Trump, in an interview on British television, tried to explain why he didn’t consider himself a feminist.
Piers Morgan of ITV started to ask Trump about different women movements like the Women’s March, #MeToo and “Time’s Up.” All these movements wanted to bring awareness to sexual harassment and gender inequality in our society.
Trump responded by saying, “I think that would be maybe going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone. I think people have to go out… and they have to win. And women are doing great and I’m happy about that.”
By saying he’s not a feminist because he’s for everyone, Trump insinuated that feminism only centers itself about women superiority, which isn’t true. Feminism is about bridging the gap between the sexes and recognizing that both men and women are held to unfair stereotypes.
Morgan asked Trump, “What message could you give these women who are marching that you are for them and not the problem?”
Trump instead went to go on about himself with deflection, commenting that, “Well, I am for them and I think a lot of them understand that. I won many categories of women and the women vote in the election and people were shocked to see it.” He then would later on say, “women have the best unemployment number that they’ve had in seventeen years and they’re doing tremendously in business, they are doing tremendously in so many ways and people are starting to see that.”
Let’s analyze Trump’s comment here. Trump was asked the simple question of how he could create the message that women are not alone on their stance and he would utilize his power to aid them. Often, Trump uses a technique of gloating about his achievements as a defense. Trump talked about how he won categories and the fact that large numbers of women vote, instead of the effect of his actions. How has he shown that he is adamant about gender issues and realizes that fixing the issue is crucial to the success of the country? Trump would rather focus on making sure others believe that everyone is for him and not against him, not they other way around. Then, he repeatedly discussed how “tremendous” women were doing under his presidency, which didn’t really answer the interviewer’s question.
He also added on the marches, “You’re always going to have marches. The march, I guess, was a lot smaller than last year.”
Trump’s statement received criticism and enraged tweets:
Of course Trump is not a feminist.
But the fact that he's willing to say so… well, that's a whole different thing entirely. And it might be worse.https://t.co/LqUakug83O
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) January 27, 2018
President Trump has declared he is NOT a feminist. He tells Piers Morgan (another giant meatball) No, I wouldn't say I'm a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I'm for women, I'm for men, I'm for everyone.' Well, I guess that’s all settled.
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) January 28, 2018
Photo: Gage Skidmore
