TRUMP AND THE WAR ON WOMEN
By Gary
Stamper
Much like the times we find ourselves living in, the 16th century
was a time of uncertainty, plague, fear,
and change. A little Ice Age was digging in, and Europe was hit by droughts and
poor harvests. The plague was raging in the Netherlands in 1613, just when its
authorities were conducting their witch trials.
You remember witch trials, right, and the holocaust that accompanied it? The Christian church and the state cooperated
in a concerted effort to wipe out the power and independence of midwives,
healers, and crones.
More on that below.
The old, stable orders of society were breaking down. The Catholic
Church was being challenged, feudalism was crumbling. The upheavals unsettled
everyone. “Immense sadness and a feeling of doom pervaded the land,” the
scholar Robert D. Anderson wrote. Historical concordances are always inexact,
but the tenor of that time sounds acutely familiar to us:
In periods of turbulence, people look for someone to blame.
For Trump and his followers, it’s anyone deemed to be an “other.”
Hatred of black people, brown people, red people (racism), people from other
countries, anyone perceived to be a stranger or foreign (xenophobia),
homophobia (LGBTQ people), and hatred, contempt, or prejudice against women or
girls (misogyny).
For Trump, you can add “anyone who opposes him” in any way. He’s clearly more
aligned with other authoritarian leaders than he is with his intelligence
systems. John Bolton writes that his
former boss was not driven by any world view or philosophy, but, rather, the
lone philosophy driving the president was Trumpism.
Trump and QAnon
Some, including people I love, appear to be supporting Trump because they think
he will face down a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping Democratic pedophiles
who are plotting against him while operating a global child sex-trafficking
ring.
According to the NY Times, “QAnon
followers believe that this clique includes top Democrats including Hillary
Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros, as well as a number of entertainers and
Hollywood celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres and
religious figures including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. Many of them also
believe that, in addition to molesting children, members of this group kill and
eat their victims in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their
blood.”
In
the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, elements of an unwieldy and
unfounded conspiracy theory, QAnon (Q), were percolating on the fringes of the
internet. While Q wasn’t fully Q yet, the groundwork was being laid through
rumors that falsely claimed a cabal of Democratic
leaders and liberal entertainers engaged in satanic rituals and global sex
trafficking.
Posts
circulating on social media make the claim that U.S. President Donald Trump
said that his government is fighting “an ancient sex trafficking ring.” The
posts make the further claim that the media chose
not to cover his remarks, noting that “not
a single reporter” asked for more information.
There
is, however, no evidence that Trump ever said this.
Mental health experts have repeatedly pointed out Trump’s propensity to use
“the Shadow Effect” in his claims: Whatever Trump complains about the “other
side” doing is exactly what he’s doing in an attempt to disguise his own
actions.
·
The
Projection President - Months into his tenure, Trump still
responds to controversies by lobbing the same charges at his opponents.
·
Voter Fraud (virtually non-existent) vs. Election Fraud
(rampant through the GOP)
·
Child-Abuse – Trump’s record of
child abuse includes separating 70,000 migrant children from their parents.
That's more kids detained away from their parents than any other country,
according to United Nations researchers. See also Donald Trump sexual misconduct
allegations – Wikipedia
Trump
and the Evangelical Right
The latest Pew Research poll in June shows that about 82% of white evangelicals said
they would vote for Trump, even higher than the proportion who voted for him in
2016. 35% say that Trump has been a “great President” and 34% say he has been
“good”. No other religious subgroup rates Trump positively.
Matthew Avery Sutton in the New Republic explained the
Christian nationalism behind the evangelical political program, embodying
“assumptions of nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity,
along with divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism.” Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a historian at Calvin University, minimizes any
contradiction between evangelical Christianity and Trump. In her book Jesus
and John Wayne, she similarly argues that evangelicals embrace a
militantly white patriarchy. Thus the revelations of Trump’s Access
Hollywood tapes in 2016 made only a ripple among his evangelical
supporters.
Evangelicals have become increasingly desperate, as their more appropriate
religious and political leaders failed to preserve the white Christian world they
imagine is their birthright. Public opinion polls show that the evangelical
agenda continues to lose popular support in America, which might explain why they are so eager
to attach themselves to a leader with authoritarian tendencies who is
systematically dismantling our traditional democratic processes and norms.
Democracy has not been
favorable to hatred of homosexuals, white supremacy, and traditional gender
norms.
