Trump's misogyny platform: Kirsten Powers

The Republican nominee for president of the United States closed out last week by taking to the stump to personally attack women who have accused him of sexual assault.

A few of the women were summarily dismissed as not hot enough for Donald Trump to grope. Of one, he said, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice.” Of another he told a crowd, “Look at her” and “Check out her Facebook page, you’ll understand.”

Never mind that these women are, in fact, attractive. Men don’t sexually assault women because they are lustful; they do it because they want to dominate, humiliate and abuse women. They do it because they view women as objects.

Who do we know who has this attitude about women?

Yes, it’s Donald Trump.

This is, after all, a man who sexually objectifies his own daughters. The Donald allowed Howard Stern to refer in 2004 to his daughter Ivanka as “a piece of ass” and engaged in a conversation about her breasts with the radio shock jock.  When asked by a talk show host in 1994 what characteristics his infant daughter Tiffany got from her mother, Trump praised the baby’s legs and noted he hoped that she would get her mother’s large breasts.

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In Trump’s mind, women derive their primary value from how they look, which is probably why he owned a major beauty pageant for so many years. Carly Fiorina’s face, which Trump found unappealing, disqualified her as president. Recordings with Howard Stern include Trump ranking women on a scale of 1-10, with Trump noting that, “A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a 10.”

He has even dissed Hillary Clinton’s appearance, telling a crowd that when she walked in front of him at the last debate, “I wasn’t impressed.”  (One suspects the feeling is mutual.)

Trump also rejects the common understanding in our society that men who touch women sexually without consent have committed a crime.  When asked at the second presidential debate by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether he knew that his predatory musings on a 2005 tape described sexual assault, Trump claimed that’s not what he said.

But it is, no matter how many times he and his surrogates say he was just engaging in so-called locker room talk.  Donald Trump Jr. dismissed the tape, saying it made his father seem “human” and noted, “I’ve had conversations like that with plenty of people.” No doubt.

Trump said his talking about forcibly kissing women and grabbing their genitals were just "words.”  The growing list of women who have come forward with allegations against Trump disagree. But even if not one sexual assault occurred, Trump’s reaction to the outcry over the tape of his remarks along with his attacks on the appearances of accusers tells us everything we need to know about his warped views on sexual assault. Let’s not forget that in 2013, he also tweeted that sexual assault in the military was the result of allowing women to serve alongside men.

Pair this with Trump’s views on sexual harassment, and the prospect of a President Trump poses an existential threat to women.

In August, Trump told me that if Ivanka were sexually harassed in the workplace, he hoped she would find another job or career. He defended Roger Ailes, who had been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment. He spoke as if the former Fox News chief, not the women, were the victim.

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Following outcry over Trump’s comments, Eric Trump explained that Ivanka would never be sexually harassed because she was such a strong, powerful woman. This 1950s understanding of sexual harassment, along with total contempt for women’s equality in the workplace, apparently runs deep in the Trump family. In a 2013 radio interview, Donald Jr. told the hosts that women who can’t handle sexual harassment “don’t belong in the workforce.” He suggested they “teach kindergarten.”

Women cannot be equal participants in a society that views sexual assault and sexual harassment the way Donald Trump and his defenders do. Perhaps this is why Trump’s already tepid support among women is falling.  A CBS News poll released Sunday found that “a big swing in the women’s vote has propelled Hillary Clinton into a six-point lead across the battleground states, as seven in 10 women feel Donald Trump does not respect them.”

Women likely are rejecting Trump because they know the presidential race isn't just about taxes or ISIL or immigration. It’s about their place in society and how a Trump presidency would drag women back a half-century.

This election is becoming a referendum on misogyny — about who expresses it, excuses it and perpetrates it. That’s an election Donald Trump can’t win.

Kirsten Powers, author of The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech, writes often for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter @KirstenPowers.

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