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.

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) ... they’re going to risk losing women in the future.

Q: The issue of sexual harassment has had a political power this year it hasn’t had.

Perino: One of the ( Trump campaign’s) 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.