The Republican National Convention hasn’t been the friendliest place for women. Chris Christie gave a speech in which he practically salivated at the thought of locking Hillary Clinton in jail. Merchandise abounds bearing sexist slogans such as “Trump That Bitch” and “Clinton Sucks but Not Like Monica.” Women looking for camaraderie and support at a Women for Trump event on Monday found it practically deserted. And now Newt Gingrich has assured women that society won’t judge them for their actions or their words—society will judge them primarily for their looks.
On CNN on Wednesday, the former speaker of the House told correspondent Jamie Gangel that the outcry over the portion of Melania Trump’s speech that plagiarized a Michelle Obama speech—which is a big deal—“makes me disgusted with the news media.” He went on:
Who cares? Who cares? The fact is Melania gave a good speech, she is stunningly attractive, she’s stunningly articulate, most of the people criticizing her can’t speak five languages. She’s a bright person, she introduced herself in a way that’s attractive, she’s obviously very passionate about America, and she introduced her husband.
Gingrich deserves credit for following up his verbal ogling of Melania with a nod to her articulateness. But then he undoes all that good work by referring for a second time to her attractiveness, as though all that Americans want in their first lady is someone they can think about while masturbating.
What Gingrich left unsaid is that Hillary will be held to a higher standard than Melania because she’s not “stunningly attractive.” But in the Republican Party’s race to the bottom, subtext eventually becomes text, so right-wing radio host Michael Savage said out loud on his show what Gingrich only implied: “Hillary is not attractive. Hillary is unattractive. This is a country that lives on movie stars. Melania’s a movie star; Hillary looks like a maid.” If Republicans want women who don’t look like Melania Trump to vote for Trump in November, their messaging could use some work.
