Donald Trump claims that he "loves" women, "cherishes" women, and that as president he will be great for women.
But this obligatory campaign rhetoric does not seem to match his actual beliefs.
Trump's genuine views about women are not difficult to discern. He reveals them in all sorts of ways as he rattles on and on. He can't help it. His true beliefs seep out of him and become obvious.
This was on full display in his latest victory speech after he swept all five primary elections on April 26th.
Trump declared that Hillary Clinton does not possess the "strength" or the "stamina" to be a good president. And he repeated these two words, "strength" and "stamina."
On what basis does Hillary lack strength or stamina? Well, of course, Trump offered no basis whatsoever. And this is because there is no basis. The truth is that Hillary has been a tireless public servant for many years and has demonstrated her extraordinary endurance, far more than has Trump.
In only her first three years as Secretary of State, Hillary broke the record for the greatest amount of travel. She was on the road for 351 days (almost an entire year), covered 850,000 miles, and visited no less than 102 countries. On a single trip alone, Hillary completed an epic 13-day diplomatic journey of 27,000 miles, which exceeded the circumference of the earth. And at the end she joked that she was ready for more.
She has been a veritable whirlwind in her career. She endured a prior full presidential campaign in 2008, she served as a U.S. Senator from New York, and of course she relished all of her initiatives as the First Lady of the United States for eight years, including leading an enormous undertaking to reform the entire healthcare system, which blazed the trail for the later passage of Obamacare.
Just thinking about Hillary's accomplishments alone is exhausting.
And yet Trump accuses her of lacking "strength" and "stamina." In the absence of any basis in fact, the answer seems apparent. Because she is a woman. These are code words revealing Trump's inner beliefs that women are not as strong and sturdy as men. So a woman is not equal to the task of being president.
Hillary "will not be good for the military," Trump declared. "She will not be good for protecting our country."
Really? On what basis? Again, no basis whatsoever.
Ironically, and apparently unbeknownst to Trump, Hillary is actually regarded as being very strong on the military as a so-called hawk, even to a fault. In fact, various Republican military hawks have themselves said that Hillary is stronger on the military than Trump.
Yet in his own head, Trump is stuck on the idea that Hillary is weak. Again, the answer seems apparent. Hillary is a woman. And to Trump, women are inferior to men because they are weaker than big strong alpha-males like the image Trump fancies of himself.
If that weren't enough, his disdain for women just kept oozing out of him.
"If Hillary Clinton were a man," he declared, "I don't think she'd get five percent of the vote."
Wow. He just can't help himself. One comment after the next just kept revealing his true views about women.
What Trump is saying here is that Hillary is completely devoid of substance. The only reason she is currently a candidate is because she is a woman and politically correct people are so desirous to see a woman in the White House that they are willing to abandon all standards and vote for any old female candidate no matter how unqualified.
"The only card she has is the woman's card," Trump asserted. "She's got nothing else going."
Nothing else going? Hillary Clinton? This, of course, is absurd.
Hillary is widely regarded as technically the most qualified candidate in the entire race. In fact, her qualifications far surpass anything that Trump has to offer. Now, of course, it is fine to disagree with her policies and positions, but to say that Hillary has nothing going for her except the fact that she is a woman is utterly preposterous. It again reveals Trump's inner views. A woman cannot possibly be qualified to be president, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.
Women see right through Trump's nonsense about how he loves and cherishes women. A recent Gallup poll shows that a whopping 70% of women have an unfavorable opinion of Trump.
"I'll do more for women than Hillary Clinton will ever do," Trump proclaimed in his victory speech.
It's no wonder that women just don't believe it.
(This article also appears on Salon.)