I don't know why people (including Karen Greenberg today) get so down on Donald Trump about women when he's such a p*ssycat of a guy. You remember, right? When he was discussing his failed attempt to seduce a married woman ("I did try and f*ck her. She was married," he told TV host Billy Bush), he couldn't have been clearer about his regard for them. As he put it: "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything" Grab 'em by the p*ssy. You can do anything."
Jeffrey Epstein aside, give "our" president credit. At least when it comes to American presidents, he's certainly been the ultimate womanizer. And give him credit as well at age 79, since he's only been convicted in court a single time (just once!) for sexually abusing a woman in a department store. I mean, can you even imagine beating a record like that? Or outdoing, according to Wikipedia, the guy who "has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 25 women since the 1970s"? A mere 25 of them!
Not only that, as president, he's offered women unfettered and unilateral protection of a remarkable sort. As he proclaimed recently (in honor of Women's History Month), "No longer will our Government promote radical ideologies that replace women with men in spaces and opportunities designed for women." Even more impressively, he's going to leave American women so healthy that his support for dismantling programs related to women's health won't faintly be a problem. Why would there be any need for such programs under the circumstances?
And so, given that remarkable presidential record, let TomDispatch regular Greenberg take you directly into "our" president's war on women in his second term in office -- and keep in mind that, on entering the White House a second time, he already had quite a record to sustain. After all, the first time he ever called a woman "piggy" wasn't recently. In 1996, he labeled the Miss Universe of that moment "Miss Piggy" after she gained some weight. Now, shhhh, quiet down and consider the president's all too unnerving record on women not even a year into his second time around. Tom
Trump's War on Women
Bodies, Roles, and Futures at Risk
"Quiet, Piggy." The president was intent on silencing Catherine Lucey. The Bloomberg reporter had provoked him with a question about the release of the Epstein files. His insult caught the public's attention. But Trump's tongue-lashing lexicon against women has a long history. Other female journalists have been dubbed "obnoxious," "terrible," "third-rate" and "ugly." Vice President Kamala Harris, opposing him in the 2024 presidential election, was labeled "retarded" and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "crazy as a bedbug." The list goes on (and on and on). And who knows what was redacted from the Epstein files along those very lines?
Mind you, those Trumpian insults hurled at women (and regularly offered about them) are anything but performative throwaways. They reveal Donald Trump's deep and abiding contempt for females, an attitude that has taken a giant leap forward (or do I mean backward?) in policy terms in the Trump 2.0 years. Well beyond a simple cascade of insulting words, the commander-in-chief and his allies have deemed women the enemy. And not surprisingly, under the circumstances, they are now distinctly under attack.
The Purges
From day one of his second term as president, Trump has made his intention to rid the government of women crystal clear -- with some window-dressing exceptions. Without mentioning women per se, he nonetheless targeted them on his very first day in office. Executive Order 14151 vowed to end the "forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs" of the Biden era. (On his first day in office, Biden had issued an executive order opening the door for "underserved communities" via a "whole of government equity agenda."). Trump's EO, however, decreed an end to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and to any appointments that were meant to reflect diversity hiring, claiming that such policies "demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination."
Immediately, women began to be flung from their government perches. Those holding high positions were the first to go. U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan was removed, as were the three top women at the National Labor Relations Board. Head of the Federal Trade Commission Rebecca Slaughter was promptly fired, a case still under review by the Supreme Court (though it's hard to expect good news from SCOTUS these days). The Pentagon cleaned house early and fast, removing women from positions of leadership, including the head of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis; the commandant of the Coast Guard, the chief of naval operations, and the only woman flag officer on NATO's Military Committee. All had been the first females to occupy those posts. Also sent packing was the woman serving as the senior military assistant to the secretary of defense.
Black women in particular found themselves under attack. Early removals of Black women included Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress; Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the National Labor Relations Board; and Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve Board. Meanwhile, Peggy Carr, the first Black person and the first woman to be commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, was cruelly and unexpectedly escorted out of the building in front of her staff.
The circumstances surrounding the ouster of the first female to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), acting administrator Janet Petro, highlighted the conviction that emptying offices of women occupants took precedence over quality, efficiency, or overall professionalism. Petro was replaced by an interim appointee, Sean Duffy, who continued to serve in the demanding job of secretary of transportation even as he assumed the leadership of NASA. Better, it seems, to overtax a man than allow a woman to lead anything whatsoever.
The Pentagon
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