Why should Republican women worry about rebuilding the party? Rebuilding a wreck? Why not become Democrats?
212
Women are not a unified group and this piece jumps between female Republicans and the female majority without considering the differences. Consider the paragraph about the Republican party's 'far right' stance on abortion, LGBTQ 'rights', guns, and immigration, as having driven many women away. Would following the Democrat party's Far Left stance win more votes? All conservative women who reject the murder of children, reject unnatural LGBTQ privileges, cling to the Constitution including the 2nd Amendment, and oppose illegal immigration, would walk whilst left-voting women would continue to cling to the Democrats. That leaves the hope of swing voters deciding to lean Republican. Campaigning on the hope of more support despite the certainty of losing your base is a guaranteed losing strategy.
15
"Women have never done better in the workforce or in business in the history of the world in our country."
This is true, as is the fact this is true despite the policies of the GOP and Conservative ideology.
Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell
And he’s on a mission to use the “authority” of the executive branch to stop it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/opinion/william-barr-trump.html
30
Republicans have no interest in women "in power".
Their motto is: Keep them home, keep them pregnant, and for the love of God, keep them quiet.
167
I recall reading in 2019 that reputable surveys of Republican women found that a substantial percentage of these women believe that women should not hold leadership positions, including political offices. The paucity of elected Republican women is a result of that value judgement.
Given the retrograde values of most Republicans, most educated, clear thinking women want nothing to do with the Republican Party and its candidates.
131
To go back a little further in time, Millicent Fenwick was first elected in the Watergate year of 1974 and served in the House until she lost a Senate race in 1982. She was the type of GOP legislator that just does not exist any more. She supported the ERA, was pro-choice, and pursued issues like human rights. She was called "the conscience of the House." If around today, it is likely that she would have stood up to Trump. It is also likely that she would have had primary challenges from the right. The country needs more people like Mrs. Fenwick in public life, people who have the strength of their convictions, and who are not afraid to stand up to bullies.
109
Republican women need to start acting like women. Currently at the national level they are blindly following a President who does even begin to understand the impact of his international and domestic policies (or tweets) on everyday women. Once they develop their own plans for improvement of women and men then they will have a political platform to use toward their political advantage.
45
The same old hysterical, mostly-not-true propoganda. The same prediction of imminent demise. The same cherry-picking of facts, the same reduction of people to labels and smears that weren't true ever. Just stop. Nobody believes this.
18
@John Pettinore
What??
46
@John Pettinore Thanks, John for the reminder
7
I do not feel sorry for these women. The policies they support and their silence as to what the party has become are what they accept. No surprises here ladies and gentlemen.
92
I've not read all the comments, though I have read many, and while I see republicans tying themselves into pretzels to defend or dismiss the authors' assertions, I see zero acknowledgement here of the numbers. Why can no republican say, "yeah, that's a problem." It's like if your kid keeps getting a D in math and you keep coming up with excuses. You know, you can love your party and still recognize its weaknesses.
104
@Mom of 3
Are we to love the Trump Party? There is no Republican Party to speak of.
44
I do not think any Trump supporter or left over Republican sees this as a problem.
41
The very fact that an endorsement from a laughing-stock twit like Sarah Palin would ever have been a thing of value speaks volumes about the Republican Party.
173
The sad fact is that many high profile Republican politicians clowmishly support the dismantling of our democracy.
69
No surprise here. The GOP is retrogressive on all fronts.
67
Sarah Palin
LOL!!
79
I must be so out of touch with republicanism. Never would have imagined that pit bull Palin’s presence on the presidential scene could have catapulted republican women into Washington politics.
Will we ever figure out Trumpism or Republican mens’ obsession with abortion?
How can one large segment of the population, the Republican party ignore so many facts about the devastating impact of their continued efforts to turnover Roe v Wade? States with most abortion restriction rank low in women’s health as well as education. Aren’t these important issues?
Indiana is the only state among the 10 states with the most number of abortion restrictions to rank in the top 25 in education. It comes in at 22.
State and education rankings among the other 9 are
Kansas 27
Mississippi 45
South Carolina 41
Oklahoma 47
Arizona 44
Arkansas 42
Louisiana 46
Missouri 32
North Carolina 35
Coincidence, correlation or causation. No matter how one looks at it it certainly seems that the Republican agenda is quite successful at creating uneducated constituents.
This might be something they should try to change or not.
References
Center for reproductive rights, 2017 list of state abortion restrictions
Edweek.org, state education rankings
81
The present Republican Party is startling and frightening to observe. Comments here portray the very extreme and dark corner it has put itself in. Withal, the Republican men and most of the tiny number of elected women cower behind Trump. They don't stand for anything but bow to a raving, megalomaniac. It is a shocking reality, and it is the picture of the USA that so many people around the world see. Independents and Democrats are more representative, nevertheless, too many Americans support cruelty, hatred, misogyny, racism, anti-Muslimism, homophobia, anti-Semiticism, ethno-centrism and white nationalism: the biases that Trump promotes. I don't shed any tears about the Republican party shrinking and losing women, in particular. Women will no longer be pawns to a gang of sniveling cowards who demean them. Something better will replace it. The goal now is for all sane citizens to defeat Trump at the polls. We need to clean up the corruption, regulate guns more thoroughly, create an excellent and affordable healthcare system and make the economy work for all us. Most importantly, we must turn on the lights and find each other.
107
Male Republicans make it very difficult to be a female Republican.
73
> If Mr. Trump wins, given his unpopularity with female voters, the future for Republican women in politics looks very bleak indeed.
I'd like to add to that: Mr. Trump wins, the future for everyone, everywhere looks very bleak indeed.
126
The presidential election is more than 10 months away and so many things can happen. Hope springs eternal. President Trump has a good chance of winning back some of these voters that Dr. Cohen said he has supposedly lost. When the voters look at the alternative, they will go with President Trump. The economy is booming, the stock market is soaring and unemployment is down for all. The people are singing happy days are here again and praising President Trump for all the progress he has made. If it continues and hopefully it will, he will easily breeze back into the White House.
11
Do you know many Republican women? Do you think they are looking to you to tell them how to vote?
43
So you will sell your soul for money. How Christian of you.
82
What a terrible cost our country has paid, to trade our example and influence in places of injustice, inequality and dictatorship, for Vegas style gains based on corporate shareholder greed. All this while the average wage earner stagnates, our quality of life plummets as we do without healthcare, and the environment crashes and literally burns.
I do not see the happy days as you do. I see a travesty of American ideals and ideas.
110
They don’t need women
11
Good God, are there still women who are Republicans? Shame on them for disowning/disenfranchising their sex with the anti-women GOP policies (that have only gotten more extreme) by the support they give with their acquiescence/allegiance/voice/votes/money...
