A few moments ago, Ohio Governor John Kasich dropped his Presidential bid, making Donald Trump the lone survivor and presumptive winner of the Republican nomination. News and political commentators across the board are wondering: how will Trump now pivot and “appeal” – in other words, pander – to the women voters who supposedly hold him in low regard?
Women are 52% of voters, and so technically women control the outcome of all elections in ways that men do not: should women desire it, no man could ever win elective office. Men cannot control elections in the same way because men as a class are not the majority of voters. That’s right, feminists: your alleged “patriarchy” was created and maintained by the female electorate. Everything elected officials do is the responsibility of women as a class, not men. It is all YOUR fault, not men.
Now, calling The Donald an “unconventional candidate” understates the radical ways he has reshaped both campaigning and the Republican party but still, pundits claiming to spout conventional wisdom hold that Trump must increase his appeal to women voters if he is to have any chance of beating Hillary Clinton (or maybe Bernie Sanders) in November.
This is bullshit.
Hillary Clinton’s own efforts to pander to women, and finally, coerce them with threats of hellfire, have backfired badly for her – the unlikely insurgent Sanders has captured the ballots of millions of Democratic women. If a feminist woman candidate cannot capture her own constituents, why should Trump try any of her failed tactics himself?
Should Trump pick a woman as his Vice Presidential running mate? This has been tried before, to poor effect, the latest case being Carly Fiorina’s killing of Trump rival Ted Cruz’s campaign in less than a week!
The most intriguing choice of female VP from the world of politics is New Mexico GOP Governor Susana Martinez, who would be a twofer: a double pander to both the Hispanic and Vaginal communities. New Mexico’s electoral vote is small but a Hispanic name on the ticket might flip states like Florida and even California into the GOP column, or so Trump might hope.
The problem, of course, is that making a political choice – a VP from the world of politics – would openly contradict Trump’s anti-politician brand and instincts. Politicians have made America weak in the world, he thinks, but businessmen can make the US great again. Still, Trump has suggested he will become more “Presidential” in bearing, and giving Trump’s seeming unpredictability, a political choice will at least be considered for VP.
If he wishes to choose a woman from the world of business, there is, of course, Carly Fiorina, who has already been forced out of the campaign twice – perhaps the third time is a charm? Seducing Carly would certainly be a great “unity” gesture from Trump but unlikely, one would think – she is still befouled with Ted Cruz’s funk and her record as a businesswoman is poor. This should be the true deal-breaker for Trump: as a pragmatic tactician he won’t care about Carly’s sordid political record but her sordid business chops will get her chopped from consideration.
A woman from the business world Trump might consider is Sheryl “Lean In” Sandberg, the billionaire COO of Facebook. She is a successful author and businessperson like Trump himself; Trump and the recently widowed Sandberg would make a formidable pair that would make progressives like TrigglyPuff fling her toddler arms so fiercely they would surely fly off her well-marbled torso.
Asking a recent widow to be his running mate would strike a chord of sympathy with women that would ring on for months. It would be a masterstroke worthy of The Donald.
Would this be “playing the Woman Card,” a tactic Trump has denounced? Trump could well argue that he chose Sandberg for her business experience. Sandberg also served as the Chief of Staff for Larry Summers, a Bill Clinton appointee who also ran afoul of feminists, so she has actual executive political experience, something Trump lacks, and since she is so wealthy, she fits the model of someone who cannot be purchased by special interests.
Would Sandberg cross over to the Republicans, and would Republicans accept her as VP? Both would be hard sells, but to say that such is beyond The Donald would be foolhardy.
But he won’t.
I don’t think Trump will play the woman card, or go out of his way to pander to women voters at all. It is not his style, and if he doesn’t know it yet, he will learn that pandering to women is a trap that destroys men and all their endeavors. The patriarchy that women voters created and maintain exists because that is how women want it – no female VP choice has ever helped a man to victory. Furthermore, women naturally colonize male spaces like Trump’s campaign and he needs to do nothing except keep on being Trump to benefit from this.
So pander not to women, Mr. Trump. Let them figure out on their own that Hillary and Bernie will be a nightmare for them.
