Why did women vote for sexist Trump? Blame Bill Clinton

Trump was no worse than the husband of the alternative — that’s why women forgave his sins,

SEVERAL years ago, I managed to wangle an invitation to a dinner in UCD when Bill Clinton was visiting Ireland. He gave an amazing speech; full of scientific, historical and literary references.

We’re so used to seeing the folksy one-liners on the telly, I’d forgotten that he was a deeply intelligent man; wellread, cultured and insightful. He can quote reams of poetry, tell stories and see the magic in economics. And he radiates charm and charisma. Like a magnet. It was a big room, but as he finished the speech and prepared to leave, I had a rush to the head and decided there was no way I was letting him out of there until I shook hands with him.

I regret to say that resulted in an unseemly sprint in my heels, and a breathless, gushing greeting to the ex-President. When I got the coveted handshake and few words, I returned to my table triumphant and giddy, realising it was no wonder he was never short of women. Women adored Bill. But that doesn’t stop me from knowing exactly what he is. The trail of destruction left in the wake of his womanising is impossible to ignore. Take Monica Lewinsky. These scandalous names that blip in and out of our consciousness are real people who suffer real damage. In April, British journalist Jon Ronson interviewed Lewinsky in The Guardian.

She also did a TED talk on the same theme, and everyone should watch it. Especially media people.

She never got over any of it. She wasn’t allowed to. She fell in love with her boss. Who wouldn’t? Furiously he denied that he’d had relations with “that woman”.

She hadn’t voluntarily ratted him out. She didn’t run to the press. She found herself locked up in a hotel room in 1998 while the federal agents threatened her with decades in jail if she didn’t co-operate with the effort to destroy Bill Clinton. In the end, it was not he who was destroyed, but her.

She never got a job. No one would hire her. She never married, or had children. No one forgave her. And she did nothing wrong. Except confide in her friend, Linda Tripp, who entrapped and betrayed her. I don’t know how she survived it at all.

Now, Bill couldn’t do much about Ken Starr or save Monica from the clutches of the right-wing conspiracy. But he left office and put it all behind him. His global influence increased. There were enough connections all over the world to find her a job somewhere so she could start over. At the very least, having publicly condemned her as a liar, he could have publicly apologised to her. He apologised to his wife Hillary, and his daughter. But there was nothing for Monica. She was abandoned.

And last Tuesday night, she was going to have to watch, as the wife who enabled it all and with the adored Bill by her side, was about to be made President. But Donald Trump averted that prospect and he did it with 42pc of female voters.

Throughout the election as Trump’s misogyny and sexism failed to put a dent in his popularity, I heard so many nice, liberal women declare their detestation for Trump and allegiance to Hillary begin their statements with: “As a woman”; as if simply by virtue of their sex, one candidate was the obvious choice and the other anathema. When the “pussy-grabbing” tapes emerged, logic would have dictated that no self-respecting woman could possibly vote for him. There was mystification as to how any woman could stick with him.

There shouldn’t have been any mystery.

There’s a phenomenon in economics and psychology called “anchoring” which means that we make estimates and valuations using anchoring points at our disposal, even if they’re not entirely relevant.

Perhaps some might think it unfair to draw a moral equivalence between “pussy grabbing” and Bill Clinton’s apparently consensual sexual relations, but the undeniable fact is that Bill’s behaviour was the anchoring point for Donald’s. That 42pc of women voters were able to discount Trump’s misogyny because they could legitimately rationalise that in many ways he was no worse than many other men; and certainly no worse than the husband of the alternative.

Perhaps another candidate might have been able to leverage some moral superiority against Trump’s behaviour, but that candidate was not Hillary. Bill Clinton’s wife could have no moral highground when it came to sexism.

I know it’s not fair to hold her responsible for his behaviour, but she stuck with him so his crimes stick to her. So there was no point in the feminists arguing that Hillary’s womanhood rendered her the automatic best choice for women. Especially when those same feminists not only failed to condemn Bill for his behaviour, but actually attacked Monica instead. Talk about victim blaming.

Lewinsky was horribly exploited by Starr, but her treatment at the hands of a wide variety of high-profile women who called her everything from a “little twerp” (Betty Friedan) and a “ditzy, predatory intern” (Maureen Dowd) was completely unnecessary and a shameful act by self-identifying feminists. They turned on Monica to save Bill, the object of their feverish infatuation. And then they think they can judge the women who voted for Trump? Oh, please.

And here’s the thing: I don’t judge Bill for the sex. I don’t judge Hillary for getting on with it. That is just life and stoicism and sticking with each other even when the worst happens. But I do judge them for damaging third parties. Monica wasn’t a victim in her sexual relationship with Bill, but she became one afterwards and they had a moral obligation to fix that.

I think Hillary deserved the presidency on the basis of her long years in public service, and because I think she wanted it for all the right reasons. She spent a lifetime working towards the White House and I am really sorry she didn’t win. But she had no entitlement to the woman’s vote as long as the Monicas of this world were collateral damage on her journey.

And as long as the feminists who supported Hillary looked the other way while Bill’s damaged goods rotted on a pike of public shame, they have no right to judge the 42pc who voted for Trump. Those women merely forgave Trump his crimes, as the feminists forgave Bill his.

‘They turned on Monica to save Bill, the object of their feverish infatuation’