66
Hard to believe it's a coincidence. The Republicans have officially become the party of retrograde ideas about women rather than, for instance, fiscal discipline. And elected GOP women are now on the brink of extinction.
50
The surprise isn't that there is a decline in Republican women - the real mystery is why there are any left.
On reproductive health, on childcare, on pay equity, on Ttitle IX, on #MeToo, on so much more - the GOP is on the wrong side of history and justice.
Slavish fealty to Trump is the icing on the cake. It is surely not a coincidence that the only Republican Senators expressing unhappiness with McConnell on Impeachment are women.
87
Considering the extreme risks of reverting to old fashioned sex stereotypes, there is reason to see psychological meaning in the difference between men's and women's affiliations of principle and conviction. Men who want to be soldiers are fulfilling the male stereotypes -- manly defense and manly offense. Young men have told me: "I want to kill people," hence their military aspirations. But when women want to be soldiers -- what does that mean? The same with conservative and liberal ideology. Traditional males defend their turf, make their money and keep it. "Get off my lawn!" But when women adhere to that sentiment, what does it say? I know it sounds a little Ayn Randian, but I believe it says something problematic about those women who will lean into rugged, selfish individualism as principle, and into this narcissistic, uncaring president.
10
Republican women voters like it this way.
A woman's place is in the home, apparently. Until women themselves wake up, this problem will only get worse.
30
@Rufus Where is Lysistrata when we need her?
14
@Rufus
There is absolutely nothing wrong with reducing one's carbon footprint by working in and from home. Maybe
the commuters should wake up ?
4
I am hoping woman keep leaving the party until the whole thing just shuts down.
65
If the contention of the article is accurate and the result will be an extinct species then republican women will have no one but themselves to blame. If they would place blame at all, not simply acquiesce and find excuses to support those who bring about this fate. They support someone who views them as an anathema to him when he doesn't look on them as a plaything put on earth for his enjoyment, and support those men who, through their support of him, show what they themselves think of women. How little respect they themselves have for women who, to them, should be nothing but property to bear them little replicas of themselves.
It's so bizarre how those groups for whom this faux president holds disdain, faux as one cannot be a true president when they so disrespect the office they occupy, can support him. Nor can they themselves be true Americans when they so disrespect The Constitution by supporting those who would violate it so and destroy it if they could.
26
This is no surprise as men and women are literally two very different animals when looking them in terms of populations.
Rude, crude, socially and politically unacceptable is what President Trump is. And those are behaviors that women generally do not like.
As noted this process really started before his election. Beginning with the 2012 election cycle the Republican leadership started demonstrating these types of behaviors. Especially many socially related things.
Take abortion. While many women don't agree with abortion being just another form of unrestricted birth control they do believe that it needs to be an option. Carrying unviable fetuses to term, rape, incest are examples of widely accepted reasons. And the list goes on and on.
25
are republican women republicans because their husbands are? they have hitched their wagon to a hyper fundamentalist religious party with a patriarchal power structure. what did they expect?
28
I'm not sure what attracted women to the GOP in the first place but this sure isn't your grandpa's Grand Old Party. It doesn't take a political scientist to understand why women are turning away in droves. No one but Republicans are surprised that we're not up for their misogyny.
42
Republican women in leadership roles are at odds with the conservative christian goal of relegating women to the bedroom and kitchen. This was kind of inevitable.
The ultimate conservative idea of women's rights is their right to do what their husbands tell them to do.
33
Sorry to say, Republican women aren't that disillusioned with Trump nor their conservative agenda, and to think otherwise is simply wishful thinking. Also, the fact that the governor of a deep red state like Alabama is a women should signal that conservatives aren't as sexist as some people would think. And even if they were, they can be far more partisan to put aside the sexism on election day. Racism didn't stop Obama from getting elected, and Hillary Clinton didn't lost because of sexism.
11
I don't recall any female GOP members of Congress or the administration raising any serious objections to Trump's policies, especially those that are hostile to women, nor to his long history of outrageous misogynist behavior and his pandering to the bigotry and racism of his base, all of which continues to cheapen and shame the Presidency and our country.
Male and female alike, all GOP office holders have marched in lock-step with their Tweeter-in-Chief, and by so doing they have all earned widespread scorn among the electorate as "the party of Trump." Sorry, but Republican women have only themselves to thank for their current "predicament."
30
"Senator Lisa Murkowski opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation..."
Factual quibble: Senator Murkowski voted against cloture, but when the confirmation vote on Kavanaugh was held, she voted "present." Therefore, it's not correct to assert that she "opposed" his confirmation.
37
Women, Republicans will NOT lead you to Jesus. You must do that yourself, in spite of them. And I’m a satisfied Atheist.
Seriously.
16
The last decent Republican woman was Millicent Fenwick.
16
@Sirlar What about Mary Todd Lincoln?
5
single issue voters responsible for the rise of fascism, racism, and domestic terrorism in the US as well as the decline of the US abroad into just another nuclear bully that the world is laughing at.
17
Who needs GOP women when the men, including groper-in-chief Trump, can win elections by:
1) Courting (and getting) Putin's Russians to sabotage the Democrats
2) Gerrymandering state elections to take away the Dems' right to vote, especially those nasty minorities
2) Removing voting precincts in minority areas, suppressing the Dem turnout
4) Declaring a trade war ("easy to win") on China, then slyly paying off his farm-vote, MAGA "base" $30 billion to make up for their lost income, and then some
4) promising huge tax cuts for working stiffs, who are dumb enough to believe such scams
5) Promising a GREAT insurance plan for everyone to replace Obamacare, then forgetting about it
6)Promising to wall off Mexico and make Mexicans pay for it, then sending in troops instead
7) Promising a 6% annual GDP, yet delivering only 2%, the same as Obama's post Great Recession rates
8) Be so irresistibly manly to GOP voters by bragging about sexually assaulting women, telling black Americans to "go back where they came from," and bullying anyone and everyone with illiterate Tweets, including a 16 year old girl who's smarter than the US president.
MAKE AMERICA DUMB AGAIN
62
A Republican woman in crisis is an upper-middle class elected official who is a bit late--or worse, her daughter is a bit late.
20
GOP women just like being told what to do. Sen. Collins is a prime example. Whatever she says, he does what the men tell her.
23
I wondered why Ivanka suddenly used the words "paid maternity leave and child care" Now I get it.
11
Republican women should be an endangered species in general. They can find a better home in the conservative portion of the Democratic Party, and support many of their primary couples without being held hostage to Trump.
14
I appreciate these demographic facts. But we‘ve been hearing of the impending doom of the GOP for years. But they control 2 of 3 branches of government, stand an even chance to give the corrupt, insane occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania another four years, have locked in a right wing judiciary for decades to come, etc. And our party’s response to this existential threat is to do everything possible to lose: 1) position candidates (Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg) who will likely lose in the general (with no coat-tails) and 2) cater to and allow the party to be defined by ‘social justice warriors’ and ‘the squad’ who alienate the swing voters who actually matter, electorally. Our party is run by naive incompetents.
