[N]ot only did Trump carry white women, so did Romney in 2012, McCain in 2008 and Bush in 2004. Presumably, many white women have conservative views, whether on taxes or abortion, and neither Trump’s misogyny nor Clinton’s anatomy could override those commitments.CORRECTION: I had the wrong name for the author before. The Guardian confused me with its layout, showing another name right beside the article.
Trump also appealed to many women who feared downward mobility and poverty, winning a majority of women without college degrees, as well as rural women. He denounced the trade deals that they felt had wrecked their economies, and vowed to create jobs by rebuilding America’s decaying infrastructure. Meanwhile, Clinton partied with her funders in the Hamptons. She represented an out-of-touch elite, and many women felt that deeply and resented her – or simply didn’t care about her campaign....
Feminism has to mature beyond childish appeals to female unity, and recognize our many differences. It’s not the first time we’ve had to learn this lesson, but perhaps the trauma of Trump’s election will finally make it stick.
November 16, 2016
"Clinton believed her major appeal was her gender. She also counted on women to be offended by Trump’s misogyny."
"But it turns out 'woman' isn’t much of an identity – or even basis for solidarity – in itself," writes Liza Featherstone in The Guardian.
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She counted on a lot of things...pity she counted wrong.
Calling others misogynists or racists or xenophobes or whatever seems like a strong insult to the one hurling it is not effective. The majority's auto immune system ignores these epithets.
the trauma of Trump’s election
Do you really feel traumatized, Ann?
Great, honest article.
The Left actually believes that:
1. Women should vote for women, because they are women
2. Blacks should vote for blacks, because they are black
3. Hispanics should vote for Hispanics, because they are Hispanic.
The one fatal caveat though, is that if the candidate is a conservative woman (Sarah Palin), conservative black (Clarence Thomas), or conservative Hispanic (Alberto Gonzalez), all bets are off.
Does the Left understand that Hillary the white woman, did not get a majority of the the white woman vote?
There is no gender gap. Married women vote GOP as often as Dem. The Dems have a "marriage" gap -- unmarried women vote Dem in droves. What a surprise.
Calling for Camille Paglia. Your teaching has been re-discovered
I sense we are entering the Trump Rennaissance. Much lost learning/tradition will be found again as we are freed to be great again.
Ann I think Liza Featherstone wrote the article. Looks like Adita wrote the article linked to on the sidebar.
I meant Aditya -
Even though the pre-debate speculation about Secretary Clinton's physical and medical condition didn't really pan out, I wonder whether the contrast of President-elect Trump's energy and vitality in personal campaigning and at rallies did not contribute to his eventual victory. Even though they are close in age, Secretary Clinton seemed like a tired old woman, while President-elect Trump did not seem like a tired old man at all.
Maybe being out there showing you want the job and have the constitution to do it counts more than having a "ground game" run by other people.
Feminism is a dead end. Women or a race - white, black, asian, makes no difference - will not be persuaded in the long term to hate the men of their race. Same is true vice-versa.
They are one another's mothers and fathers. Brothers and sisters. Overwhelmingly - despite a generation now of Hollywood pushing otherwise - they want to marry one another. They want to have children of both sexes. They overwhelmingly - again, despite the push - want to live together in communities.
There is no rape culture - when one comes, you will know it by the angry hordes of men who show up with pitchforks and torches and rope, many of whom are only of distant fourth degree of relation to the woman in question.
So no, nobody really feared that Donald Trump was going to usher in an era where men went gleefully into the night to attack women. And women empathize with their men and have emotionally and financially shared in the pain of the ravages of globalization.
You see this in the black community to - to their credit. I disagree with Black Lives Matter, but one notes that black women are just as enthusiastically a part of it as black men, and yet it's never a case of a black woman being shot in a police confrontation.
They support and empathize with their men. As any damn fool could have predicted even without a six figure study in a research periodical.
Race > Culture > Politics. Trying to shoehorn Sex onto that scale worked when whites were enough of a majority that they believed "race" didn't matter. It never worked with other groups, because all the other groups always understood that it did. Game over.
