Legendary feminist activist Gloria Steinem sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss her new Viceland show Woman, and the topic of Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee came up. This was to be expected, especially since we’re in the thick of campaign season, and Donald Trump is leading “crooked Hillary” chants to supporters who also eagerly shout, “Lock her up.” Steinem said the Republican nominee’s tactics of targeting Clinton is “very uncivil discourse,” and Trump is unfairly attacking her.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such extremism as part of even the Republican National Convention before, but it is a familiar tactic. With Hillary — who clearly is, as all the objective, fact-checking services point out, more accurate and more truthful than any other candidate — they’re attacking her trustworthiness.”
When the question was brought up about the historical importance of a woman being president, Steinem said it is all about the candidate, not necessarily their gender:
“I just want to make clear that it’s not identity politics. In other words, had it been Sarah Palin, I would not have been happy…What you want is somebody who represents your majority interest and experience, not someone who’s selling you out. Sometimes the media takes it as identity politics, which it isn’t.”
It looks to be a rational way of thinking this election season, over some of the rhetoric that has been spoken lately. On the other side, Clinton has mostly taken the high road by sticking a discussion of political platforms. But she has been known to one-up Trump now and again.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)