15
@Bob Luxenberg
I too am bothered by the arrogance of Democrats for thinking GOP is on its last legs, and constantly worry that over confidence translates to not going to the polls which I think is what happened in 2016.
That said, I can't help but notice your concern about Warren & Sanders. Allow me to make a case and I welcome your opinion.
Frankly, I think Biden voters are so scared of a Trump reelection that they resort to what I call 'pundit wisdom' to justify their support. I think Biden's electability argument is an illusion. Ask yourself, what is it that makes Biden electable? His name recognition? His association with Obama? His moderate political positions? Hillary Clinton had all of those things going on for her, and it wasn't enough to get her across the finish line. Clinton was the quintessential establishment figure whose only inspiring message was being first woman president when there are so many problems affecting U.S. citizens. Biden has the same flaws as well as a bad record on major votes (tough on crime laws, Wall Street deregulation, permanent trade relations with China, the Iraq War). Trump will certainly hammer Biden with it.
Sander, though being the furthest left candidate, has none of those problems. His populism and lack of big donors could transcend his political leaning and bring in Independent voters. Sanders also has a committed base across multiple demographics and with the right VP could unify the Democratic voters next November.
12
Good points and questions. While it continues to astonish me that elections are much more popularity contests than policy debates, the (sad) reality is that so called ‘low information voters’ go for relatable candidates, seemingly regardless of their positions (cases in point: Reagan, GW Bush). Biden is indeed an uninspiring candidate, but he has always had high relatability. For very unfair reasons, Biden is much more immune to the right’s attacks than was Hillary. I suppose if it were a matter of winning the popular vote, Sanders MIGHT have a chance. But obviously we have an electoral college that is stacked toward conservatism. How will the persuadable voters in the states that matter (PA, WI, MI, FL, OH) relate to someone who took his honeymoon in Moscow (in 1988!) and has, let’s face it, a hectoring style? Lastly, while the young are clearly entranced by Sanders (and Warren), they have never voted in large numbers. The cynical GOP understands this and runs candidates who appeal to those who vote (and, imho, their fears and bigotry). IMHO our Democratic Party should reflect deeply on this.
7
In our district — one of only a couple that flipped blue to red in 2018– we had a very solid GOP woman run in the GOP primary and lost to an ultra-right and ultra-light hack who drank the Trump kool-aid, and was part of the frat-boy gang who raided the House intelligence committee closed hearings on impeachment (the GOP committee members were already in the room) — and ordered pizza.
She, by contrast, was a rare right of center GOP State Senator with a long track record of bipartisanship — and a woman too.
Rather than cultivate, support and nurture such a GOP prospect, the Trump tribe spurned her.
Too bad.
21
Irony of ironies, it looks like it might be Republican women in the Senate who may just save the Republic - Collins and Murkowski both having expressed concern about McConnell trying to put together a show trial for the impeachment.
2
@Joe
We've been played by Senator Collins before concerning Kavanaugh. I'll believe it when I see it.
46
@Joe So they've expressed "concern" and even have said they are "disturbed" by McConnell's tag-team moves with Trump and against the Constitution?
Push comes to shove they will cave, just like always.
38
@Cathy, I doubt seriously that you are a democrat but you are right about trump originally being a democrat. The difference is that when trump tried to run for president on the democratic ticket he got laughed out of the room. So he ran as a republican and won the nomination. Democratic voters would not tolerate a buffoon on their ticket. Republican voters embraced the buffoon with welcoming arms.
Please do us all a favor and write to you Senators and representative and tell them your theory that trump is a democratic plant to bring down the republican party. Encourage your friends to do so too.
16
The impeachment trial has only brought more money and support into the Republican Party. People are so sick and tired of this charade created by the Democrats and have been drifting away since it began. It started as a trickle but has been gaining ground the longer it has gone on. By the time thIs nonsense is finished, the party support will have shrunk to even a greater degree.
President Trump is destined to win in 2020 and so are the other Republican politicians regardless of their gender. Who would have thought impeachment would have been good for the Republicans bottom line. That is to win elections.
2
I’d tell you that this article’s actually about why you guys are losing women reps in droves, but I was struck by that word, “destined.”
This isn’t that weird, “Jesus’ mandate,” thing again, is it?
25
@KMW
Read the transcript! It's there in black and white, he was trying to get a foreign country to interfere in our elections.
31
An awful lot of these women were the 'mean girls' or bullies at school and birds of a feather do flock together. Many more have been well and truly brainwashed by Rupert Murdoch and his ilk.
Much, much more needs to be written about the ultra conservative billionaires and their well-planned war on the world...who profits from a weak US...Putin lucked out in his Trump puppet.
So we have Russia and ultra conservatives waging war on this country...and too many people who are sheep following along willingly.
14
Republican woman could careless about what the NYT has to say about them. And they are no different then republican men. I have two daughters and one son. My daughters are making way more money then he is. All three are republicans.
This is all about the left trying to find divisions or just pretending that they exist. Women have never had it better.
6
@Jim
Young women are learning from our president how he devalues women, how our GOP leaders devalue women.
We are still second class citizens until there are broad equalities between the sexes including equal pay for equal work.
25
Perhaps women have never had it better. That’s not saying much. We will continue to rise in standing until we achieve equality, nothing less. The money your daughter makes is one measure of that standing, but by no means the most important.
18
I would say Republican men are in crisis, too.
16
A legacy the President will leave behind, the G.O.P.'s divorce from women of good conscience.
19
If you are still voting Republican, you haven't been paying attention.
Let's get back on track in 2020!
19
Perhaps republican women are like Edith, Archie's wife in the tv series "all in the family". Now Edith vote for Trump and get me another beer.
13
I am surely profiling here but most republican women are subservient to the men in their life.
17
"A woman voting Republican is like a Chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. "
39
Nothing that Republican women, and Republicans in general, have not brought on themselves drinking the same Kool-Aid from the same punch bowl.
7
Sounds like fine payback for every time they voted to keep women under men's bootheels. GOP women are one species I have no problem seeing go extinct. They serve no purpose but to provide cover for the ugly GOP men.
18
The GOP, many religions, and white haired old men think women should be kept bare foot, pregnant and should feel lucky for that. Being an old white haired man that votes Democrat and loves how smart and special women really are thinks they are what our government needs. Women care for everything that makes life worth living, even most of us old guys that probably don't deserve the attention we get.
25
"Other studies suggest that G.O.P. voters perceive women to be more moderate than men and are therefore less likely to vote for women."
Boy, does that speak volumes.
Wouldn't want to do anything in moderation . . .