If this minority ever really believed in their moral transcendence, they have
given that argument away by hitching themselves to a remarkably amoral and
immoral personality. Their defense of Trump reveals how many supposedly bedrock
Christian principles they willingly sacrifice to achieve their political
agenda. The self-proclaimed “Moral Majority” has become a frankly political
minority, a partisan interest group shorn of the trappings of ethical
righteousness. Source
Trump, the Patriarchy, Burning Times, and
the Women’s Holocaust
Fundamentalists tend to view God as an authoritarian masculine and father-like
figure who is to be obeyed without question, with men (priests) as the
intermediary between God and the masses. Fundamentalism is not the birthplace
of patriarchy, but it has been the caretaker where patriarchy was fully formed
to its abusive fullness.
if you want to know more about sexual abuse of children and coverups and
witchhunts, you have to look no further than the Catholic Church.
The Burning Times began on 5 December 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII began the
holocaust against women with his directive, Summis Desiderantes Affectibus,
which recognized the existence of witches and gave full papal approval for the
inquisition team to move against witches and starting 300 years of extreme
violence against women.
The peak of
witch-hunting was during the European wars of religion, climaxing from 1580 to
1630. The witch hunts declined in the early 18th century, culminating with the
British Witchcraft Act of 1735, but there were sporadic witch-trials until the
last known which trial in 1782.
Although the total number of victims is
unknown, an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 (some experts place the numbers into
hundreds of thousands) women were executed over a period of 300 or more years
during the witch trials. Some sources place the number of victims much higher. Source
The Burning Times, part two of the Women and Spirituality trilogy by Donna Reed, offers a
chilling look at the persecution of women accused of being witches in Europe
between the 15th and 17th centuries. The Christian church and the state
cooperated in a concerted effort to wipe out the power and independence of
midwives, healers, and crones. Thousands were tortured and burned at the stake.
Matthew Fox and Margit Adler discuss the misogyny behind this massive campaign
and also note the continuation of violence against women in our times.
Trump and the War on Women
President Trump no longer
hides his misogyny. It’s completely out in the open as he has lost any sense of
subtlety.
After Kamala Harris’
impressive performance at the recent Democratic Convention, he told
a Fox Business news interviewer: “She was so angry, such hatred with Justice
[Brett] Kavanaugh. I’ve never seen anything like it. She was the angriest of
the group, and they were all angry.” On Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he said
the New York Democrat “goes out and yaps,” reducing her to the status of a dog.
He lied in calling her “a poor student”; she double-majored in international
relations and economics, graduating cum laude in 2011 from Boston University.
(Unlike Trump, her parents did not pull strings to get her into college.) source
Trump commonly refers to women as “nasty” or “angry,”
Insults he “throws at women, meant to deprive them of respect, status and
power.” They are meant to reinforce the stereotype that women must be docile,
respectful and pleasing to men.The put-downs are especially egregious in
connection with women of color, who for decades were relegated to domestic and
service jobs and expected to be non-confrontational.
His insults play into racist and sexist stereotypes about
Black women and make clear that Trump does not intend to throw away a playbook
filled with misogynistic attacks and dog-whistle racism that have imbued his
political career, even as the Biden campaign advances a barrier-breaking
ticket.
Here are some examples of Trump’s disdain toward women:
- First, a tape of Donald Trump from 2005,
describing how he treats women — "Just kiss, I don't even wait… Grab 'em
by the pussy… When you're a star, they let you do anything.
- · It's all part of a bigger pattern for the
Republican nominee, who has been objectifying and dehumanizing women goes back
decades. Trump’s misogyny has been in plain sight for decades.
- Trump’s anti-feminism owes more to the
gleeful vulgarity and implicit threats of violence of 4chan (now QAnon) than
the traditional debate over what a woman’s role should be in the public square.
- He called comedian Rosie O’Donnell "a
big fat pig," "disgusting," "a slob," and "a very
unattractive person." Bette Midler was "ugly." Heidi Klum is
"no longer a 10."
- He has told Black reporters who are women
that they are asking "stupid" questions, described their queries as
"racist," and called one a "loser."
- He has repeatedly labeled Rep. Maxine Waters,
a California Democrat, as "low IQ."
- He attacked his former aide Omarosa Manigault
Newman as "that dog" and a "crazed, crying lowlife."
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is
“stone-cold crazy"
- “Morning Joe’s” Mika Brzezinski is the “ditzy airhead wife” of co-host Joe Scarborough.
For a comprehensive review of Trump’s history of misogyny, sexism, and
harassment, go
here.
Make America 1919 again?
