Last week, President Trump targeted vice presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris, at his campaign rally in Florida on Friday. Since the day she was picked, Trump has relentlessly targeted Harris, calling her “very nasty”, “most horrible and most disrespectful”. Most recently, he seemed to focus on the potential of her running behind the scenes in the White House if elected with Joe Biden, and the possibility of her becoming president. He claimed that Harris is a socialist and could not be president. He proceeded to emphasize “especially a female socialist president. We’re not going to have it. We’re not going to put up with it. It’s not going to happen.” Now, if you’re against socialism, it’s pretty evident that you’re against the entire principle whether it be a male or female socialist running for president (which Senator Harris is not by the way).
This, of course, shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as this is just typical Trump sexism. It reinforces this idea that women in leadership roles are automatically deemed as “nasty and disrespectful” because of their confidence. Trump has done this before, in 2016, with Hilary Clinton calling her a “nasty woman” as well as saying she doesn’t have the “presidential look”. (NY Times). So for Trump to emphasize a female socialist president, it’s obvious that his misogynistic view that a woman is not suitable to be president is what he really thinks will be the downfall of the U.S. What’s even more disturbing are the women at his rally blindly applauding him. Whether or not you support Senator Harris isn’t the main issue, what’s important to realize is that it’s one thing to disagree with a candidate’s policies but to use gender as a tool for slander perpetuates ignorance and contributes to the social issues around us.