19
Have we forgotten already that the world depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale is what the GOP actually wants?
35
Trump presidency started against women.
No Hillary is not the first casualty, The casualty is when access Hollywood video clearly trashed what women gain since 19th century , and reduced the woman gender a mere toy, and people ( women and men) literally accepted.
Then things followed.
As of today we know that Trump spend time with Epstein too.
There are words as a concept shouldn't mentioned in the same sentence with Trump.
1- Woman
2- Moral value
3- Intelligence
4- Empathy
5- Mercy
6- Politeness
you can add more...
19
A big one for me personally:
HONESTY (totally and completely gone)
12
Republican women are, by and large, Christians. Christians are President Trump's base. The math is easy. Republican women would no more vote against Trump than stop believing in Jesus.
13
@Michael Walker
As one Republican lawmaker clearly stated, Trump was treated much worse by Nancy Pelosi , than to Jesus Christ by Pontius Plate.
Trump is the new worshiping idol, straying from that road is blasphemy.
7
@Michael Walker: If they really believed in Jesus and took his message seriously, they wouldn't vote for Trump.
17
@Michael Walker
And I'd like to hear from these so-called "Christian" Republican women about how they equate a vote for Trump (of all people) being a vote for Jesus.
I can think of no one who lives a life less like Christ and less aligned to Christian principles than Trump.
So, Michael, let's hear from some of your Republican lady friends. As a practicing Christian, buddy, I'm curious.
16
Republican Rectitude just doesn't seem to have the same exclusive charm, the same dainty elan, the same nuanced cache after Mrs. Conway.
14
Women voting Republican in the age of Trump can only be summarized in one phrase: Stockholm Syndrome
29
I am at the "Vote Every Member of the GOP Out at Every Level of Politics" stage. I've already pledged money to Susan Collins' Democratic challenger, and to Tedra Cobb's campaign in NY-21, for Rep. Stefanik's seat.
Susan Collins betrayed the women of America when she cast her vote for Justice Kavanaugh. Rep. Stefanik has betrayed her oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution in the impeachment hearings. She puts party politics before her duty to her nation.
These are the people you'd suggest can renew the Party of Wealthy Old Misogynist Theocrats and Climate Change Deniers, Inc.???
I don't think these Quisling women would be any better as leaders, personally.
28
The Republican Party gave us Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin. No thanks, I don't want dumb women, I want smart women.
33
Deirdre,
This may come as a shock to you, but I support the Republican Party and always have. There is no war on women and this is just your typical liberal propaganda. I know you want it to be so but this is a lie that has been portrayed by the media and Democrats. Nice try though.
8
@KMW: No, you support Trump who has children put in cages and separates toddlers from their parents. The Republican Party is no more.
30
KMW,
You are the one that deserves the “nice try”. Anyone with the least amount of intelligence and self awareness can see right through your Republican/Fox News propaganda. Those of us that live in reality know better. Good luck to you!
30
@KMW
8 Republican women representatives in the House.
Half of America is female.
Connect the very large dots looming in front of your nose.
31
Is Nancy L. Cohen a Republican? If not, why should the Republicans care what she thinks?
6
Women in the GOP are like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. They're dying off like flies which is a harbinder for what will happen to the GOP at large.
Basically, the GOP is dead. Certainly the GOP which my father voted for and supported no longer exists. It's only a question of how long before American voters toss it onto the garbage heap of history, alongside the Whigs, Nazis and Communists.
https://tinyurl.com/wvxrzbv
18
The obvious problem: the repubs are a male-dominated, misogynist "party". Women are not really wanted in elected positions, but they're fine "standing alongside" (you know, "where they belong").
Wake up! Fascism is a boys club!
22
GOP has become the party of aggrieved white men, this isnt a winner anymore here in the US
23
Basically the Republican Party belongs to white male protestants . Minorities including women, black, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims and colored people have no place in the party. If you are a white supremacist , then you are most welcome . The GOP is the party of Trump and David Duke , This is the party of Ruslh Limbaugh and Hannity. This is the party of NRA, KKK and white supremacists. Very sad!
25
The Republican Party is a straight white “Christian” male supremacist organization. Women can seek office to promote Republican aims... if the men in charge of their grand old party let them.
20
I find this resurrection of the memory of Sarah to be instructive.
Sarah popped up in the last election... for about a week, and then Trump got rid of her - permanently.
She was too brash, to ill-informed, too crass, too....
And, besides, Trump hated John McCain and all McCainism.
(He prefers McConnellism.)
Sarah was just too.... Trumpy.
A know-nothing show-off.
A Face.
Republican men couldn't take their eyes off her Orange heels at the debates, but there was nothing upstairs, if you catch my drift.
Donald Trump could have been speaking of her, alone, when he said, "I love the poorly educated!"
The clincher, as we all remember, was Todd's membership in the "Patriot's" Movement. Turns out he wanted another country....... just not this one.
Lot of that going around with Republicans.
Well, now we get to find out what Sarah would have done had she been President, for Her Twinness is Trump.
Because this nation is sexist to the hilt, we never got to find out how far Sarah would have gone, but I suspect that she couldn't have done any worse than Trump and his Hanger-ons. Like Trump she was about a mile wide and an inch deep.
There's a lot of that going around lately, too.
"Republican women"?
That's an oxy-moron..... a contradiction in terms.
Already impeached.... now 'remove'.
24
Why would any woman be a republican? The republican led personhood bills making their way to state legislatures would make birth control pills and IUD’s illegal as these prevent fertilized eggs from attaching to the uterine wall, and personhood begins at fertilization. 90% of women of childbearing age use birth control. The Republican Party is against an assault weapons ban, increased funding for education along with any family friendly legislation. On top of all this, the Republican President and candidate for 2020 is a filthy excuse of a man who ‘visits ‘ porn stars instead of being home with his wife. I honestly don’t understand how he can have a single woman supporter!
33
I can't even read this article. Okay, I will.
But the first thought that comes to mind before reading is one of shame for them.
Okay, that's a lie.
My first thought was "how many Jews were members of the Nazi Party in Hitler's Germany?" And what excuse did they give?
Now I'll go read.
12
It’s difficult to express one’s opinion while wearing a Republican hijab.
15
The GOP needs women like a fish needs a bicycle.
9
Misogynists following the lead woman-hater gonna lose big time in 2020.
Come on ladies, lock and load.
Women of the world your time has come.
13
Republican women have been in crisis ever since they chose to be affiliated with a political party that advocates against the empowerment of women. A Republican woman garners the same level of confusion and pity I'd have for blacks aligning themselves with the Republican Party, or the KKK for that matter. I mean really, don't they look at the rally's??? Do they see themselves in that ravenous mob of folks that don't believe women and minorities are a full share American citizen? Based on the elite favoring politics practiced by Republicans, the absolute only demographic that should vote Republican are affluent white males with zero conscience. The zero conscience is the fraction of regard they hold for the bottom 99% who are harmed by measures to further enrich the rich.
