During a recent rally, Donald Trump made an empty promise to “protect” women if he’s president, although many noted the “promise” sounded a lot more like a threat.
Trump and his running mate, J. D. Vance, seem to realize their platform isn’t particularly reassuring for female voters. Given Trump’s gloating over overturning Roe v. Wade, Vance’s past comments supporting a nationwide abortion, and their alleged ties to Project 2025, many women fear their reproductive rights will deteriorate further under another Trump presidency. The pair have even backed states that want to surveil and treat pregnant women like criminals. On top of that, Trump’s election into office threatens to even further exacerbate the growing issue of violence against women. Emboldened MAGA men have been openly vouching for blaming women for Trump’s potential loss, revoking women’s voting rights, and publicly executing women for partaking in the #MeToo movement.
The only thing Trump and Vance have offered women is empty promises. After making horrific, extreme comments about restricting abortion rights, Vance started claiming he wanted to gain back the “trust” of America on the topic without explaining what that even meant. Similarly, Trump and Vance have promised to solve the childcare cost crisis and protect IVF, but they have yet to match their words with actual actions to demonstrate these goal. Just as Vance thinks he can win women over by vaguely asking them to “trust” him, Trump also thinks he can reassure them with empty and threatening promises.
Donald Trump has an ominous promise for women
During a rally in Green Bay, WI, Trump, in a sanitation costume, went on a rant about how he’s going to “protect” women. He began by explaining how “his people” warned him it was “inappropriate” for him to talk about wanting “to protect the women of our country.” His team was correct that any talk of protecting women is quite inappropriate. Women want a president who will defend their rights, not a president who thinks they need a man to protect them from bad guys.
However, Trump reveals he fought his team on the topic. He states, “I’m President. I want to protect the women of our country.” His rant takes an even stranger turn when he says cockily, “Well, I’m going to do it whether the woman like it or not. I’m going to protect them.” Whether the women like it or not? It sounds eerily like a threat. Is it not something a man would say when threatening to do something very bad to a woman? He’s basically admitting to not listening or caring whatsoever about what women want and simply doing his own thing.
Of course, his rant ended with his usual anti-immigration and xenophobic rhetoric as he promised to protect women from “immigrants” and “foreign countries.”
However, immigrants and foreign countries aren’t what women fear. After all, a woman is far more likely to experience violence at the hands of male American citizens than at the hands of immigrants. Yet, Trump says nothing about protecting women from his own unhinged followers who call for publicly executing women. Additionally, has he forgotten that women need protection from him? He’s the man who has been convicted of sexual abuse and has dozens of sexual assault allegations to his name. He’s the man who overturned Roe v. Wade, which has resulted in the deaths of several women who were denied medical care due to extreme abortion laws. He’s also the man who has expressed openness to states monitoring and criminalizing pregnant women.
Trump isn’t going to protect women from all the things they actually need protection from under a Trump presidency. This is why his empty promise sounds more like a threat. He’s warning women that they need to accept his specific, unnecessary protection. Like the majority of toxic men in this country, he wants to parade around as the protector of women even though he’s the one they need protection from.
Published: Oct 31, 2024 01:02 pm