Per tradguy:I sense we are entering the Trump Rennaissance. Much lost learning/tradition will be found again as we are freed to be great again.
I wish I'd saved my old history textbooks. Is it too late to save real knowledge? While Trump, himself, is a poor conduit to higher learning and traditional values, he might just wipe the slate clean so we can start over.
The Judaeo-Christian component is a big part of our recovery, IMO.
Hillary, Bill, Podesta and Robbie Mook simply ran an incompetent campaign driven by their ideology. I've seen news reports that the Clinton campaign spent more on media in Nebraska trying to get Omaha's one (!) Electoral College vote than in all of Wisconsin. Hillary was here twice and Bill once. (They did collect some money from Warren Buffett.) Lost by over 10,000 votes. Turns out they aren't the smartest people in the room after all.
I would have no problem voting for a female president with a few conditions. She would have to be honest and ethical, have a demonstrated track record of accomplishments without riding some man's coattails, and who has a platform that I can support. Hillary was none of those things. I wouldn't vote for that woman because she is a woman. That would be just as sexist as refusing to vote for someone just because she is a woman. I would vote for that woman because of who she is, what she has done, and what she plans to do if elected.
My wife (a retired nurse and legal immigrant) and most of the women I know refused to vote for Hillary. To women like them, it was never a matter of vagina solidarity. They just loathed Hillary as much as I did.
My wife said, at least 20 times during election season, "Hillary Clinton is not a woman"
At some point, when you are in a Secret Service bubble, and don't drive for 30 years or interact with real people, you start believing your own BS.
When Hillary thought she was above the Law just because she, incredibly, got away with her sleazy act 20 times in a row, she lost American women.
Real women have character.
As a father of 2 daughters I knew we could do better. Thank goodness we will get a chance!!
Meanwhile, Clinton partied with her funders in the Hamptons. She represented an out-of-touch elite . . .
Somehow The Guardian missed that the Trumps are elite as well: "After Vacationing with Putin’s Girlfriend, Ivanka Yachts with Democratic Hollywood Billionaire."
Clinton believed her major appeal was her gender...
She's probably correct. Unfortunately for her it's all relative.
Hillary should have remembered her husband's alleged campaign mantra back in the 90s:
The economy, stupid."
OT: Mr. Zimmerman ain't goin' to Sweden.
"Maybe being out there showing you want the job and have the constitution to do it counts more than having a "ground game" run by other people."
Never underestimate the 9/11 Memorial fainting spell. Hillary looked incredibly weak at that moment. I think it's a bigger reason she lost than people give it credit for.
"But it turns out 'woman' isn’t much of an identity – or even basis for solidarity – in itself," writes Aditya Chakrabortty in The Guardian.
File this under the heading "No fucking shit!"
"Meanwhile, Clinton partied with her funders in the Hamptons. She represented an out-of-touch elite . . .
Somehow The Guardian missed that the Trumps are elite as well: "After Vacationing with Putin’s Girlfriend, Ivanka Yachts with Democratic Hollywood Billionaire.""
Class can transcend wealth. Trump, for all his monies, is still 'relatable' to the lower classes. Also, Hillary NEVER attempted to define nor address the issues that affected most of the Trump voters.
Hillary should have remembered her husband's alleged campaign mantra back in the 90s:
The economy, stupid."
She could have remembered it all day long, but voters understand that she still stands for bureaucratic over-regulation that hurts the economy while enriching only the bureaucrats and regulators.
Trump ran a "retail politics" campaign on a national scale. He went into all the states he thought mattered and asked for their votes. He did not depend on his wealth and run a television packed campaign. He got out and touched the people. He made it very clear that he is not afraid of ordinary people ( deplorables). In fact he may even be speaking the truth when he says he cares about ordinary people. He certainly proved he was a fighter.
I know Gadfly is being purposively obtuse in his labeling Trump as an "elite". Yes he's wealthy and he lives the life of the wealthy. But do you recall any Trump fund raisers that made the society pages? "Elite" is a mind set in this case. In Hillary's case "entitled" would be a better description. She believed she was entitled to her positions of power; she believed that she was entitled to wealth, though she never earned it; she believed she was entitled to ignore concerns for security because she was Hillary; she believed that she was entitled to the votes of women just because she was a woman. Wrong on all counts!