11
Know what happens when there are no women around? The men die out. Watch the GOP; this is a sterile, senile group who, frankly, won't be missed when they ultimately become extinct.
29
How does a woman like Nikki Haley even associate - never mind fail to codemm- a President who has been taped bragging about sexually assaulting women; who has walked unannounced into the female Miss Universe dressing room; and who has publically ridiculed the facial appearance of a Republican female candidate for the Presidency of the United States? Better yet, how can any self-respecting woman - or man - even considered voting for such a lowlife?
33
Some wags say, "a woman who votes Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders." Any woman who doesn't appreciate being treated like a 2nd class citizen by white males should not vote for Republican. Or any woman with a brain, for that matter.
16
I had succeeded in forgetting about Sarah Palin and suddenly my memory was refreshed. Oh dear! Thanks a lot NYT.
18
They don't seem to mind the groping, the birther lie, the cheating, the porn star payoffs, the hate-speak, the pals in jail, the white nationalism, the science denial, the disinterest in education, the caging.
They just don't seem to mind as they remain republicans because they think democrats are worse. Did Pres. Obama choose a Palin-type? Did his appointees go to prison? Did his civil servants testify against him? Did our allies laugh at him?
Still, they remain republicans.
27
Whatever your gender or race, if you dance with the devil(s), you're left with the stain of doing so. Sin, evil-doing, depraved indifference to other people. hatred, whatever it's called today...
13
Female Republicans will soon be as prominent as gay Republicans and black Republicans. In other words, there shouldn't be any. The party hates women, blacks, gay people, etc.
12
To improve the accuracy of this story replace “women” with “white women.”
12
@Larry Dickman I think that is understood. How many black female Republicans exist? I don't know, maybe 5?
11
I didn’t know that the GOP had a rich feminist past. Oh, yes, Phillis Schlafy, right!
12
Republican women are an endangered species because the Republican party continues to become more and more hostile to any people other that straight white men. Congrats, fellas!
12
Republican women are compelled to support a party that is headed by a racist and bigoted misogynist. Men seem better able to sublimate their core principles to perceived self interest. Which I guess is a higher calling than ethics.
6
So, Republican women, here’s a thought. LEAVE the patriarchal and fossilized Republican party. There is strength in numbers and we would welcome you.
16
A stampede of pink elephants? Sarah Palin must have been drinking.
9
How could you note that Elise Stefanik became a "rising star" in the impeachment hearings and not point out that her opponent, Democrat Tedra Cobb, raised a million dollars in 3 days. That millions of Americans found Stefanik so repugnant they propelled her Democrat Woman opponent to national stardom?
Seems like a glaring omission when you're trying to get at the popularity, or lack of it, of Republican Women.
20
Lots of GOP women seem to willingly buy into the idea of a white patriarchy. Why would they run for office?
12
Who cares? You folks are so obsessed with gender, race and sexuality, get over it. Most people just want competent leaders and don’t really care what they look like.
6
Especially if they are white, male and I guess Roman Catholic. Mr Aquinas?
17
Good photo of McMoRo. That’s exactly what we in her district see. She’s the invisible woman.
5
It's defies explanation why any Woman would follow the Republican party in any way, whether aspiring to hold an office as one or simply voting in support of any one of them.
These angry, greedy, selfish old white men represent the absolute worst in humanity and this country and generally are the antithesis of all things Female (or living and dependent upon this Earth, for that matter)
The only plausible reason I can muster is "the patriarchy" and it's dreadful imposition on any one or any thing willing to be dominated by its subjugation.
The only value in all this for me has been the talking points it has given rise to as I raise my children and prepare them to fledge into this nasty social sewer of Republican making. My children will never accept nor tolerate this unwelcome domination of these nasty nasty and pathetic old men.
14
Who is Ms. Palin?
3
@Peter Good one, Peter
4
GOP men like their women to be like Melania Trump: pretty, unobtrusive, and willing to take untold abuse and humiliation while still sporting a big smile.
22
@stan continople Melania is biding her time. Wait till her book comes out, after the divorce.
10
The GOP is now a cult party---where leadership is determined by race and gender---you must be white and male. The women in this cult, observing them at Trump rallies are selling hats and fetching treats for their men.
18
Why would any woman want to belong to the GOP which denies healthcare for all, penalizes female reproductive rights, cuts school lunches for kids and welfare for poor single moms, denies science, spreads gun rights and battlefield weapons, stigmatized minorities and lauds boorish behavior? And believes Putin the bff of DC?
18
The Republican party of today is a fascist party, openly embracing racism, misogyny combined with affection for white plutocracy and oligarchy. It is a party in open rebellion against the liberal democratic ideals upon which the nation was founded, and is in alignment with authoritarian nationalistic political phenomena in Europe; supported, exploited, and compromised by the Russian intelligence and security apparatus. Any woman that joins this party is either massively deluded as to its consequence, or simply abides with all of the above.
13
The reason for this shift is simple: the GOP has nothing to offer women. Period. They have no ideas, no plans, no pending legislation that benefits anyone except a dwindling base of rich, old, white men. The one thing Donald Trump has done is force the GOP to abandon all pretense of being anything other than a party of grievance that runs on a toxic cocktail of hate, fear, greed, misogyny, homophobia, racism, and fragile masculinity. The emperor is stark naked, and women are finally waking up to whose foot is on their necks. Good for them, and good for us. There used to be a saying: “Too bad jerks don’t glow in the dark” (substitute a certain body part for “jerk.”) Now, when you see a MAGA hat or bumper sticker, you know that the wearer or driver is a loathsome dinosaur that needs to lumber towards the nearest tar pit post haste. Thank you, Donald Trump for flushing out the fuel line of history. Ladies, welcome aboard.
20
And GOOD riddance! Republicans have HORRIBLE hateful cruel sexist misogynistic xenophobic classist male centered “policies”. They can be summed up as tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to social security Medicare food child care and maternal health cuts for women along with dirty air and water and fossil fuel rape of our environment. Republican men are backwards “traditional values” cretins - read barefoot and pregnant and submissive to men. Why ANY woman would be a republican simply staggers the mind.
All women unite vote democratic and let’s throw the bum republicans out. Wake up before the sexual assaulter in chief takes away every right you ever had.
15
Let's be honest about this shall we. Republican women prefer it this way. This is the party they want and the ideology of the party attracts women who want to be led by men. Asking why there aren't more women in the Republican party leading is like asking why there aren't more African Americans joining the Klan.
13
Far from encouraging more female candidates, what Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy did was demonstrate that any moron could run for high office. Any straight-talking, shoot-from-the-hip candidate that can seem to relate to the common man could run.
And here we are.
