MAGA and Misogyny

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has long engaged in misogynistic behavior. As far back as 2015, then Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked Trump during a presidential primary debate why "You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." Trump's response was to claim that he only described Rosie O'Donnell in such a manner. But the question bothered Trump enough that days later he would attack Kelly herself, saying, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." During Trump's second term, he has made a habit of attacking women reporters. He responded to Bloomberg News' Catherine Lucey by saying, "Quiet, piggy," called the New York Times' reporter Katie Rogers "a third-rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out," referred to ABC News' Mary Bruce as a "terrible person and a terrible reporter," and described CBS News' Nancy Cordes as "a stupid person." This current of misogyny has infected the entire MAGA movement and has become a mainstay of MAGA ideology. For instance, Vice President and reply-guy JD Vance criticized prominent Democrats as "childless cat ladies." Misogyny is showing up in the normal discourse of MAGA supporters and may well have motivated two recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

Let me take a step back and say that I am somewhat conflicted about writing about misogyny. On the one hand, I believe that men should speak out about misogyny. But on the other hand, women understand the issue much better and don't really need me to speak on their behalf. But since I am the author of this blog, the question is not who will address the topic best, but whether it will be addressed at all. I think the topic is sufficiently important that even my limited perspective will be useful.

As those familiar with the DC Urban Moms and Dads discussion forum know, each post has a link to report the message to me if it is inappropriate. Increasingly over the past year, users have been reporting messages that are misogynistic. More often than not, the posts being reported specifically attack White women. It seems pretty clear that White women are being attacked not only for their political views, but because they are often considered race traitors. Women are constantly attacked due to their appearance and, particularly, their weight. For instance, after an ICE agent killed Renne Good in Minneapolis, a poster in the Political Discussion forum wrote, "We need to sacrifice dozens more of fat white liberal women." I can't link to that post because I removed it. The anti-White women bias is not limited to males either. All-around crazy person Laura Loomer recently responded to a tweet by saying, "White liberal women are the most dangerous people in our society."

"Blue hair" has become a particularly popular characteristic that MAGAs attribute to liberal women. Last year, a poster complained about "blue haired librarians". In another discussion, a poster responded to an earlier post by saying, "Your blue hair dye is causing anger issues." The same is true of purple hair, with a poster writing about "a bunch of purple haired nit wits" and another accusing previous posters of being "the two people with purple hair at the Women’s March rallies wearing vagina hats and holding a sign saying ‘Women’s Rights are Humans Rights’" According to MAGAs, hair color should apparently be limited to Mar-a-Lago blond.

Misogyny appears to have been assimilated into Trump supporters and, especially, those willing to do his bidding within ICE and Border Patrol. After ICE officer Jonathan Ross fired three shots into Renee Good, killing her, he was heard to call Good a "fucking bitch." Soon afterwards, ICE agents rammed a car driven by a woman who is a United States Marine veteran and who had been following the ICE agents. They repeatedly referred to her as "it" and asked, “Have you not learned: this is why we killed that lesbian bitch."

Marisa Kabas, who publishes The Handbasket, interviewed a woman who had been detained by ICE during a protest. The woman and her girlfriend, both of whom are American citizens, were held in a cell with other protesters. The woman heard another female detainee asking to call her girlfriend and asked herself, "Why are so many lesbians being fucked up by ICE right now?" Kabas quoted journalist Katelyn Burns as saying, "The message is clear: looking wrong to a conservative, speaking wrong to a conservative man, not bowing and scraping to conservatives, or even just loving the ‘wrong’ gender, means you are an enemy. An enemy that should be put down."

Even the most recent shooting death committed by Border Patrol agents could be said to have its origin in misogyny. While the victim, 37-year-old Alex Pretti, was a White male, the events leading up to his killing started with a Border Patrol agent attacking two women. The women had approached a Border Patrol vehicle across the street from where Pretti was initially standing. While the women were a reasonable distance from the vehicle, a Border Patrol agent approached them and began shoving them. They were pushed back across the street with the agent continuing to shove them. When the agent pushed one woman into a snowbank on the side of the street, Pretti attempted to put himself between the Border Patrol agent and the second woman. The agent then pepper-sprayed both Pretti and the second woman and then wrestled Pretti to the ground. Other agents joined the scrum and, while Pretti was being held down, another Border Patrol agent removed Pretti's legally carried gun from its holster and other agents shot him as many as 10 times. This tragedy would not have happened had the original Border Patrol agent not reacted with inappropriate and unnecessary force towards the two women. There was absolutely no need for him to push them across the entire street and throw one down in the snow and pepper-spray the other. The women presented absolutely no threat to the agent. But he apparently could not pass up the opportunity to brutalize two women.

In 2024, 53% of White women supported Trump. This group could have easily thrown the election to former Vice President Kamala Harris. It is surprising, therefore, that White women have become a favored target of the MAGA movement. In light of Vance's repeated assertions that women should be having babies, it is clear that he, and probably many other MAGA supporters, would much rather have women at home raising children than protesting ICE and Border Patrol in the streets. Those women who dare to transgress and protest, however, appear to be bearing a considerable portion of the violence directed towards those who stand up for immigrants.