned to Hillary Clinton’s leadership skills, assuring, without specific reference to any one event, that she simply did not possess the “temperament” to make good decisions. As cutting as his words were, Trump did not suggest a specific instance that would indicate this throughout the night, aside from her pneumonia.
Upon first glance, this tactic seems like a typical, yet relatively empty assertion from a man that has been known to make dramatic, unfounded claims for effect. Besides, the same man and his party have frequently accused Clinton of being stoic and mechanical. Yet, as I sat watching the debate in a room full of both young women and men, the same phrase formed in several of our mouths as he spoke of her inability to lead because of her emotions: “Why, because she’s a woman?”.
Clinton, since the inception of her candidacy, has been asked to walk an impossibly thin line between vulnerability and professionalism. While the profile asked of any candidate is undoubtedly complex, there is a certain type of contradiction that is reserved for our female candidate. She is simultaneously roasted by the Republican party for her lack of personality, and reproached for her inability to be clear-headed and composed in times of crisis, an assertion that has been flung at countless women throughout the history of our country.
There is no doubt in my mind that Clinton has made bad decisions over the course of her lengthy time in public office. There is also no doubt in my mind that her views have changed and evolved dramatically since the beginning of her time in office. All of this is true, and she is far from perfect. That being said, Trump has shown a much higher level of impulsivity and emotion in this election season than she has. He has frequently gone off script, marginalizing minority communities and making rash statements about groups of people in the moment, only to subsequently go back on these claims in future rallies and interviews. In my opinion, this type of erratic and thoughtless behavior is much more worrisome.
At Tuesday’s debate alone, we saw Trump blindly support stop and frisk, not realizing that it had been ruled unconstitutional, and then soak up precious minutes of the debate trying to back up his uninformed and blatantly racist stance. All of this suggests that when Trump calls out Clinton for having a bad temperament in regards to decision-making, it is easy to infer that Trump is merely being sexist.
Here is why this is so dangerous: When Trump criticizes Clinton’s temperament, he draws a parallel between women and emotional decision-making. When he does this, he quietly fuels that stance of so many white Republican men and GOP members: that women do not deserve to make their own decisions, including those regarding their own health. Last night was not the first time we saw Trump undermine the female voice (not to overlook the 51 times that Trump interrupted Clinton while she was speaking last night alone).
We have seen Trump objectify and insult women for challenging him, such as Megyn Kelly. We have seen him use menstruation as a reason to undercut a woman’s passion on a topic. We have heard him call women pigs, slobs, and dogs. His treatment of Clinton does not stand alone in a vacuum, and cannot be entirely attributed to the fact that they are in opposing political parties. The fact of the matter is, diminishing the power of women in sexist ways is a habit for Trump at this point. I do not doubt that, if elected, Trump would deny women the right to make a variety of choices, including those about their own bodies.
He has called pregnancy an “inconvenience for employers”, and told Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press that Planned Parenthood “has to stop with the abortions”. Issues that should lie in the hands of women are at high risk of being stripped from them and placed in the hands of a white sexist man, who will never experience the feeling of unwanted or wanted pregnancy. I hope to reason with all women, conservative and liberal, pro-life and pro-choice. No matter what your stance is on women’s heath issues, don’t you want to decide what happens to your body? Don’t you want your voice to be heard, and not disregarded because you have your period every month? Don’t you want a president that will give you agency?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I can promise you that only one of the two candidates will respect your wishes. It isn’t the one who shamelessly criticizes the female temperament on national television.
This article was updated to reflect that Donald Trump interrupted Hillary Clinton 51 times, as opposed to the 70 times that she was interrupted including those by moderator Lester Holt.