In 2016, A group of Donald Trump supporters has begun
using the Twitter hashtag #repealthe19th after a map showed he would win the
election if only men voted.
After a Los Angeles Times article brought attention to the vile viral trend,
the vast majority of tweets came from social media users disgusted by the
sexist fantasy.
"First they wanted to take us back to the 1950s ...
now they want to take us back to the 1850s?" pro-choice group NARAL
posted.
“‘Women, you have to treat ’em like
shit.” — Donald Trump to New York magazine, 1992″ (Correctly
attributed to the person who spoke it or wrote it)
Given the above, and more, what are the possible outcomes for women in the
event Trump should he win a second term?
- Trump and AG Barr will continue to pack the
federal courts with right-wing anti-abortion appointees
- A Trump victory in November would likely mean at least one more anti-abortion appointment to the Supreme Court.
- Trump will pack the Supreme Court with ultra-conservative justices and SCOTUS will become one more branch of government under Trump’s control. Say goodbye to a woman’s right to choose and possibly the 19th amendment, the right for women to vote. They explored this in 2016.
- Social Security, Medicare, and Disability insurance will either go away or be turned into a for-profit business.
Why would I think things are going to get much worse for women in a second
Trump term? You only have to look at the things he’s already done in his first
term, many in the first 100 days.
From Newsweek, Aug 8, 2020:
It's Time to Stop the Trump Administration's Global War on Women | Opinion
NBC News reports Trump's anti-abortion agenda emboldened an all-out war on
women's rights in dozens of states. Pro-lifers think they now have the Supreme
Court votes to overturn Roe v. Wade. And they're setting up the legal fights to
get there. Source
But, wait… there’s more.
- Five major things Trump has done to roll back women’s rights. Source
o
Cutting international funding for women’s
rights and reproductive health
o
Blocking laws that promote equal pay in the
workplace
o
Inability to appoint women to his
administration
o
The White House has asked different
governmental agencies to change its verbiage and information relating to
women’s health
o
Dismantling reproductive health services
available for women
- Trump’s War on the Concept of Women’s Health. Source
- There are no positions on equal pay,
abortion, paid family leave, child care or sexual harassment on Trump's
website. Source
- Trump's anti-woman U.N. push puts America in the pantheon of Human Rights offenders, aligning itself with Russia and Saudi Arabia and other oppressive regimes. Source
Conclusion
I began this article with a brief accounting of similarities between the 17th
century – including witch hunts and pandemics - and what’s going on in the
world today.
To combat legitimate accusations of illegal and possible
treasonous actions by President Trump, he has countered that charges against
him are a witch hunt and that he’s being persecuted in a manner far worse than
what happened in those witch hunts.
Witch hunts are still happening today, but they are directed toward various
groups who do not share equally in the white male Christian heterosexual power
structure. These groups include Muslims, migrants, people of color, and LGBTQ
people in order to perpetuate the hierarchical structure of privilege and
power. It also includes poor people (sometimes called useless eaters by the
privileged elite), women, and, less acknowledged, men, who have also been
victims of these patriarchal power structures throughout history as cannon
fodder for whatever whims the current power structure was… and is.
These witch hunts are levied against women’s and LGBTQ
rights by religious reactionaries, the same group that perpetrated the Salem
Trials, and the more egregious witch hunts of Europe perpetrated by the
Catholic Church. The reasons today are the same as they were in the 17th
century: the perpetuation of their power and privilege.
There have also been metaphorical so-called witch hunts
in American history levied against groups and individuals who challenge the
dominant power dynamics. Perhaps most notorious among these was the Truman and
McCarthy era persecution of leftists.
It’s no coincidence that Donald Trump now invokes “witch
hunt” to describe the perfectly legal investigations that have probed his
official behavior. Here we have a man in the White House who is animated by the
most vile impulses, incapable of shame, unabashedly exhibiting all of the seven
deadly sins of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth yet presents
himself as the best thing ever to happen to minorities and women. Source
As an ordained Shamanic Priest, I move in and out of alternative circles. I use
breath to create altered state consciousness and to explore hidden light and
darkness concealed inside that consciousness, Reiki to heal the body and soul,
guided meditations to explore possibilities, all intended to help people live
fuller more conscious lives.
You may also fall into this category, but if you don’t,
imagine you are an alternative teacher, a healer, a provider of alternative
services that buck the norms of religion, thought, awareness, politics, and
business, all to help yourself and others to discover what it means to be as
fully conscious as you can…
Last, imagine you’re someone doing this in the middle of a real witch hunt in
the middle of a Trump second term.
Gary
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