After sweeping all five state primaries on Tuesday and inching ever closer to securing the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump took sharper aim at Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, his likely opponent in the general contest, and continued his relentless streak of comments that insult women.
In his victory speech at Trump Tower in New York, the GOP frontrunner tried to poke holes in Clinton’s qualifications for holding the White House, saying that her only advantage is her gender.
I think the only card she has is the women’s card. She has nothing else going. And, frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5% of the vote. The only thing she has going is the women’s card. And the beautiful thing is women don’t like her, okay?
The sentiment of Trump’s comment is counterintuitive since Clinton’s gender is largely considered a liability since the United States has never before elected a female president, and opinion polls don’t give a clear indication as to whether America is ready for one.
The Pew Research Center found in January 2015 that 38% of adults said they hope the U.S. will elect a woman as president in their lifetime, while 57% said it doesn’t matter to them. How Americans answered that question depended on their party affiliation and gender. Among Democratic women, fully 69% say they hope the to see a female U.S. president, compared to 46% of Democratic men, 20% of Republican women, and 16% of Republican men.
Clinton fans pounced on Trump’s remarks, creating hashtags like #womancard and #womenscard and adding #dealmein to indicate their support of the former Secretary of State, who won four more state primaries on Tuesday. Clinton herself responded to Trump’s comments: “Mr. Trump accused me of playing the ‘woman card.’ If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card then deal me in.”
Meanwhile, other Internet commenters took a more lighthearted approach to Trump’s remarks, dreaming up a real-life “woman card” and all its potential perks. That card would no doubt come with a warning: Hidden fees may apply.
i love the woman card
carry it with you and it entitles you to 21% off your income anywhere you go— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) April 27, 2016
Being a woman means you automatically make 79 cents for ever $1 that men earn, according to the White House. It’s an even rawer deal for African-American and Latina women, who earn about 64 cents and 56 cents on ever man-earned dollar, respectively.
Love to buy some paid maternity leave with my #womancard 🍼
— Elizabeth Tenety (@ETenety) April 27, 2016
While the “woman card” gives you the ability to have children, it is not applicable toward the time and pay you need to take care of them. That benefit is accessible by just 12% of the private workforce according to the Department of Labor, and your eligibility depends entirely on where you’re employed.
https://twitter.com/televisionarie/status/725157275132817408
If only. That would add up to a large chunk of change over time since the feminine hygiene products that all women must buy are taxed in most states, meaning women are essentially fined for have their periods.
Nevertheless, if a “woman card” is really as powerful as Trump says it is—powerful enough to propel a women to the White House for the very first time—it seems like something we should all have.
https://twitter.com/NutmegRadio/status/725154537619730433
