Donald Trump is making the same mistake with Hillary Clinton his misogynist brethren have made. Trump assumes that the sexist cabal whom he currently leads is representative of the American electorate. Trump, Cruz, Jeb, Gowdy, Reince, their insecure white maleness on display for all to see, are scared to death of her. They therefore revert to 12 year olds insulting Hillary’s womanhood, thinking that will win them something. What it won Hillary was a three-day record fundraising haul. Keep it up, “The Donald,” you’re gonna get the lady elected.
Per The Huffington Post, here is Trump’s now infamous remark:
“If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card.”
Hillary Clinton replied:
“If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in!”
Within hours, Clinton’s campaign had released a “woman card.”
Hillary’s 2.4 million/3 day fundraising haul represented donations from 115,000 people, and 40% of them, or 47,000 people, were first time donors to her campaign.
Well on his way to being the Republican nominee for President, thereby putting the last nail in the coffin of the current Republican Party, Trump believes his insults and sexist rhetoric will play with an electoral majority. He is about to find out how many still reasonable people in his own Party are unwilling to make the driver of the clown car Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and leader of the free world. He may play well to white male rage but he just found out he’s also playing to women’s rage — of all colors of the rainbow.
Put it this way, when even Governor Chris Christie’s wife is rolling her eyes at your remarks about Hillary, they’re not playing the way you want them to.
Plenty of women on both sides of the aisle, along with fair minded men, know damned well how much better a woman has to be often to be considered half a good as a man. Apart from their own life experience, they’ve witnessed their mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and friends be maligned unfairly with schoolyard bully tactics for too long. They’re sick of it.
A couple of reminders: in 2008, despite an overtly hostile beltway press, where she faced pressure to drop out of the race almost the first primary, Hillary Clinton won 18,000,000 votes, more than any candidate in primary history. In the “Bros Before Hoes” environment we well remember, running as a woman could hardly be seen as an advantage.
It has also been widely reported that her coverage in 2016 is once again, the most negative. Not surprising since a corporate run media wants to create a horse race and the only way to lift others up is to mash her down. But she is still winning more votes by far than any opponent of either side, despite being referred to as a “wax museum figure” by such “honorable” publications as The New York Times.
What this telegraphs is that the American people are making up their own minds. Many are seeing past beltway media (and various candidates’) insults and smear. Social media is helping as the great equalizer here.
In other words, The Donald better get himself a new argument.