By Julie Bindel
Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” movement is a macho cult. It suggests the US can be “great again” only if modern American men learn to be strong “manly men” like their fathers and grandfathers, assert dominance over “their” women, and “take back control” – whatever that means.
It encourages men to hide their feelings, adhere to archaic sex stereotypes, use violence to get ahead in life, and take advice not from experts and loved ones, but so so-called famous “alpha males”, like podcaster Joe Rogan or billionaire X owner (and now leading Trump backer) Elon Musk.
This toxic movement, built on a promise to return America to an imagined golden era when women knew their place and thus life was jolly for everyone, has unfortunately set the tone for the upcoming presidential elections in the world’s strongest nation.
We are now living in a reality where millions and millions of American men (and a not-at-all-small number of women) appear to see Donald Trump as the epitome of male strength, and him being elected president for a second time as the only answer to the country’s many problems.
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The former president and reality TV star has a history of insulting and belittling women on social media and on television. He routinely makes crude and offensive comments about prominent women, and especially women who publicly talk against him at his televised rallies attended by thousands. He criticises their physical appearance, insults their families, and even their reproductive choices.
At least 26 women have accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. These allegations go all the way back to the 1970s and include rape, unwanted kissing, groping, and voyeurism. Last year, a jury in a civil trial found him liable for sexual assault and rewarded his accuser $5m.
T r u m p denies all accusations, but nevertheless , his disdain for women is obvious to anyone paying an iota of attention to his words and conduct. Even his VP pick, JD Vance, is an open misogynist, who insults their Democratic rivals by calling them “childless cat ladies”. As president, Trump appointed the judges who eventually overturned Roe v Wade and left American women in many states without meaningful control over their bodies and lives.
In a sane world, this track record of misogyny and violent machismo would be enough to ensure Trump has no chance of coming anywhere near the White House ever again. But we are not living in a sane world.
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The MAGA movement has framed the entire election around stereotypes about masculinity. They claimed everything is down to physical endurance, willingness to inflict violence on enemies, and being an overall “macho man”, and seemingly managed to convince enough people to have a good chance at winning this election.
In the past few months, we have repeatedly seen Trump’s leading rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, being attacked not over her policy positions and conduct in office, but her “sexual history”. She has been accused of being “promiscuous” in her youth and having had “slept her way to the top”.
Conservative commentator and filmmaker Matt Walsh posted on X that Harris had “made a career out of begging for handouts from powerful men”, and Fox News host Megyn Kelly described these comments as being helpful to voters, and perfectly “fair game”. Of course, these are nothing but unsubstantiated rumours – the time-old story of baseless gossip being weaponised against a successful woman.
And even if they were true, her personal relationship history would not have any impact on how Harris would do the job, or set her apart from Trump – a known serial adulterer and abuser of women who got where he is in life thanks to family money and connections.
Beyond run-of-the-mill misogyny focused on alleged promiscuity, Trump’s “macho” supporters have also accused Harris of being a “home wrecker” (due to a past relationship with a man who at the time was separated, but not yet divorced, from his wife); of actually being a man who transitioned to live as a woman (this one is hard to decipher, but perhaps the suggestion is that she would not have been this successful in politics if she was a natural-born woman?); and of “not having a stake in the future of the country” due to her not having any biological children.
Harris, the only child of a couple of first-generation Black and South Asian immigrants, has also been accused of not being Black enough (because she is half South Asian), not being South Asian enough (because she is half Black!) and not being American enough (because she was born to immigrant parents).—Al Jazeera
