Donald Trump sells himself as a winner. In life, in finance, with the ladies. He’s been dealt a charmed hand and he flashes that (in)glorious deck to us at every possible juncture.
While we could devote a torrent of articles to pondering what “winning” actually means, if Charlie Sheen taught us anything it’s that the term is malleable. And, for Trump, it centres on a highly passé alpha masculinity. [...]
Being a winner, therefore, is about flaunting qualities like greed and aggression and rudeness. To always be performing an unapologetic kind of showboat success. In 2016, though, it all just looks a little theatrically unhinged. [...]
Rather than fighting Clinton on her record and on her policy proposals, he tried once again to steer the debate towards the alleged conduct of her husband. Not only did this odd tactic fail to shift the dialogue, it underscored the very sexism he’s long been accused of.
Shock, horror, Bill isn’t running in 2016. By ignoring the fact that Hillary has a 30-year career of her own – by ignoring that she’s always been much more than a wife or daughter – Trump is reducing the value of her, of women, to the men they have in their lives. [...]
Repeatedly, he referred to his tour bus verbal diarrhoea simply as “locker-room banter”. As though this somehow minimises it. And he did this without any awareness whatsoever that this is the bloody problem.
The idea that the are some places where such dialogue could possibly be appropriate is part of the very rape culture that those who find him completely unelectable are rallying against. By attempting to contextualise such aggressive and sexist comments as mere banter between buddies, Trump yet again associates himself with a masculinity that in 2016 looks oafishly anachronistic.
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