Photo by André-Pierre du Plessis, Openverse
Photo by André-Pierre du Plessis, Openverse
How do otherwise reasonable, self-respecting adult women find themselves staunch defenders of a man whose entire grotesque body of work declares that he has complete contempt for them?
Republished with permission from John Pavlovitz
Yesterday, a MAGA Republican mocked me online for demanding the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, laughing at me through condescending yellow emojis for being “desperate,” and assuring me that I and my other woke mobsters were never going to “take down” Donald Trump.
That’s par for the course in this iteration of America. I can’t scroll an inch of my timeline without encountering a Conservative cultist taking up the defense of the career criminal currently occupying the White House.
The only thing surprising about the exchange wasn’t that I was facing yet another Right-Wing Christian troll whose supposed religious convictions vanish when it comes to this pervert president—it was the fact that it was a woman and a mother of two daughters. That was a fresh kick in the crotch and yet another reminder of how completely sideways we’ve gone.
I can understand why many Trump supporters are men.
He embodies the fragile masculinity that so many are afflicted with. He validates their misogyny, giving voice to the antiquated, knuckle-dragging sexist garbage they save for mindless locker room monologues and man-cave hangs with other neighborhood Neanderthals.
Trump is the unsurprising idol of teen and college-aged young men whose distorted view of manhood has been shaped in Conservative churches, incel message boards, and dudebro podcast episodes.
Knowing that over eighty percent of women have experienced sexual assault or harassment in their lifetimes, it makes sense that tens of millions of men in this country would be among the rabid, cultic base of a serial predator like the sitting President. It is an act of self-preservation, a propping up of one of their own.
As pathetic and sad as that is, there is still a perverse logic to it.
What I can’t fathom are women who have seen all they have seen over the last decade: the “pussy-grabbing” bravado, the incestuous remarks about his daughter, his prolific adultery, his porn star affairs, and his vile comments about the female politicians, entertainers, and reporters who dare oppose him, and who remain unwavering.
It’s impossible to make sense of mothers with daughters who’ve witnessed him being found liable in court for sexual assault, watched him gleefully take away women’s body autonomy under the law, and work tirelessly to prevent the release of files that would almost certainly expose decades of his pedophilia, rape, and child trafficking—and who’ve chosen to double down.
Despite this expansive resume of personal and legislative violence against girls and women, an inexplicably large number of his sycophantic disciples are female.
Which all begs the question: how in the hell is this possible?
How do otherwise reasonable, self-respecting adult women find themselves staunch defenders of a man whose entire grotesque body of work declares that he has complete contempt for them?
Is the internalized misogyny they’ve inherited within Evangelical churches and Fox News households that powerful?
Is their political tribalism so fierce that they would passionately protect the kind of man they wouldn’t allow within ten feet of their daughters?
Is the accumulated fear of their husbands, partners, and fathers so pervasive that it drafted them into a movement that denies their worth?
With every horrible thing Trump has said about women, with his boasts of uninvited physicality, his history of unrepentant infidelity, his multiple marriages with ever-younger wives; his relentless vile and vicious attacks on the physical appearance, sexual lives, and even the menstrual cycles of female political opponents and critics, he is the very definition of the kind of man I was taught that women would want no part of, let alone brag about and defend on social media.
More unthinkable still, that they would joyfully give power over themselves and their daughters and granddaughters to such a man.
Of the many grievous realities of the past ten years, this is one of the most frustrating, the most confounding: that as a man trying to confront a serial predator and lifetime misogynist and make him accountable for his personal and political crimes against women, I would face violent, passionate opposition from so many women.
Help that make sense.
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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