The Misogyny Runs Deep

In Donald and in America

Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.

With more revelations linking Donald and convicted rapist and sex trafficker of girls and young women, Jeffrey Epstein, one would think he would take a break from showing his deep disdain for women. But Donald’s misogyny runs deep, and he comes by it honestly because most of the people in his family—including the women—were misogynists.

As I mentioned, when Donald was speaking to reporters on Air Force One a few days ago, he called Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs “piggy.” None of the reporters there came to their colleagues’ defense. In fact, they didn’t react at all.

A day later, he had another run-in with a woman simply trying to do her job. Instead of answering her civilly, Donald demonstrated his increasing lack of impulse control and his lack of interest in hiding his contempt for women.

These moments have gone viral, but they’re nothing new—Donald has engaged in similar rhetoric and behavior for decades. Why is this different? Do we seriously think there will be any repercussions? A lot of people are pointing out that his reaction makes him appear even guiltier, but everything he has done vis-à-vis the Epstein files since coming back into office in January has made him seem more and more guilty.

On Twitter, investigative reporter Brian Allen posted:

Trump didn’t just dodge a question about the Epstein evidence, he exploded. He snapped … like a man who knows exactly what’s sitting in those files and is terrified the country will finally see it. This is the President of the United States, a thin-skinned, cornered bully who melts down the second accountability gets within striking distance. … He’s not defending the office. He’s defending himself.

Donald has done nothing but disgrace the office of the presidency since we were unfortunate enough to have him sent to the Oval Office back in 2017. However, I’m not entirely sure about whether he thinks accountability is within striking distance. This is somebody who has never been held accountable at all.

It seems to me that this is much simpler. In these two instances, Donald can’t handle the fact that a woman has the audacity to challenge him. But these women weren’t challenging him—they were doing their jobs as journalists to ask valid questions. Donald’s misogyny runs deep, however, and he believes he’s entitled to treat women with contempt. When he spoke to reporters Catherine Lucey and Mary Bruce in the way he did, I felt the shame and humiliation all women have felt when spoken to by men like that.

Donald’s egregious treatment of women is lifelong, and most of it has been on the record. I want to remind you just how in character this is by showing you a montage of clips from MSNBC. While watching it, pay particular attention to the reactions Donald gets.

The grotesque reactions from many in Donald’s audience explain a lot about how we got here. Aside from that, though, Donald is admitting something very explicitly here, just as he has at other times. He is admitting that he would rape a woman, but only if he found her attractive.

Donald has been credibly accused by over 23 women of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Last year, a jury of his peers found him civilly liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll. Knowing that, tens of millions of Americans still made the choice to vote for him in 2024. There is, therefore, no reason for Donald to think he won’t get away with openly treating women with contempt.

I grew up in this family. None of what Donald says or does is surprising. And it never has been. What continues to surprise me, even though I should know better by now, is that a significant minority of the American people continue to be willing to accept his dehumanization of women and the contempt he has for half of the population.

In the Trump family, girls had no value. My grandfather never would have allowed my aunt Maryanne, Donald’s sister and the oldest Trump sibling, to take over the family business. That responsibility should have fallen to my dad, the oldest son and his namesake, Freddy, but for various reasons my grandfather didn’t believe he was up to the task. The next oldest sibling, Elizabeth, another girl, would never have been considered any more than Maryanne. As the next boy in line, Donald became the heir to the empire despite his being both incompetent and a terrible businessman. Fred Trump knew all of that, but it didn’t matter. Donald served other purposes and, of course, he wasn’t a woman.

Unfortunately, America suffers from the same kind of unexamined misogyny my family suffered from. In 2016, sixty-two million people voted for Donald despite his history and the Access Hollywood tape. In 2024, 78 million people voted for him despite his being found liable for rape just a year earlier.

The concern now is that Donald’s open misogyny, which runs as deep as Jeffrey Epstein’s, has been so normalized that more men, and even many women, are increasingly comfortable not only with openly expressing their contempt for women, but for the increasing assault on women’s rights.