Donald Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more (MAGA)” motion is a macho cult. It suggests the US might be “nice once more” provided that fashionable American males study to be sturdy “manly males” like their fathers and grandfathers, assert dominance over “their” ladies, and “take again management” – no matter which means. It encourages males to cover their emotions, adhere to archaic intercourse stereotypes, use violence to get forward in life, and take recommendation not from consultants and family members, however so so-called well-known “alpha males”, like podcaster Joe Rogan or billionaire X proprietor (and now main Trump backer) Elon Musk.
This poisonous motion, constructed on a promise to return America to an imagined golden period when ladies knew their place and thus life was jolly for everybody, has sadly set the tone for the upcoming presidential elections on this planet’s strongest nation. We at the moment are residing in a actuality the place hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of American males (and a not-at-all-small variety of ladies) seem to see Donald Trump because the epitome of male power, and him being elected president for a second time as the one reply to the nation’s many issues.
The previous president and actuality TV star has a historical past of insulting and belittling ladies on social media and on tv. He routinely makes crude and offensive feedback about outstanding ladies, and particularly ladies who publicly discuss towards him at his televised rallies attended by hundreds. He criticises their bodily look, insults their households, and even their reproductive decisions. Not less than 26 ladies have accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. These allegations go all the way in which again to the Nineteen Seventies and embrace rape, undesirable kissing, groping, and voyeurism. Final 12 months, a jury in a civil trial discovered him chargeable for sexual assault and rewarded his accuser $5m. Trump denies all accusations, however nonetheless, his disdain for ladies is apparent to anybody paying an iota of consideration to his phrases and conduct. Even his VP choose, JD Vance, is an open misogynist, who insults their Democratic rivals by calling them “childless cat girls”. As president, Trump appointed the judges who finally overturned Roe v Wade and left American ladies in lots of states with out significant management over their our bodies and lives.
In a sane world, this monitor file of misogyny and violent machismo could be sufficient to make sure Trump has no likelihood of coming anyplace close to the White Home ever once more. However we aren’t residing in a sane world.
The MAGA motion has framed the complete election round stereotypes about masculinity. They claimed all the things is right down to bodily endurance, willingness to inflict violence on enemies, and being an general “macho man”, and seemingly managed to persuade sufficient individuals to have likelihood at profitable this election.
What does this inform us about American society?
Prior to now few months, we’ve repeatedly seen Trump’s main rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, being attacked not over her coverage positions and conduct in workplace, however her “sexual historical past”. She has been accused of being “promiscuous” in her youth and having had “slept her option to the highest”. Conservative commentator and filmmaker Matt Walsh posted on X that Harris had “made a profession out of begging for handouts from highly effective males”, and Fox Information host Megyn Kelly described these feedback as being useful to voters, and completely “honest sport”. After all, these are nothing however unsubstantiated rumours – the time-old story of baseless gossip being weaponised towards a profitable girl. And even when they had been true, her private relationship historical past wouldn’t have any impression on how Harris would do the job, or set her aside from Trump – a recognized serial adulterer and abuser of ladies who obtained the place he’s in life due to household cash and connections.
Past run-of-the-mill misogyny centered on alleged promiscuity, Trump’s “macho” supporters have additionally accused Harris of being a “dwelling wrecker” (on account of a previous relationship with a person who on the time was separated, however not but divorced, from his spouse); of truly being a person who transitioned to dwell as a lady (this one is difficult to decipher, however maybe the suggestion is that she wouldn’t have been this profitable in politics if she was a natural-born girl?); and of “not having a stake in the way forward for the nation” on account of her not having any organic kids. Harris, the one youngster of a few first-generation Black and South Asian immigrants, has additionally been accused of not being Black sufficient (as a result of she is half South Asian), not being South Asian sufficient (as a result of she is half Black!) and never being American sufficient (as a result of she was born to immigrant mother and father).
General, all through the marketing campaign season, the MAGA motion appeared to be making the case that Harris shouldn’t be elected president as a result of as a lady, she is morally, bodily and emotionally weak and never outfitted to steer the “sturdy and manly” American nation at this second of disaster and hardship.
Trying on the present Trump marketing campaign’s obvious success – regardless of all his scandals and 34 legal convictions, Trump stays neck and neck with Harris in all the most recent polls – and his surprising 2016 victory towards the political powerhouse that’s Hillary Clinton, some started to counsel that perhaps America will not be but prepared – and can by no means be prepared – to elect a lady as chief.
Whereas these pessimists are undoubtedly proper concerning the misogyny and sexism of the US society, and the uphill battle feminine candidates face in American politics, they appear to be ignoring two necessary information. One, Clinton, who carried a lot heavier political baggage than Harris, regardless of shedding the Electoral School, received the favored vote in 2016. And two, this 12 months, regardless of all of the misogyny, the slurs and the insults, Kamala Harris is in no way behind within the polls, and has a really actual likelihood of profitable this election.
Positive, a majority of males (particularly white males) appear to be supporting Trump’s machismo and exhibiting up for him (an October ballot by Economist/YouGov confirmed that Trump has an enormous 52 % to 43 % lead over Harris amongst male voters). However ladies, who’re effectively conscious of how damaging 4 years of Trump has been to their rights, are additionally exhibiting up for Harris. In line with a latest ballot by the Harvard Institute of Politics, Harris leads amongst ladies 18-29 by a whopping 30 factors. In battleground states like Arizona and Michigan, tens of hundreds of ladies, and particularly younger ladies, are recognized to have voted early to make sure a Harris victory.
So, a lady can nonetheless take over the White Home within the close to future. If Harris wins the election and turns into the primary feminine president of the USA, nevertheless, American misogyny that Trump uncovered, took benefit of, and deepened, is not going to disappear in a single day.
Simply because the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 didn’t mark the top of racism in American society, the doable election of Harris in 2024 is not going to finish misogyny and sexism within the nation.
That is partly as a result of Kamala Harris is not any true feminist.
The Democratic vice chairman panders to transgender ideology. She seems keen to permit males who say they’re ladies to trample upon the hard-earned sex-based rights of ladies within the identify of “inclusivity”. She is supportive of so-called “gender-affirming” medical interventions, which needlessly maim bodily wholesome ladies and ladies, and infrequently flip them into life-long medical sufferers. She is the primary mainstream US presidential candidate to help the blanket decriminalisation of prostitution (which she refers to as “intercourse work”). In some ways, Harris is not any good friend to ladies, both. And, sadly, she could also be appearing this fashion as a result of she believes true feminism can not win an American election.
However, even when Harris, for no matter purpose, can not appear to outline what a lady is, Trump most definitely can. In his bigoted, misogynistic thoughts, ladies are sexual playthings, moms and carers, and never full human beings with rights, opinions and freedoms.
For this reason, if I had been an American, I’d not hesitate to vote for Harris over Trump regardless of all my misgivings about her feminist credentials.
We are going to discover out, in a matter of days, whether or not sufficient People of all sexes involved about ladies’s rights attain the identical conclusion, present up on the polls to help Harris and handle to place an finish to the misogyny fest that has been Trump’s political profession.
However no matter political actuality we get up to on November 6, this election season – and the misogyny, hate and violence towards ladies it normalised – may have penalties. Going ahead, ladies will probably be extra scared to place themselves ahead for public workplace, realizing the harassment and lies they should face merely for being a lady searching for energy and authority. The abuse Harris endured up to now few months, not for her politics however her intercourse, has proved America will not be but a feminist nation, and it’s positively not able to elect a real feminist as chief.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.