President Donald Trump has a long and rarely challenged history of publicly degrading women. He boasted to “New York Magazine” in 1992 that in dealing with women a man should “treat them like sh*t.” There are countless examples of the ignorant and misguided bullying tactics that President Trump has employed over the decades and throughout his presidency to abuse, intimidate, and aggressively dominate women. Never has an American president been elected who so unabashedly employed these behaviors. It is past due that President Trump be held accountable for his treatment of women and to educate impressionable male youth that the measure of a man is NEVER characterized in a positive light by the harassment of women.
Since 2006, actress, comedian, and talk show host Rosie O’Donnell has been a target of President Trump’s vitriol. He opened fire on O’Donnell after she critiqued his Miss USA pageant while a host of the daytime talk show “The View.” Trump’s initial verbal abuse and bullying of O’Donnell were projected on “Entertainment Tonight” when he said
Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she’s a slob. How does she even get on television? If I were running The View, I’d fire Rosie. I’d look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, ‘Rosie, you’re fired.’
(Side note: It is interesting and telling that he immediately attacked O’Donnell and has continued to for over a decade, yet it took him nearly three days to discuss the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. He can attack a woman, no problem, but refuses to condemn white supremacist neo-Nazis.)
Very few public figures ever came to the defense of O’Donnell; which is strangely mirrored today in the political arena. Few have been brave enough to call the president out for his bullying and abusive behavior. This is one of the root reasons the path to the White House was paved for Trump. People have been too scared to stand up to his bullying devices. It takes a woman of pure strength to have survived the abuse O’Donnell experienced at the hands of President Trump.
Political commentator and journalist, Megyn Kelly has also been the bullseye of President Trump’s sexist bullying. As the host of the first Republican debate of the US presidential campaign in 2016, Kelly questioned him over claims of sexism. In retaliation Trump referred to Kelly as a “bimbo,” but the real kicker was in his suggestion that her questioning was due to menstruating. He stated “you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.” This low blow was just one of countless red flags highlighting the character of the man running for president. Lets not even open the “grab em’ by the pussy” Pandoras Box.
An encyclopedia sized book series could be written about President Trump’s sexism and bullying aimed at women. This is a man who has called Heidi Klum fat, stated that Angelina Jolie was ugly, and smugly said a year after Princess Diana’s death that he “probably could have nailed her.” Even more disgusting was his take on the princess “She had the height, she had the beauty, she had the skin― the whole thing. She was crazy, but these are minor details.”
A bizarre realization is that President Trump is ever so eager to aggressively bully women by criticizing their looks; remember Carly Fiorina. Rarely have we been witness to President Trump calling men names based on their physical appearances. One of the most disgusting and disturbing examples of President Trump’s treatment of women harkens back to his fat shaming of a Miss Universe contestant. Miss Universe winner and Venezuelan actress Alicia Machado claims that during the pageant he referred to her as ‘fat’ and called her ‘Miss Piggy.’ To make matters worse and adding to the racist undertones of his character she has also publically indicated that he referred to her as ‘Miss Housekeeping.’ These comments are shameful and beg the question―how a man who treats women in this degrading manner could have ever become President of the United States.
We owe every woman that President Trump has ever bullied and degraded a debt of gratitude. We owe it to women to make sure this behavior is NEVER allowed to be socially acceptable. Bullying is a leading cause of suicide in America for both youth and adults. To allow any leader, let alone the President of the United States a platform to bully without question is reprehensible. He has given men permission to degrade, discount, and bully an entire generation of women and we must put an end to that. An honorable man would never find strength and power in bullying a woman.
