‘I love women!’
Trump’s feminist flip-flop
Donald Trump has continued to make waves on the campaign trail, saying during a speech that Hillary Rodham Clinton is ‘‘shrill,’’ raising his voice several octaves to get the point across.
‘‘Hillary, who is very shrill – do you know the word ‘shrill’?’’ Trump said to a crowd of a few hundred at a convention centre. ‘‘She can be kind of sha-riiiiill.’’
Trump is often criticised for the way he describes women, and Clinton was not the only woman he went after.
He said Caroline Kennedy is too nice to be the ambassador to Japan. He described, at length, a ‘‘vicious, vicious woman’’ in her 80s who once sued him during a dispute over an apartment. And he yet again called the career of former technology executive Carly Fiorina, another Republican running for president, ‘‘a disaster.’’
‘‘They say: ’You can’t say that because it’s sexist’,’’ Trump said. ‘‘I say: ‘What’s sexist about it?’ I respect women more than I respect men . . . I have great respect, admiration, and I cherish women . . . I love women!’’
Trump’s comments came during a meandering 40-minute speech that featured many of his regular talking points – such as China stealing jobs from the US and the media treating him unfairly – along with tangents on sweating, golf, his plane, Michael Jordan, the low quality of foreignmade furniture and his various business ventures. He spent very little time discussing what some expected would be the centrepiece of his speech: expanding opportunities for minority business owners.
Trump said he likes ‘‘African American negotiators,’’ and he said it should be easier for black entrepreneurs, along with all entrepreneurs, to secure business loans. He also claimed that a recent, unidentified poll found that 25 per cent of African-Americans surveyed would vote for him in the general election.
‘‘I have a lot of friends, African Americans in New York, who said: ‘You’re going to get most of them’,’’ Trump said. ‘‘I was actually disappointed with the 25 per cent.’’
Trump devoted large chunks of his speech criticising various media outlets for not treating him fairly.
Earlier in the day, Trump had tweeted that ‘‘for the foreseeable future’’ he would no longer do interviews with Fox News. Trump has become increasingly critical of Fox.
During the speech, Trump also went after some of his fellow Republican rivals. His strongest critique was for Senator Marco Rubio, of Florida. Trump questioned why Rubio personally has ‘‘no money, zero’’ and why he is running against his mentor, former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
‘‘He’s overly ambitious, too young, and I have better hair than he does, right?’’ Trump said. ‘‘I’m so tired of this politically correct brat.’’