I reported on my discussion with the woman who owns the camp I rented in October. She is a nurse as well, which I thinks makes her an educated white woman. She certainly is rural. She summed up her political position by saying that "We need a change and Hillary is not that change". Obviously there were many more like her.
Perhaps Trump is an elite, but he employs a lot of regular folks. In order to do well in the hospitality business you need to know your employees well. I suspect that he does know them well and that helped him relate to people during the campaign.
"But it turns out 'woman' isn’t much of an identity – or even basis for solidarity – in itself,"
Feminists call non-feminists "female impersonators", then they wonder why they are so unpopular. 3rd wave feminism is a progressive hate movement that belongs on the trash heap of history.
I know an 84 year old white woman who has only voted for the Democratic presidential ticket once, 2008. Yeah, she was actually voting against the Republican ticket that year.
As the Democrats have become more and more Leftist, they have also become increasingly beguiled by abstractions, statistics, coefficients of correlation, and projections. They have lost sight of real people. Women, Latinos, Blacks, and White men are not robots or automatons . They have life experiences. White men are not the only people capable of racism or sexism and those who believe otherwise do so to advance an agenda. But, lets not get abstract ourselves. Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate. She told a very important truth about herself in describing Trump supporters as deplorable. In her first national television interview, she took a swipe at Tammy Wynette, a woman who rose up from the poorest of the poor whites to become a singer of multiple hit records. Hillary described her husband's victims as "bimbos." The more poople saw of Hillary Clinton, the less they liked what they saw. Much of the emotional angst we see now that she lost is simply people in denial confronting the truth.
Perhaps the apparently traumatized women would benefit from rejiggering their definition of "trauma".
I don't know. Long shot.
Clinton also believed that she could get elected by criticizing Trump rather than telling people what she would do as President. Big mistake, Ms. Clinton. Probably cost you the election.
Also, from my uneducated perspective, "uneducated" women seem to have a better grasp of fairness, hyperbole and general nonsense. So.
A Trump advisor on CNN (can't recall who) when asked about the data breakdowns that showed Trump wasn't the favorite said "Politics is people. You have to get out and talk to the people and listen to them."
I dunno, Althouse was severely alarmed by grab her pussy, as a deep character and judgment flaw; whereas guys dismiss it instantly as trivial as a view into character. If anything, a positive, a willingness to be less than superior to the other guy.
That's a gender difference Hillary correctly counted on.
Women are crazy.
Only 40% of women are soap opera women. Big but not quite a majority.
They're all nuts, though.
The sisterhood so list on the river by protecting the rapist. I would vote for Maggie Thatcher no hesitation.
I will say it again you don't break through the glass ceiling if you need Play-doh, Coloring books and therapy dogs.
I am of the Camille Paglua School of Feminism:
If world advancement relied on women, we'd still be living in caves.
Had Trump been talking to me:
Trump: They let you grab their pussy.
Me: Why would you grab their pussy? You can't feel anything.
Trump: Right, but they like it.
I will never submit to the female identity.
Even though the pre-debate speculation about Secretary Clinton's physical and medical condition didn't really pan out...
Oh, the woman has some serious health issues. We'll find out about them soon enough.
Also, from my uneducated perspective, "uneducated" women seem to have a better grasp of fairness, hyperbole and general nonsense. So.
Regarding educated women, it might very well depend on the substance--or lack thereof--of their 'education'. Women in the sciences are probably more clear-thinking than women who majored in 'Women's Studies' or 'African-American Studies'. It is telling that the margin between white college-educated women who voted for Trump and those who voted for Clinton was only 6%.
A very good point, mockturtle!
perhaps the trauma of Trump’s election will finally make it stick
It certainly doesn't look that way so far, but we can hope.
Maybe Hillary can have lunch with Marica Clark and the two and talk about how their "Sisters" let them down.
