Donald Trump may be in hot water thanks to his disturbing comments about groping women but that doesn’t mean he’s lost all of his female supporters.
Take Rep. Renee Ellmers for instance.
Ellmers recently lost her North Carolina Republican congressional race (by 30 points) after becoming the recipient of Trump’s first congressional endorsement. You’d think the woman would be happy to sever all ties with Trump considering his backing probably didn’t help her own campaign, but Ellmers is sticking by her man and sticking it to her own sex.
The politician graced CNN’s State Of The Union this morning to weigh in on those sexual assault allegations plaguing the Trump campaign. Several women have stepped forward claiming Trump physically assaulted them — some of the most troublesome accusations involve underage girls and Trump “thrusting his genitals” at Apprentice contestants. One such claim involves a writer for People who says Trump cornered her during an interview and forcefully kissed her without her consent. Trump fought back, addressing the story at a Florida rally and implying that the writer in question wasn’t hot enough for him to even want to touch her.
It was Ellmers’ job to justify Trump’s sexist comments on national television and she did about as well as you’d expect.
Rep. Renee Ellmers calls Trump allegations "a she said/he said situation" https://t.co/7eshI3SCbQ #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Jy2wjcObg6
— CNN (@CNN) October 16, 2016
Ellmers starts off strong, agreeing that Trump’s comments about the woman’s looks preventing him from allegedly sexually assaulting her weren’t appropriate, but she eventually starts smearing the women accusing Trump while trying to paint the presidential nominee as a victim. Ellmers’ response to the allegations is the perfect example of why more women don’t come forward with their own stories and why rape culture is alive and well in our country. The tendency when someone claims a sexual assault has taken place is to distrust the victim and sympathize with the accused. After all (and please read this with as much sarcasm as you can muster), a person accused of sexual assault could have their whole life threatened – their future, their family, their campaign. It’s a plea that worked well in the Brock Turner case and it’s working for Trump now.
Ellmers isn’t the only woman to support Trump amidst sexual assault allegations. His wife, his daughter, his campaign manager — all women, all standing up for Trump, even when he his lewd, sexist attitude towards them and their peers is captured on tape. And while Trump’s latest scandal has had Republicans racing to pull their support of the real-estate mogul, his own voting base seems entirely unfazed by their candidate’s proclivity for grabbing p***y, even when that p***y doesn’t want to be grabbed.
The hashtag #WomenWhoVoteTrump began trending this week in response to the allegations and, if these tweets are to be believed, the “Adorable Deplorables” voting for the toupee-d tyrant don’t seem to have a problem with other women being sexually assaulted by their would-be president.
https://twitter.com/Realtpepper/status/786879605848236034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/RapefugeeWatch/status/786890577824604160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/HollyAnswers/status/786954814424887296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Anderson cooper even got a few female Trump supporters together to wax poetic on why they loved the flaming misogynist on his own show where CNN’s Dana Bash gathered 10 women who defended Trump’s comments as simply “locker room banter” and said the allegations are just a smokescreen from the Clinton campaign to distract voters from the real issues.
Last I checked, sexual assault was a real issue in this country. One in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and with rape culture already thriving on college campuses, it’d be nice to know that the man (or woman) in the Oval Office would take the matter seriously instead of perpetuating it by rating women on hotness scales and joking about coming on to his own daughter. Then again, maybe that’s just too rational liberal a thought for these women supporting Trump.