President Donald Trump made two statements on Twitter Wednesday morning, and they might come as a surprise to the women across the country participating in the “Day Without a Woman.” The man they protest as a bigoted misogynistic bully actually values women — or at least he says he does. On a day when millions of women are planning to protest against him, his message was … respect and honor.
“I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy,” Trump declared on Twitter. “On International Women’s Day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in America & around the world.”
On International Women's Day, join me in honoring the critical role of women here in America & around the world.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2017
Wait — join him? Isn’t he the bogeyman, the great oppressor of women everywhere?
Actually, Trump has long hired women at his companies, and has reportedly paid them equally to men for equal work. Former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res, who worked for Trump for over a decade, has spoken out in favor of his behavior toward women.
It is important not to overlook Trump’s flaws. His infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” comments were crude and revealed his tendency to view the world in terms of winners and losers, where winners can do whatever they want sexually, to whomever they want. Those comments lent credence to the claims that he sexually assaulted women — a very serious charge.
That said, activists in the “Women’s March” and those behind the “Day Without a Woman” seem to suggest Trump will send American society back to a caricature of the 1700s, with women forced to stay in the kitchen and with all rights removed. While Trump’s personal views of his wife’s place as taking care of the kids while he works seem to echo views of the 1950s, he has not supported any concrete policies along this line. Where’s his call to take away voting rights? These complaints seem rather an overstatement of the “abortion rights are women’s rights” movement.
After all, these are the protesters behind the “Women’s March” who yelled at a pro-life woman that they “hope you get raped.” There is an extent to which a focus on liberal ideas as women’s rights actually turns these people against women — especially conservative women.
On the “Day Without a Woman” website, the organizers declared that the “Women’s March” showed “that our army of love greatly outnumbers that of fear, greed and hatred.” The protest allegedly declares “that women’s rights are human rights, regardless of a woman’s race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, sexual identity, gender expression, economic status, age or disability.”
In other words, the “Day Without a Woman” should really be called (courtesy of PJ Media’s Debra Heine) “A Day Without Left-Wing Women Who Vote Democrat And Want Bigger Government Controlling Everyone’s Lives.”
There certainly are grounds to question Trump’s morality and to protest his 2005 comments and his alleged sexual abuse of women — which fits those comments. But as usual, liberals overplay their hand. These protests aren’t just about Trump’s personal moral failings, they’re hodge-podge protests against the current of “hate” that liberals claim the president stands for — misogyny, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Whatever their next identity politics group, Trump will be bigotedly oppressive of them as well.
In reality, Trump does have respect for many women — even if he has allegedly abused some. His presidency is not as black and white as these activists claim. Perhaps that is why some liberal identity politics groups — blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and young people — voted more for Trump in 2016 than they did for Romney in 2012. Oh, and Trump won a majority of white women voters, despite his race against the “historic” “first woman president.”
But hey, Trump is against all women, minorities, and Muslims, right? These protesters see him as the personification of “fear, greed and hatred.” So long as they do so, they alienate themselves from the rest of America, and fail to see why Trump won in the first place.
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