Unmarried white women are responsible for the "Gender Gap" for Republicans. First, because unmarried women with kids are usually getting government handouts. Second, because unmarried women are either frivolous 20 somethings who aren't "deep thinkers" when it comes to politics or they're losers.
BTW, unmarried men also vote less Republican primarily for reason #2.
There was going to be a sexual predator dot on the map at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue no matter who won.
What amazes me is that the Democrats had completely blocked that out of their collective mind.
BTW, can we stop calling someone with a degree in "Gender Studies" or the humanities "educated"?
If you have any respect for a college education, I think you should look at some of the classes being taught at your local 4 year college. An English major who runs around sneering at "Dead white male" and has a PHD thesis entitled "Scobby Doo and Bob Dylan - A Marxist interpretation" isn't educated.
If we had the same press we had in 1980, this would have been a 49 state landslide.
@tim in Vermont
One dot would require an "alleged" tag, IMO. A lot of accusations, but I haven't seen any proof that Trump is a "sexual predator".
That drove me crazy, btw. I'm as guilty as anyone of confirmation bias, at least at first blush, but I really resented what looked like a smear campaign.
Yes, the man said vulgar things. But sexual predator?
Yesssss!!!!!!
Has no one learned from "Survivor"? At some point these homogenous groups disintegrate. The lowest rung in the hierarchy realizes they are better off aligning themselves with another group.
I guess HIllary was blindsided. The tribe has spoken.
Ann was quoting the author who said she was traumatized. Ann did not say SHE was traumatized by Trump's win.
Women also have sons, nephews, fathers, husbands, and uncles whose futures are also of their concern. Perhaps more concerning to some than others.
Hillary's overestimation does not surprise me.
It's pretty much like the tortoise and the hare. It's the arrogance of the rabbit that lost the race.
The questgion is: Why did she think it?
It was obvious, yes, she was relying on that strategy.
Maybe it was the only strategy she had
Bay Area Guy said...
Great, honest article.
The Left actually believes that:
1. Women should vote for women, because they are women
2. Blacks should vote for blacks, because they are black
3. Hispanics should vote for Hispanics, because they are Hispanic.
And that whites voting for whites is racist.
My wife was really upset when she was in the shower when the Hillary door-to-door person came. She really, really wanted to tell the person that she though Hillary was a disgrace to women, after her actions and non-actions around Bill's dalliances in the WH.
My wife almost went outside to look down the street to see if the opportunity could be salvaged.
The Campaign Continues.
33 days to go.
The whole thing is silly. Crooked Hillary lost for a lot of little reasons, including lack of energy, corruption, being married to a rapist, etc. One of the interesting ones was that her campaign slogan of "I'm With Her" was much weaker than Trump's "Making America Great Again". Hers revolved around her, and his revolved around us. Why would anyone strive to be with her? They weren't going to get any of her millions in ill gotten gains. Or, get to live in the big house again. My addition to that is that her "Stronger Together", while not as good as Trump's "Making America Great Again", was a lot better than her "I'm With Her", but was weakened by being essentially combined with her other slogan - maybe saying that She (Crooked Hillary) was stronger if you were with her.
Instead of indicting all feminism, maybe we should concede that Clinton's feminism was a childish feminism, always deployed to support herself, and never in evidence when it would have been against Hillary Clinton's interests.
Why blame everyone for the failures of this particular individual?
Women may be gratified that the appeal to a childish and ethically destitute form of faux feminism didn't work here.
Perhaps if the immediate response to younger women's support for Sanders from the Clinton camp had not been "They're just doing it for the Bernie bros," we all might feel differently. Trump's misogyny in this campaign paled before Hillary Clinton's.
Identity feminism which demands support for any female candidate over any male candidate is idiotic in the first place, but when you combine that with the hysterical attacks on a woman like Sarah Palin, it achieves an awesome level of self-refutation.
I still can't comprehend how she thought setting up her own server to run government business was OK. There is no place in the private or public sector where that would be legitimate.
