The latest national NBC News poll found Donald Trump trailing Kamala Harris by 21 points among women voters. The good news for Republicans is that the former president is well aware of the gender gap. The bad news for Republicans is that he doesn’t know what to do about it.
In late August, for example, the GOP nominee targeted his Democratic rival in ugly and misogynistic ways, amplifying online content that suggested Harris traded sexual favors to advance her career. A New York Times report added at the time that the “repost was the second time in 10 days that the former president shared content from his personal account making sexually oriented attacks on Ms. Harris.” (A few days later, Trump told Fox News that Democrats are “demeaning women.” He didn’t appear to be kidding.)
In early September, the GOP nominee thought it’d be a good idea to lash out at some of the women who’ve accused him of sexual misconduct, at one point suggesting that some of his accusers weren’t attractive enough to attack. In late September, Trump said women would forget all about the importance of reproductive rights after he made their lives more “beautiful.”
All of which brings us to October and the former president’s closing message. As my MSNBC colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim noted, Trump has started pitching himself in recent weeks as a “protector” who will save women from fear and unhappiness.
He echoed the line during remarks at the Detroit Economic Club, boasting, “I think women love me because they want to be safe, and with me they’re safe.”
Hours later, in remarks delivered in Pittsburgh, his presidential predecessor shared some related thoughts.
Obama: He said don't worry, women. I will be your protector. I will tell you how he protected you. He hand-picked three of the supreme court justices who overturned Roe. Went out and bragged about it and now there are Trump abortion bans in 20 states pic.twitter.com/JguJnBhU7B
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 11, 2024
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, women. I will be your protector,’” Barack Obama explained. “I will tell you how he ‘protected’ you. He hand-picked three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, went out and bragged about it, and now there are Trump abortion bans in 20 states.”
Honestly, everything about Trump’s pitch isn’t just ridiculous, it’s insulting. The idea that Americans will be “safe” under his presidency is apparently rooted in the idea that he’ll be tougher on crime. In reality, Trump is himself a criminal; he pardoned a great many other criminals; he’s running on a platform of pardoning many more violent criminals; and crime rates in the United States are better now than when he was in the White House. It also doesn’t help that the Republican’s pitch is also rooted in creepy paternalism. For that matter, Obama is entirely right about the policy consequences of Trump’s efforts, which have had dramatically detrimental effects on the lives of countless women. And then, of course, there’s the idea that “with” Trump, women are “safe.” In reality, so many women have accused the Republican candidate of sexual misconduct that I’ve literally lost count (he denies any wrongdoing); Trump was recorded bragging about his willingness to grab women’s genitals because he’s a “star”; and last year, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexually abusing a woman. If the 2024 election comes down to the question of whether women are “safe” with the GOP nominee, Trump should lose 50 states.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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