The Republican elite just can’t get out of their own way when it comes to women.
According to Slate, almost-but-not-quite VP Newt Gingrich told CNN on Wednesday that the media was disgusting for spending so much time on Melania Trump’s plagiarized speech.
He told correspondent Jamie Gangel that nobody cares that the speech was lifted almost word-for-word from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama. He said:
“Who cares? Who cares? The fact is Melania gave a good speech, she is stunningly attractive, she’s stunningly articulate, most of the people criticizing her can’t speak five languages. She’s a bright person, she introduced herself in a way that’s attractive, she’s obviously very passionate about America, and she introduced her husband.”
Did you notice how he tried to throw in the fact that Melania is articulate in many languages?
The fact is, if Mrs. Trump is bright and articulate in five languages, she certainly should have known what she was saying on the national stage.
The truth is that Gingrich’s comments were not about her brains. What he was saying was that as long as a woman is physically attractive, nobody cares what she says. Nobody will even listen.
According to Republicans, a woman can lie, she can plagiarize, she can stumble over her words. As long as she is “stunningly attractive,” no one cares.
This is not a new line of attack from the right, especially in the age of Trump. We can all remember when Trump criticized Carly Fiorina for her looks. Donald Trump has a long history of insulting and degrading women.
The RNC is selling sexist, anti-woman merchandise making reference to Hillary Clinton. The B* word is featured prominently, as are more sexual references.
Right wing radio host Michael Savage went on the air to claim that the outrage about the plagiarized speech came from Hillary Clinton herself. As if the former Secretary of State was reacting to a cute seventh grade rival.
As if women voters would want to support the popular girl based on her adorable outfits, he said:
“The issue is that she is so appealing that the Hillary Clinton camp went insane fearing that Melania has, in fact, captured the attention of the women of America who don’t like Hillary very much. Hillary is not attractive. Hillary is unattractive. This is a country that lives on movie stars. Melania’s a movie star, Hillary looks like a maid. She looks like Stalin’s housekeeper gussied up, that’s number one.”
How unbelievably shallow and paternalistic can they get?
How the hell do the Republicans have even a single female supporter? I am completely baffled.