7
@Calliegirl
Actually, S. Palin is an idiot, technically speaking. An idiot has the intellectual capacity of a 2 year old. An imbecile has the capacity of a 3 - 7 year old. But a moron has the capacity of an 8 - 13 year old, and that would clearly be overstating her intelligence.
11
Republican women can join midwestern farmers in a "what might have been" moment. Shrug...
9
Huh? You mean women are not attracted to a party that is a third moral majority that regards women about the same as cattle, a third white supremacist - which regards women as children factories, and a third corporate pooh bahs that think of women pretty much the same as does the FOX network. Wonder why?
15
Women are so much smarter than men!! Happy New Year.
4
Well there’s always Ivanka, right? That’s trump’s plan.
Republicans are now the party of payoffs to porn stars, discrediting diplomats in favor of shakedowns of foreign leaders and laws to make abortion illegal when embryos without a heart somehow have a “heartbeat.” If Rep stefanik is a moderate, repub women are already in Gilead and 1984 mind control.
Run away quickly, Republican women, before you get grabbed in more ways than one, and find yourself barefoot and pregnant in a kitchen with one of trump’s 1960s dishwashers, spewing gallons of water at you.
13
He's not misogynistic. He loves women, just ask Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, Marla Maples and those 20 other women who said he groped them.
17
I can't imagine why any woman would be a Republican considering the hatred the Republican Party and its dictator Donald Trump have for women. After all Donald Trump has publicly bragged about sexually assaulting women.
10
Notice that the main liberal argument you read in these comments boils down to “conservative women aren’t as smart as we are”. How condescending can you get?
4
Having a brain and not using it are two different things...Fox's brainwashing over the last 10 or 12 years has worked
15
65 year old rich, white Southern men. Welcome to The GOP 2020, ladies.
8
As if we need more of Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Liz Cheney, and Marsha Blackburn.
11
Who cares what women think or how they vote?
1
@Aaron Spoken like a true Republican.
18
What a surprise. Women are leaving the party that has allowed Trump to remake into the party of white, racist, misogynist, male Rambo wannabes. Where is there room for women in that structure? By the way, you give too much credit to Palin who will barely be a footnote in history.
10
Why any women would align themselves with the party of Trump is a mystery - his misogynistic, xenophobic, racist and homophobic behavior is bested only by his cruelty, lying and bullying behavior.
11
Why is it a surprise the the Bible party wants women barefoot and pregnant?
12
Gosh, good golly, who woulda thunk that electing an admitted sexual predator who also used his position as a beauty contest owner to perv out on underage contestants would turn off women voters? If that doesn't grab em, nothing will.
13
Ha. Surprise surprise, these women are hurt by policies in their male dominated party. They need to get their heads out of the sand and leave the party.
Also, Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a garbage representative. I lived in her district (which is enormous) and I never saw her come to a town hall in my area, she did not do a good job of representing her constituents, and her staffers are incredibly rude human beings.
7
White women in Crisis?? Surely you jest. The white women the rest of see and hear seem more than comfortable in their role as ardent supporters of all white male politicians including the misogynist in chief in the White House. Crisis??? The authors do a disservice to the issue when they use click bait headlines.
3
The Republican party has become the party of bigots, misogynists, charlatans, grifters, traitors and fools.
I don't see any of those characteristics as possessing broad appeal to women.
10
Donald Trump- just think of this ridiculous TV-personality sham of a person, crowing about himself, gutting his marriage vows, paying political hush $$$ to his porn girlfriend, cheating his contractors, saying lewd things about women reporters, hating on widows and kids, lying like a house afire every single day.
Yeah, not too much to recommend here- not just for conservative women but for anyone with a standard for human behavior above the level of a spoiled brat. That he has any enablers is on the ability of our citizenry to lie to itself. Pitiful.
14
I can't count the many times that the press has written off the Republican Party (with the "decline" in the number of GOP women), only to find it in power everywhere. Like today with more than half of the Statehouses and Legislatures, the Senate and the White House. It won't be any different in 2020.
2
Back when all politicians from both sides were white males, race and gender wasn't the issue. Now the Democrats are the party of women and minorities, and Republicans white males. Most women married to Republicans ,I've heard- vote with their husbands.
3
You are probably right about women over 70, but women younger that 70 were and are part of the women's movement and vote independently.
5
“Common-sense conservative women.”
Really? Any woman who can still support Trump after what he has done and said about women has no sense at all, common or otherwise.
24
I don’t understand the point of identitarian politics. It didn’t get HRC very far in ‘16. If you want to discuss women in either of the main parties you’ll have to go deeper than a head count.
"If Mr. Trump wins, given his unpopularity with female voters, the future for Republican women in politics looks very bleak indeed."
Donald Trump was supposedly unpopular with Republican women in the run up to the 2016 election, and yet the majority of Republican women - indeed, the majority of white women - still voted for him over his opponent(s).
I'd honestly be surprised if it were any different next year. Tribalism is strong in America right now.
3
If Trump wins, the future of Republican women, and the future of all women, looks very bleak!
5
One thing is certain regarding females and their continued support for the party: Republican women know their place.
7
So sad her in Maine. Susan Collins saw Margaret Chase Smith (Declaration of Conscience) as her mentor. Now? Mitch McConnell is her Master.
12
@Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth,
I'm from Brunswick and have provided my 17 friends who still reside in Maine with Susan Collins' phone number and asked them to call her w/ voter "feedback." It's not too late for Senator Collins to be on the right side of history and have a Margaret Chase Smith moment, but I'm not holding my breath!!
Toss her.
8
Exactly what is the "crisis"? Republican politicians feed on fear, ignorance and hatred. You're worried that there aren't enough women out there trying to sell that stuff?
6
I read that Corey Lewandowski has announced that he won't seek a seat in the U.S. Senate. This is the first reasonable act, free of raging, demented anger, I am aware of this fellow ever taking.
9
I don't know whether the murdered 18 year old Barnard college girl Tessa Majors was a Republican woman or a Democratic woman during her all too short life. Does it make a difference? Does anyone know what is happening in the police investigation of that incredibly evil murder? Are the suspects in police custody? Will anyone ever be punished? Where is the outrage?
2
is it more important to be a republican than to represent human values? I don't get it..There are no 'republican' women because republicans have no interest in women at all..
8
I remember when republicans were all upset because Hispanics were leaving the party. They had studies done and made all kinds of plans to attract Hispanic voters. Then republicans embraced trump's racist war on Hispanics and people of color of all ethnicities. Now republicans are upset because woman are dumping the republican party. The predictable republican response has been to turn up the misogyny level and embrace the trump war on women.
12
Sheer lunacy of GOP is expressed in these column , doesn't give any women to rise as a candidate in trump's party.
"Women are moderate so we do not vote"
Wooowwww , Than we are criticizing Maduro . This is beyond ideology, this is outright sexism, raging machismo, nothing else.
