If Trump Were A Strong Man, He Wouldn’t Be A Strongman
Women are familiar with Trump’s type and have had to deal with many of them throughout our lives.
Strong men do not go through their lives and the world in desperate fear that they will be perceived as weak. They do not bully. They do not attempt to dominate. They do not find satisfaction in emotionally, psychologically, physically, and economically abusing those who have less power. Strong men do not fear dissent and use all the tools at their disposal to silence ideas or people who do not agree with them, look like them, or think as they do.
Strong men are nothing like Donald Trump.
Trump is soft, coddled, fearful, and insecure. He desperately needs to be welcomed into the Strongman Club of despicable men like Bolsonaro, Kim, Orbán, and Putin to distract himself from what he knows to be true: no one would choose to be near him were it not out of fear or a lust for money, power, or both. He doesn’t have a stranglehold on GOP members of Congress because he is adored by them. The truth is, most are sickened by him and disgusted with themselves. I hope the Faustian bargains they have made are a daily torment.
The far right’s weak Christo-fascist men do not think of Donald Trump as a gift from God because he is a noble, admirable leader. He is a disgusting tool, a means to an end. I have no doubt that the authoritarian architects at The Heritage Society sit together and snicker about their good fortune in having been delivered such a useful idiot.
Most women have encountered a Trump-type — either as boyfriends, husbands, fathers, or just those dangerously insecure misogynists who call women bitches when we aren’t flattered to be catcalled or hit on when all we’re trying to do is walk down the street. Far too many of us have been on the receiving end of a fragile man’s wrath when we shared a thought, opinion, or idea that made them feel intellectually challenged. We’ve witnessed Trump’s fear response again and again when asked a smart question by a female reporter. The anger. The insults. The impulse to do or say anything to make the terror end.
Women are familiar with Trump’s type and have had to deal with many of them throughout our lives. We also know all too well the guys who go along to get along. The men who are silent when they know better, who do nothing and say nothing rather than stand up and speak up when their actions and voices could make a difference. We know these GOP men in Congress. We know these weak, frightened Republican men in states across the country who ask Trump “how high” every time he tells them to jump … or redistrict … or send their national guard troops where they are neither wanted, nor needed.
Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, we were built for this time. We never expected it to be easy. No one told us that society was built for us and that life would be a smooth path. And even if we’d been told that we could have or be anything, reality was always there to remind us that it is just not that easy. So, we’ve learned to be persistent and resilient. We will work together and relentlessly, along with the good men of this country whose numbers are greater than the Trumps and Hegseths and Millers and Voughts and Rubios and Abbotts.
Nothing that any marginalized group in America has now was given to them freely. Rights were demanded, fought for, achieved, and won. We aren’t afraid to face our country’s history because it shows us that tyranny by the minority is transient, because we can make it so. And we’ll do it again.
Feminism in the Age of Autocracy | Jessica Valenti Joins First Draft with Susan J. Demas
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"Women are familiar with Trump’s type and have had to deal with many of them throughout our lives. We also know all too well the guys who go along to get along. The men who are silent when they know better, who do nothing and say nothing rather than stand up and speak up when their actions and voices could make a difference."
They are like dogs sniffing each other's asses - that's where the fear leaks out.
Trump's self absorption has poisoned everything. As Rick so wisely stated and it bears constant repetition, ETTD.
Women recognize these men, and yet millions of women voted for Trump, and for Trumpist sycophants in the United States Congress, for governors and for state officials up and down the ballot. Women’s rights have been eroded, even their agency over their own bodies. Are women agreeable to giving away these precious rights to enshrine racism, xenophobia, homophobia,misogyny, and anti-semitism in our nation?