Not just a slogan, Bruce, but the very telling fact that Trump seemed to be talking about America while Hillary seemed only concerned about herself and being the FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT. Even if she hadn't shown herself to be irredeemably corrupt and dishonest, she may have lost anyway because Trumpsters wanted change, not four more years of Obama.
Amen.
The author misses the point. Many women were offended by Trump's misogyny, such as it was. Exit polls showed misgivings by many Trump voters. And still they voted for him and against Hill. The rejection was more stinging than they realized. So he's an SOB: still better than that bitch.
The election wasn't about Trump. Hillary lost.
Period.
Which is a good sign.
And not because she's a woman.
Though she is... a woman.
They say.
(sorry for the "extra line breaks."
Poetic fuckin' license.)
It's an aamzing factoid for the feminist left. But women have a brain, as well as a vagina. Vagina voterism will only get you so far.
"As the Democrats have become more and more Leftist...."
HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Good one!!
Wait...you're serious?
You shouldn't have taken the brown acid, dude.
@Robert Cook
They also have a strange idea that ad hominem comments are actually an argument......dude.
"Feminism has to mature beyond childish appeals to female unity, and recognize our many differences. It’s not the first time we’ve had to learn this lesson, but perhaps the trauma of Trump’s election will finally make it stick."
I don't see how feminism can "mature beyond childish appeals to female unity". Does she think there is a more grown-up way to try to convince people that their only important political characteristic is between their legs? Maybe grab them by it?
If you are black, you can look at your skin and know that back, back, back through time at least one of your ancestors was black. You can imagine that whatever struggles black people in whatever countries they were living in were going through, your ancestor probably went through it. You feel the history. You know if they could reach through time they would love you.
When you are a woman- that same sense of history doesn't exists. We are - all of us- from one man and one woman. We can relate to our mothers and our fathers. We can imagine the history our mothers went through, but in our blood is also the history of our fathers. One parent or grandparent might have struggled more or less, and we know those stories.
You can live your whole life being white and not really having any black people you love or can relate to. You can live your whole life not really having any white people you love or can relate to. But almost nobody lives their whole life not having someone of the opposite gender they love and can relate to.
And thus the idea of solidarity fails.
(Even Hillary Clinton talked about how hard her father worked for her)
It is funny after the 2012 War on Women, Romney can't get the women's vote, to finally hear that large groups of women actually did vote for Romney. Of course, we knew it at the time but that wasn't the narrative. That narrative has always been that Republicans can't get women to vote for them. We didn't hear about college educated women, or married women going for Republicans until it looks like they were actually going to swing toward Trump. Suddenly he was so awful he was actually going to lose this well-known (ahem) Republican constituency.
This year has been good for so much turn-on-a-dime narrative switching, I almost can't believe it. From needing a "black lives matter" movement to being outraged Trump said black people have it tough in America. From dismissing Presidents behaving inappropriately to saying its too dangerous to have such men in the White House. From saying Al Gore really won 2000 to saying its against Democracy to not accept the outcome of an election, to protesting against the outcome of the election. The list goes on and on.
Do any of the narrative leaders see how this year is making them appear ridiculous?
""As the Democrats have become more and more Leftist...."
Cook -- I would describe it Cook as Corporate Leftism. On the surface it's all identity politicking but in the back rooms, it's backslaps with Goldman Sachs and company.
If Trump is a misogynist, Hillary is a worse one for her support of Bill the Rapist.
So maybe using a totally faux War on Women as your campaign's basis, from false numbers for college rapes to false claims of wimmen-hatin' by the Republican candidate, wasn't such a good idea for the actual leader of the very real Bimbo Eruption Squad?
I would describe it Cook as Corporate Leftism.
Hmm..isn't there a term for this in political science...it is right on the tip of my tongue.......
Trump is not a misogynist. A misogynist is someone who dislikes women. He clearly likes them. Maybe not always appropriately, but he does like them. ;-)
I think what Cookie means is that the Democrats have been more in bed with the corporate oligarchs and less socialistic. I would have to agree. But on social issues, they are as far left as one can get without falling into the abyss.
mock... but he likes to grab them by the *honk*. Is that hatred?
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