Misogynists Surrounding Trump

[This post was first published in October but I have added some updates about Elon Musk.] 

Donald Trump surrounds himself with men who have some disturbing attitudes about women.

1. J.D. Vance singled out childless *women* and called them sociopaths. Yet, he said nothing about childless men. He showed himself oblivious to the many reasons a non-sociopathic woman might choose not to have children: infertility, genetic problems in the family, other medical issues, poverty, being unmarried--and kids in fatherless homes don't do well. These reasons are not at all sociopathic. In fact, not passing on genetic problems might be called humane and responsible. 

If Vance were some person of limited intelligence and minimal education, he could be forgiven. But he has a law degree from Yale. 

Now, Tucker Carlson has come along and said something even worse than than Vance:

And when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl, and it has to be this way.”

Notice that Carlson repeats "girl" three times. Never once does he mention spanking boys. 

When Carlson talks about a MAN spanking a teenage GIRL three times and never once mentions inflicting corporal punishment on boys, it is hard not to suspect that something sexual is going on with him. (Just for the record, I oppose inflicting corporal punishment on boys, too. I should also add that I, obviously, can't read Carlson's mind and have no first-hand knowledge of what he thinks.)

For some reason, I couldn't insert the video of Carlson's talk, but the link is here.

Observe, if you will, Carlson's body language throughout the talk. For good portions of his speech, he stands with his arms crossed over his chest. At other times, he gestures with his right hand while letting his left hand rest on the lectern. 

When he gets to the spanking part, his voice changes. He grips the lectern tightly and raises his voice. At some points, his voice is almost cracking.  

Another point: Carlson is talking about a political system run overwhelmingly by adult men. Yes, Kamala is the vice president, but it is a man who has nominal authority. The overwhelmingly major of senators, congressmen, cabinet members, and high-ranking advisiors are male as well. 

Why in a system run overwhelmingly by older men does Tucker flip to a discussion about spanking teenage girls? 

Is it because he is angry that a woman, Kamala Harris, dares to hold views opposite to his.  Is it because Carlson gets some kind of thrill out of inflicting pain and humiliation on young females? 

This speech is not the first time Carlson has opined publicly about his desire to spank females? In his notorious Bubba the Love Sponge interview, he talked about Martha Stewart's daughter and said he wanted to give her the spanking he so richly deserves. Why did he want to spank her? Because she wrote a book about life with her famous mother and Carlson didn't like what she wrote. She had done nothing wrong whtsoever to Carlson. Nothing. 

On the other hand, when Carlson spoke about immigration as a "great replacement" of Republican voters with Democratic voters, the then-head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, tried to have him fired. Did Carlson urge spanking Mr. Greenblatt. He did not. He merely said, "Fuck them," referring, I guess, to the ADL membership collectively. 

Not only did he not say one single word about spanking, he went on to praise the older version of the ADL: 

The ADL, he said, “was a noble organisation that had a very specific goal, which was to fight antisemitism, and that’s a virtuous goal. They were pretty successful over the years. Now it’s operated by a guy who’s just an apparatchik of the Democratic party.

“It’s very corrosive for someone to take the residual moral weight of an organisation that he inherited and use it for party.

In fact, the ADL has made America more open to a broader range of people and deserve praise for that. 

The misogyny goes from terrible to even more terrible.  Elon Musk founded the America PAC, which supported Trump. The ad contains the phrase the C-word.  Of course, "the c-word" implies female genitals but then the ad goes on to call her a communist--which she is not. 

In what universe is this sort of ad considered acceptable political discourse?  Why does Trump surround himself with such people?  The answer to the last question is obvious. 

 

 

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