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An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

MPWMost Powerful Women

A Comprehensive Guide to Donald Trump’s Women Problems This Election Season

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 13, 2016, 4:13 PM ET

In the past 24 hours, at least eleven women have accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment or assault.

While the candidate has vehemently denied these charges—and even threatened to sue the New York Times for reporting on two of the allegations—this is only the most recent scandal involving women to crop up during Trump’s presidential bid.

Given the extraordinary nature of this campaign, you could be forgiven for having lost track of some of those incidents. Here’s a timeline that walks through the various insults and allegations that come up during the course of the race.

August 2015: Megyn Kelly

During the first Republican primary debate, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked Trump about his comments about women, “You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs’ and ‘disgusting animals,’” she said, to which Trump responded: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”

The day after the debate, Trump criticized Kelly’s style, saying she treated him unfairly: “She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions,” Trump said, adding, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever”—a remark some observers read as a reference to menstruation.

The scuffle led to a nine-month-long feud, during which Trump called Kelly an “overrated anchor,” “crazy Megyn,” and “very bad at math,” among other things. The two apparently made peace during Kelly’s primetime special in May 2016. “I like our relationship right now,” Trump said toward the end of their conversation.

September 2015: Carly Fiorina

A Rolling Stone article chronicled Trump’s commentary about his primary opponents, including former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, the only woman gunning for the Republican nomination. “Look at that face!” he said about Fiorina while watching a replay of an earlier debate. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!”

Fiorina’s campaign retaliated with a web campaign ad showing Fiorina speaking at a Republican women’s event. “Ladies, look at this face,” Fiorina said in the ad. “And look at all your faces. The face of leadership. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman. I am proud of every year and every wrinkle.”

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March 2016: Punishment for abortions

In an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Trump said that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who get abortions, should the procedure be banned in the U.S. He later walked the statement back, issuing a press release that stated that “the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman.”

April 2016: The ‘woman card’

During his Super Tuesday victory speech, the GOP candidate accused Hillary Clinton of playing up her gender during the campaign. “She’s got nothing else going,” Trump said during a press conference after the speech. “And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5% of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card.”

The Clinton campaign quickly spun the comments into a slogan, offering physical “woman cards” to donors and using the hashtag #womancard when speaking about platform issues pertaining to women (e.g. equal pay and paid parental leave).

May 2016: New York Times exposé

The New York Times published the results of a six-week, 50-interview investigation into Donald Trump’s treatment of women. The women’s accounts “reveal unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct,” according to the Times.

The Trump campaign disputed many of the details of the Times’ investigation: “A lot of things get made up over the years,” he told the publication. “I have always treated women with great respect. And women will tell you that.”

June-August 2016: Staffer sexism

A Huffington Post investigation revealed that in May, three-fourths of Donald Trump’s campaign staff was male and that female staff members made 35% less than their male counterparts. In August, Trump appointed a 13-person economic advisory team that included six men named Steve—but not a single woman. He later added several women to the group.

September 2016: Alicia Machado

During the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton called out her opponent for his treatment of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. “He called the woman Miss Piggy,” she said. “Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping,’ because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name.”

October 2016:

The Apprentice: The AP published an investigation into the billionaire’s treatment of women on his reality TV show, The Apprentice. According to the publication, he “rated female contestants by the size of their breasts and talked about which ones he’d like to have sex with.”

Access Hollywood: The Washington Post released tapes of Donald Trump talking to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about groping and kissing women without their consent. “When you’re a star, you can do anything you want,” he says.

Assault allegations: Following the release of the tapes and the candidate’s statement during the second presidential debate that he never actually did any of the things he had talked about (he called it “locker room talk”), more than ten women have come forward with accusations of harassment and assault.

About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
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