I’m not at all surprised that Trump tweeted what he did about Mika Brzezinski; misogyny is as much a part of his character as his lying, the dye job and the skin bronzer. It was an almost everyday occurrence during the campaign, and the tape on the bus with Billy Bush was no surprise. Gross, boorish, vulgar, and childish, but no surprise. And now that he’s in the White House, seeing it in full flower like we did yesterday just confirms it.
It was especially amusing in a sardonic way to see all the pearl-clutching by the Republicans on Capitol Hill as they did their Captain Renault routine of being shocked, shocked that Trump treats women that way. But anyone who’s paid the slightest attention knew this was just another day on Twitter for him.
As Michelle Goldberg notes in Slate, it’s actually a good thing that he’s out in the open about it.
I’m not sure that even well-intentioned men understand how relentlessly degrading this presidency is for many women. Having a man who does not recognize the humanity of more than half the population in a position of such power is a daily insult; it never really goes away. Perhaps this is why many women found the TV version of The Handmaid’s Tale so resonant, even though Trump, the former owner of a casino strip club, is the last person one can imagine instituting a Calvinist theocracy. Gilead’s fictional dystopia captures our constant incredulous horror at finding ourselves ruled by thuggish, unaccountable woman-haters who appear to revel in their own impunity.
If there is the barest sliver of consolation, it’s that Trump appears almost as miserable and anxiety-ridden as we are. He’s losing the tiny bit of control he had. It’s better for Trump to show us all who he really is than to let his lackeys pretend he’s remotely worthy of his office. Every time he tweets, he reveals his presidency as a disgusting farce. Let’s hope he keeps doing it.
My one fear is that this farce will become the new normal; that instead of being reviled by it, some will say that it’s refreshing that we no longer have to worry about being “politically correct” and that if the president can be a total dick, then so can anyone… if you’re twelve.
If that is the case, then we owe it not just to women but to civilization to fight back, to make it unacceptable, and to remind the sycophants who think it’s perfectly okay to degrade women now that they were the same ones who were incensed and outraged by the behavior of Bill Clinton and who plastered the airwaves with “character counts” and wailed about “what do we tell the children?”
It took a grand jury and leaked surreptitious wiretaps to reveal Clinton’s bad behavior. This toad brags about it.
