It’s no surprise that Republican Nominee Donald Trump isn’t polling too well with women. Historically, most Republicans don’t. However, this is a whole new level. We’re talking about a man who has made so many offensive comments about women: apparently, we are “pigs”, “slobs”, “disgusting animals”, and “essentially aesthetically-pleasing objects”. In addition, his running mate Mike Pence nearly passed a law as governor of Indiana to completely defund Planned Parenthood. Although the campaign have tried to apply the “forgive and forget” tactic regarding all of this history, a new CNN poll shows that Hillary Clinton is still receiving a double-digit lead among female voters, which is detrimental to Trump’s campaign and his chances of winning this November.
In one last attempt to win over women, the Trump campaign has announced the new initiative they are calling “Trump-Pence Women’s Empowerment Tour”. The tour will be led by Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump; Tea Party activist and spokeswoman Katrina Pierson; former Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault; Eric Trump Foundation Vice President Lynne Patton; and social media personalities Diamond and Silk. That’s right: Donald Trump won’t even be there.
The tour was kicked off by Lara Trump, the candidate’s daughter-in-law. NYMag records her saying, “We really don’t have any idea what we’re doing, except we said, ‘We’ve got to go out and tell people what a great guy Donald Trump is”. Comical? Yes. Reassuring? Not really.
This road trip, whose name ironically sounds like a Spice Girls reunion tour, is designed to show women just how big of a feminist Donald Trump is and hopefully gain their support. The group hopes to specifically reach out to minorities, being that most of the tour members are women of color. “If you look at the make-up of our tour, we have a very diverse group here, the majority of ladies are African-American,” Lara Trump said in an interview with Politico. “It speaks to who Donald Trump is, these are all women he’s touched in very different ways.” However, at the tour’s recent stop in Bellville, there was only one African-American woman in attendance. On top of that, the seats were mostly occupied by supporters rather than the ones sitting on the fence like they are aiming for.
Before the crew comes to Philadelphia, Temple students want to speak their minds. “Donald Trump is a plague to minorities and women. The way he slanders them and portrays them as inferior all over national television. The idea of him doing anything to support either of those groups out of his own will is insane” says freshman Bernard Parris.
Many people, both students and the general public, get the impression that the tour is purely a publicity stunt. “Trump really has no place among the lives of women, not only in America but across the world. He really wants to bash women of all cultures and personalities and then try to win them over? That’s biggest scam I’ve heard yet.” adds Temple freshman Charleanne Rogers. Politico reports that the tour has already visited Detroit, and is said to have no effect on how women are planning to vote in only a couple months.
In a sense, it seems that we are living in some sort of exaggerated practical joke, just by looking at the two candidates we have to choose from. But what is the real reasoning behind Trump and Pence trying to maneuver such a stunt? Part of it is, most likely, only to say it’s been done. If Donald Trump or Mike Pence themselves were that passionate about “women’s empowerment”, they would at least make an appearance at the spectacle this tour is projected to be. The campaign understands how valuable the female votes are, and they’re trying to win us over. It’s unclear how the rest of the tour will turn out and if it will end up benefiting the Trump-Pence ticket, but what is clear is the power that women have in this upcoming election.