Trump’s run has set Republican women ‘adrift,’ Perino says
Dana Perino, a former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, personifies the GOP’s looming crisis with women voters. At 44, she is a lifelong Republican and aide to Republican officeholders, but she’s not voting for Donald Trump on Election Day. Perino, co-host of Fox’s The Five, is promoting her book, Let Me Tell You About Jasper: How My Best Friend Became America’s Dog, published by Twelve. She was interviewed for USA TODAY’s Capital Download Friday in New York. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You’ve worked for Republican congressmen, in a Republican Justice Department and at a Republican White House. So are you voting for the Republican presidential nominee next month?
Perino: I do feel adrift as a Republican woman, maybe a woman without a party. ... You sort of feel like, ‘I don’t know if I belong anymore.’ Now, there are plenty of Republican women that support Donald Trump fervently and without any hesitation. I just have hesitation and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know if I’m even going to vote.
Q: Why is Trump losing so many women voters?
Perino: I think that a lot of women in their gut are concerned about the temperament, and knowledge and experience, (although) they don’t necessarily like Hillary Clinton. ...
Unless the Republican Party changes either the way that it talks about things (like sexual assault) or the way it approaches issues like paid maternity leave, they’re going to risk losing women in the future.
Q: A question from Twitter: What did you think about the exchange between Megyn Kelly and Newt Gingrich? (Ging-
rich accused the Fox News anchor of being “fascinated by sex” when she asked about allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump.)
Perino: I thought Megyn was extremely, exceedingly professional. I do think that it’s a news story ... When he (Trump) went to Gettysburg (Pa.) and he made the Gettysburg address, I called it the Gettysburg redress of grievances. Because substantively, if you’re a Republican, you could read that speech or listen to it, and say ‘I agree with all that. ... But adding the paragraph that he’s going to sue all the women (accusers) after the election. ... It’s calling women liars.
Q: The issue of sexual harassment has had a political power this year it hasn’t had.
Perino: I certainly think so. In fact, what I thought was strange about the way the Trump campaign handled all that was, one of their strongest talking points against Hillary Clinton’s character had been how accusers of Bill Clinton had been treated through the years. But now accusers of Donald Trump are being treated in the exact same way. So it kind of canceled each other out. No wonder people are dissatisfied with this election.