To her credit, in her next column she printed some very good replies ranging from outright support and admiration of the President to grudging support of his policies despite his behavior. Others expressed disdain of his opponent, and dislike of the progressive policies that he supported.
Still it seems true that a majority of women voted against the President. If he could have made the same inroads among women voters that he did among Black and Hispanic voters, the election would have been no contest. He would have won in a landslide.
What explains the animosity, often bordering on hatred, of millions of women to President Trump? Commentators routinely claim that it was a character issues that led these women to vote for the 78 year-old Joe Biden who is obviously showing the effects of old age. Trump has been repeatedly called a liar, a racist, and, worst of all, a misogynist or woman-hater.
I don’t think that is the whole answer. After all, Biden has been called out as a liar throughout his long career, most recently when he claimed that he knew nothing about his family’s business dealings in Ukraine and China.
During the Democratic debates, Kamala Harris, castigated him for supporting and voting with Southern racists while serving in the Senate. Later, she joyfully dropped the charges when he asked her to be his running mate.
As far as misogyny is concerned Biden was advised early in his campaign to change his normal behavior and pursue a “hands off” policy. Even when one woman dared to come forward and claim that Biden had sexually abused her, Democratic women and commentators departed from their “always believe the woman” mantra, and brushed her off into media oblivion.
I know a number of women who I am sure voted for Biden. Actually, in talking with them, it seemed clear that they did not really like Biden or his stated policies, but they were voting against President Trump. These were intelligent, reasonable women but it was clear that their animosity toward the President was not based on his policies or political positions.
Their animosity toward the President was almost visceral. One called him a “bad” man who could do nothing good. When I asked her if she could think of one accomplishment of his administration, she could not think of any. She and others angrily blamed him for the deaths of over 200000 during the coronavirus pandemic, but they usually had nothing but praise for the Governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose states had the highest death rates in the country.
Actually, it is fair to say that male Democratic politicians made the same charges. Joe Biden said as much in the debates, Governor Cuomo of New York made the same charge. Jim Himes, my congressional representative, recently called the President “incompetent and corrupt.”
Some people claim that the President would have been better liked if he had just turned his tone down, and come across as less combative and belligerent. I don’t think so. The President was disliked from day one and nothing he did or did not do would have changed people’s minds. Before the pandemic hit, we had the greatest economy in history including virtually full employment and rising incomes. But his detractors still despised him. I have never seen such anger directed at anyone.
I suspect that many women disliked Trump because he personified all the bad men they have known either personally or in fiction. He is a filthy rich white businessman who lived in a gilded apartment in the Trump Tower on Fifth avenue or at his multi-million-dollar resort at Mar a Lago. Trump divorced his first two wives and the beautiful and talented Melania is the epitome of a trophy wife.
Practically every day you can read in the advice column about a boyfriend, husband, or lover who degraded, abused, or deserted the woman who loved him. I had clients who told me they had slaved to put their husbands through college and make them successful, only to be left stranded when they ran off with the secretary.
For years in the movies or on TV, rich white males have been the number one villain. Just look at the many versions of Law and Order for confirmation. Although our jails are full of young black and Hispanic men, most of the murderers on that show are wealthy white businessmen.
I guess the final straw came when a rich white male defeated Hillary Clinton, the first female to run for President in 2016. Millions of women to this day cannot even acknowledge that Trump is a legitimate President and will not even call him President Trump. It’s the same old story and the President would never be forgiven no matter what he said or did.
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