As Trump laid our during his primary, these are locker room talk and women doesn't have any place to be in my group.
Why any women would be in the company of Trump party?
6
"But the biggest trend has been obscured by 2018’s female-led Democratic wave in Congress".
We'll see if the class of 2018 endures. After being dominated by the "squad" since they took control, the verdict will be rendered in November. Between their vulgar, anti-semitic rants and their demonstrable ignorance I'm betting gender will be irrelevant and republican women will vote to end it.
2
The squad's approval ratings in their home districts are very high. They are doing what their voters want them to do. It doesn't matter if you or any other republicans like them or not.
14
The primary problem for Republican women, as Gov. Palin discovered, is that the 90% of media reporter and editors sworn to supporting the progressive Democrats are bound to personally destroy them as soon as they become prominent.
Even today, progressive zealots and America-haters feel thay have to attack any Republican woman you mention, even if they can't come up with any reason.
This violent hate speech is promoted by the same radicals who think telling people to get married before having children is an antisocial idea.
Women like Candace Owens and the rich, diverse variety of women on the Right are getting people to honestly reconsider their parents' loyalty to what used to be the Democratic Party - a declining mob that would now jettison the presidents that made the party famous and trustworthy.
Sadly, at the forefront of this radicalism, are the political cadres running the New York Times and WaPo.
2
@L osservatore
Alaska's half governor was an embarrassment.
And there are still a lot of unanswered questions
about her very strange pregnancy with 'Trig'. . .
8
Republican women must be terrified. The lowest women unemployment numbers in US history, lowest African American and Hispanic unemployment numbers in history, Wall St hit 150 all time highs, Tax cuts for everyone, Yes the Republican women must be terrified.
3
@P McGrath If they are of child-bearing age, they ought to be. Not, it sounds, like child-bearing affects you.
11
Yes, we thank President Obama for the economic recovery every day.
16
GOP women are on the brink of extinction? Tough luck!
Thanks to the GOP, America - and democracy in America - is on the brink of extinction...
10
The Republican party stands for nothing but xenophobic nationalism, barely disguised racism, corporate greed driving the once Republican idea of controlling the deficit deep into the melting permafrost of their climate-change-denying electorate. What does it matter if the soulless congressperson has a particular set of genitals? The story is the decline and decay of Republicanism, not the scarcity of Republican women.
6
As long as the woman of the GOP stay silent while their "menfolk" make the rules and they sit quietly they will stay marginalized. Maybe stop supporting the "he man woman hater" in the White House and standing up for yourselves and your beliefs will the GOP change. But the bible says stay subservient to your man, so good luck with changing.
7
I'm sorry, but even when Susan Collins is pretending to be open-minded, she puts her foot in it. For instance, in finally deciding to vote for Kavanaugh she used as an excuse that she had a "one-on-one" conversation with him.
Where was here one-on-one conversation with the woman who did not recant her testimony. Where was that talk.
Respect is earned. I don't understand why they even run for office when they aren't willing to express any real concern for women, other than the ones who are convinced that they have to wear their hair permed and their collasr starched and buttoned up to their necks while they sit down and shut up for Mitch McConnell.
8
The problem isn’t too few women in the Republican Party, the problem is way too many men.
9
No matter what party you belong to, I don't know how a woman (or man, for that part) can justify locking children up in cages!
11
Gee, I wonder why women are fleeing the GOP?
7
NO CRISIS.
They are welcome to leave the misogynist patriarchy that is the GOP. see it's easy.
9
Amazing in its disregard of voting patterns. A high percentage of Republican women vote regularly enough to put the Donald in the White House but have a higher regard for themselves than running for office on their own. Count the votes and weep, Dr. Cohen. Enough women, in the right states, voted for President Trump to put him in office. Farewell to HRC. Same thing will happen 11 months from now.
4
All this might make a difference if there was a hair's breadth of difference between the two corporate parties. As a (female) friend notes, "one bird, two wings."
@Paul Franzmann You're really still on the both sides thing in 2019? after 3 years of trump?
11
@Sanguinesolitude Nope. On neither side.
1
The agenda of women seeking to better themselves is distressingly askew. The top of the list in grievances of most minority groups is discrimination that leads to poverty. By contrast, women talk about empowerment, equal treatment, overcoming abuse and the like. And poverty is too low on the totem pole.. There are spokespeople for poor women, of course, but not nearly enough. Not as many as there are for upscale women seeking equal pay.
Feminists are disproportionately well-educated and upscale. And they fight for the things that make their lives better. It's important to empower upscale women, of course. But, as with blacks, Hispanics, Indians and other mistreated groups, poverty has to be among the first priorities.
The poverty rate for women ages 18-24 is 23.1%; for men it's 18.3%. For elderly women it's 12.1.%; for men it's 7.9%. And so on and son.
Power is important. But, as Stokely Carmichael taught, nothing happens as long as we are hungry.
5
Trump and the GOP are doubling down on unpopular policies, apparently thinking that women and minorities will not vote, or that wives of Republican men will vote Republican. And keeping the base excited enough to vote R.
The heck with independent voters or independent women or people of color.
Not sure why this would work, but then again didn't expect Trump to win on his anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-people of color platform either.
If everyone votes .. politicians will have to return to their voters. Gerrymandering only works if people don't vote, those razor thin margins based on previous low turnouts .. not really that safe.
One revealing recent article mentioned that moderate Republicans lost big in the 2018 and 2019 elections to Democrats, since being a moderate Republican is no longer really a thing.
I think we could also see the number of Republicans dropping as primary season gets underway and more people want to pick the Democrat they will vote for ...
4
As a registered Republican since 1976, I will not be voting for anyone with an R beside their name unless they have repudiated our current President. That includes any federal, state or local election. I live in a very red county, so I will keep my registration in the event there is a primary challenger to a Trumpkin. Other than that I will vote straight D until there is an equilibrium restored to our political system.
47
Any woman who votes for today's GOP will get exactly what she deserves -- fewer rights.
35
My question is how can any man or woman vote for a Democrat? They are not putting their own interests first. The Democratic politicians want open borders, free education, higher taxes, abortion on demand, take from the rich and give to everybody else. The Republicans want you to keep more of your money not give it away. The Democrats want to follow a socialist policy like Venezuela. How is that working out for their people. Not too well. The only one who benefits are the greedy politicians.
3
@KMW Republicans want you to keep more of your money if you already have a lot of money. As for Democrats being socialists, how do you and/or your family members like their Social Security payments and Medicare coverage? Under Republicans, they would have been cut a long time ago and will in the future again if Trump is re-elected with a Republican House and Senate.
26
@KMW - Democrats want affordable education and health care, equal pay for equal work, clean air and water for everyone, not just a chosen few.
