The presidential campaign has turned into a war of the sexes. With a front line that pits Democratic women against conservative men. Since the criminalization of abortion in 21 states – following the annulment of the Roe vs Wade decision by the Supreme Court in 2022 – the former have been over-mobilized in favor of Kamala Harris while more and more male voters of all ages are seduced by Donald Trump’s “virile” and “masculinist” posture. According to a survey by Wall Street Journalthe latter has a 10-point lead in the male electorate (compared to five in 2020), while his opponent enjoys an advantage of 13 points among women.
To limit the damage to women, or even win back votes, the former president is implementing two strategies. The first, inglorious, consists of avoiding the subject of abortion. At the Republican Party convention in July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the word “abortion” was not mentioned once in four days! The second is counterintuitive. It consists of presenting Trump as the champion of American women. Here again, watching the Milwaukee convention in full – little covered by the French media, but widely followed in the United States – is edifying. It must be admitted that many women have taken the podium one after the other. Republican elected officials of course (governors Sarah Huckabee and Kristi Noem), but also Trump’s collaborators at the White House (Kellyanne Conway), leaders of the private sector (Carrie Ruiz, manager of a Trump golf club in Miami) or even members of the family (Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lara Trump, the daughters-in-law).
The goal? Show that, in professional worlds dominated by men, Trump knows how to recognize talented women. Better, he does not hesitate to entrust them with responsibilities, as he did when he hosted The Apprentice on television. Trump is thus presented as an admired boss and mentor. “He saw something in me and in others that, perhaps, we had not seen in ourselves,” one testified. “I’m proud to be one of the countless women he promoted to leadership positions,” added another. This celebration ofempowerment women coexist with a much more traditional vision which instead makes them victims… protected or rescued by Trump.
When Trump brags about being the “protector of women”
Without too much subtlety, the campaign hammers home two main campaign issues: immigration and opioid addiction. To raise these complex issues, Trump relies almost exclusively on female figures, whether they are wives, mothers or sexual prey. A newlywed has opened up about how her husband died of an overdose. A crying mother has told how her 15-year-old son died after swallowing a Fentanyl pill. A siblings came to talk about the rape and murder of their sister by an undocumented immigrant. And Trump passed the last layer, discussing at length the fate of Jocelyn Nungaray, 12 years old, raped and strangled by two Venezuelan illegal immigrants.
The message is simple: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris left the borders wide open for immigrants and cartels; so they have blood on their hands. So who should Americans turn to? Trump of course! “I will not let these killers and criminals enter our country. With me, your sons and daughters will be safe,” he swore at the convention. We must believe that this posture of “protector of women” is paying off, because the candidate is resorting to it more and more, playing 100% on emotion without worrying about defending a project. Paternalistic and miserabilist, his vision of “woman” implicitly reveals the fundamental cultural issue at the heart of the election. With this question: Has Kamala Harris acquired enough political autonomy and credibility to be placed at the head of the country? Obviously, Trump responds negatively and calls her “mentally unstable”, “not very intelligent” and “stupid”. Eight years after Hillary Clinton’s failure, it is once again clear that being a woman against Trump does not constitute an advantage.
* Françoise Coste is a historian, professor at the University of Toulouse-Jean-Jaurès and author of Reagan (Perrin).
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