"You know, it really doesn't matter what they write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass. But she's got to be young and beautiful."- Donald Trump, 1991.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."- Donald Trump, 2015.
"It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees."- Donald Trump, 2013.
These are only a few examples of things that Donald Trump has said about women throughout his history of soaking up the spotlight and loving every minute of himself being famous. Recently, a succession of continuous attacks on women has raised greater concerns about Trump’s credibility as a presidential candidate. In the “spacious” time length of one week, he criticized his opponent’s wife’s looks, defended his campaign manager for assaulting a female reporter and finally, stated that women should be punished for having abortions. Trump now stands accused in the mainstream media of being a bombastic misogynist and honestly, rightly so.
How can someone who has said that “women – you have to treat them like s**t” be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination? How can a man accused of sexual assault and rape unite a nation and be the leader of the free world? Despite his lack of policy, experience and not to mention his temperament, the main reason that we cannot support Donald Trump as the potential Republican presidential nominee is because of how he treats and talks to women. Women have come too far in this country, — no in this world— to be talked to and treated as nothing more than an object to which is visually pleasing to Mr. Trump.
Trump gave us another brilliant example of his views of the opposite sex. When confronted by Anderson Cooper during a CNN town hall about Trump’s retweet of an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz next to a photograph of his wife, Melania Trump, Trump responded, “I didn’t start it.” Cooper quickly refuted that that was the response of a 5-year old, calling out Trump for his childish and misogynistic ways. Once again, we find ourselves back at recess in elementary school with the schoolyard bully preying on others he views as weak. In this case, women are among the weak in Trump's eyes. He continues to try to talk a big game, but later reveals himself to be nothing more than a child feeding off any attention that the world will give him.
How are some people not mind blown that this is the leading candidate of the Republican Party? It is as if we have entered a time machine and are back in 1916, not 2016. We have entered a time where women are demoralized for their looks and appearances. Heaven forbid if they have the nerve to challenge the great demagogue because if they do, they will be criticized for actually having a brain and for standing up to the man of which they should obey.
Honestly, and my inner-republican never thought that I would say this, but we should be thankful that Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner for the Democratic Party because if there was ever a tough woman to stand up to Trump, it’s Hillary. She can represent everything that Trump isn’t and can use his disgusting comments about women to her advantage and get women rally behind her. So while we may not agree with her policies, we, as women, should think critically about what it would mean for not only our nation, but also for our gender if Donald Trump were elected president. Remember this is the man that tweeted that if Hillary couldn’t satisfy her husband, then how could she satisfy America. Can we just take a minute to wonder how this is possible to say in 2016, but also get away with?
We as women cannot support a man who has referred to our gender as “bimbos” and “fat pigs." We as women cannot support a man who has said, "a person who is flat-chested is very hard to be a 10." We as women cannot support a man who discusses the roles of parenthood as, “I like kids. I mean, I won't do anything to take care of them; I'll supply funds, and she'll take care of the kids."
I’m sorry, but absolutely not.
The leaps and bounds that women have made in American society are now being threatened and could potentially be lost because of this man. Every step forward that we have taken is now being pushed back on due to this demagogue. We are finally being seen as equals in society, but soon we could be nothing more than an object valued only for our appearance. Are we to return to a time where we stand below the man again? A time where we must always obey and never threaten him and his “manliness”?
Oh god, please don’t let it be so.