Take a look at red states and see how well things are working there.
btw, Democratic policies result in fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions but don't let a little thing like facts ruin your ignorance is bliss mentality.
26
@KMW I see a lot of word salad there with nothing other than vague Fox News talking points to back them up.
If you'd like to explain exactly *why* education is a bad thing, or paying for the the government services we receive (rather than running up multi-trillion-dollar deficits) is a bad thing, or giving women a choice over their own bodies is a bad thing, I'm sure many would love to listen.
Also, there's nothing remotely socialist about Venezuela, despite what Fox has told you. It's a corrupt dictatorship pretending to be a republic. You might benefit from learning something about Denmark, though. Or anything at all, really.
And finally, literally no one has called for open borders. But easy immigration has been a cornerstone of conservative thought for a hundred years. It's part of that whole "small government" thing that Republican pretend to believe in when it benefits the donor class who owns them.
/educated conservative
27
In a comparison of Palin and Trump, it is difficult to determine which is the lesser intellect.
22
@The Poet McTeagle
No we cannot watch that rivalry, this nation cannot handle that.
5
I suppose the small number of elected Republican women suggests that Republican women candidates either have little appeal to Republican voters or, if nominated, have little appeal to Republican and to Independent voters or have little appeal to both. My suspicion is that Republican voters don't want women candidates.
13
One of these days a pregnant woman will die in a state that has enacted criminal penalties for aborting other than to "save the mother's life".
There were several such cases in Ireland (death from a simple miscarriage, another due to untreated cancer for example) which apparently woke young women up to the danger they were in.
15
May I add to this illuminating essay the name Mia Love, who was the first black female Republican elected to Congress. Born to Haitian immigrants, Love became a star Republican in Utah. However, she was rebuffed by President Trump and she lost her Utah House seat in 2018. In her concession speech she criticized the President, saying that he had “no real relationships, just convenient transactions.” Additionally, she charged the Republican Party as having a “transactional” relationship with minority voters.
736
@Linda Moore
Yet, Mia Love will be involved in Republican politics in five years when this president whom we are being constantly asked to despise is long gone from the scene.
Mis Love, like Candace Owens, are part of the GOP's future - as will be the first female president.
8
@Linda Moore This is will probably be the slow death of the republican party. America is a nation of immigrants and no party will be able to exist based on exclusiveness. No race or group of people in our country is monolithic. We are a mixture of all beliefs within the different groups. The time has come for the nation to be one of a single voice and not hatred. We can agree to disagree on some things and continue to live in peace with one another. Live and let live. Let everyone have that right. We are not all the same religion, gender or race. So one group should not decide how the entire group lives. We should make that decision as a group.
112
@Linda Moore What more do you expect from the party that can't understand how awful their go-to "get off the Democratic plantation" metaphor is. Ok, let's go to the Republican plantation, then?
54
Women voting for Republicans makes about as much sense to me as African Americans voting to repeal the Emancipation Proclamation.
32
If women are going to support Trump and Kavanaugh, who cares. They are their own worst enemy. I for one, are disturbed by such a developement.
17
Sarah Palin seems to have vanished. She used to make herself so visible. And she was SO supportive of trump. Haven't seen her at the WH since the beginning of his term, and she doesn't seem to be quoted much anymore. Maybe the divorce is keeping her busy.
10
The Republican women I know vote on issues, not on chromosomes. Do you really think that Republican women in NYC wouldn't vote for a woman, Elise Stefanik for instance, for Mayor over a man like Bill DeBlasio? And no self-respecting Republican woman would vote for AOC or any member of the squad just because's they use the she/her pronouns.
Liz Warren's own husband wouldn't have a Michelob Ultra with her. Republican women can relate.
3
@watchdog Why so mean?
1
@watchdog
They vote on issues that hurt woman and don’t support women and children.
10
I am afraid, this is overratedd. Only moderate college educated wmen who do not attend white evangelical churces may be troubled. And only in the urban cities. Do not count on them to turn against Don the Con. Democrats need to have a message that resonates to all. Yes, we should be tolerant to ALL people, no special tolerance needed for LGBT, Me-too victims, racism etc. Follow OBAMA mantra, We are all Americans and we tolerate everything. And we also accpt successful billionaires who have achieved their financial success lawfully.
5
Please stop with the Identity Politics. Sarah Palin is not on the national scene so awake from your nightmare and get back to bashing Trump.
2
What's up with the almost black photo? NYT keeping women out of the spotlight as well? Shame on the editors. The majority of Republican women are Republican because they support "right-to-life" and are antiabortion. This divides women in our country and divided we fail. A woman's womb is her own; you don't have the right to control it. If Republican women would get that through their heads, they might find more support among female voters.
5
"In the past 10 years, they have become an endangered species on the political stage."
And the same can be said for people of color, in the Democrat primary.
1
Cory Booker is still running.
1
The reason Republican women hated Hillary Clinton is they are jealous of her accomplishments. They could have voted for her against Trump....it's a secret ballot.
11
No, it is solely about abortion rights. Antiabortion women vote republican on that one issue only. One pregnant 12 year old daughter in the family could easily flip that though.
11
@global Hoosier This is the most absurd post of the day. Since Hillary didn't win, does that mean Democrats also voted against Hillary because they were jealous of her?
5
Women are just as smart as men, maybe a bit smarter. Why should they go with a party that treats them like second class citizens and wants control over their bodies?
Soon the Republican Party will be a majority of Middle aged white men, desperately clinging to power.
12
Soon? It’s already there
6
No sane woman in charge of her own thoughts and body would be a Republican.
18
"Republican woman" is a real contradiction in terms. Michelle Bachmann, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Palin, etc. personify the nastiness of the white man's party, but instead of dark suits and red ties, they're wearing red dresses, high heels and lipstick. Picture Mark Meadows, Joe Wilson or Devin Nunes in heels and lipstick, and you've got yourself a Republican woman. Lisa Murkowski is the rare exception.
15
@Richard Plantagenet George Conway represents Republican women better than his wife does.
4
If you think its bad now for Republican women, just wait. The trumpified Republican party is not good for any women, not just those in politics. With these men, the road leads straight to Gilead.
11
Even when the GOP and Trump push for ever declining equal rights for women, male domination of reproductive rights, a Darwinian healthcare and economic society and an environmental holocaust for our children, women still support Trump and the GOP.
The GOP has become the party of moral relativism, financial profligacy, financial and racial inequity, blatant corruption, environmental destruction and treasonous behavior, where the ends - continued power - justifies the means. This will attract people of any gender, who like this sort of ethical construct.
I can guess that it is either latent self-loathing (fostered by that good old-time religion), racial animus towards non-whites (keep my kids away from them), or sheer greed (don't you care about your money?) that would motivate (White) women to support a party like the GOP and a President like Trump.
In the end, those women will find they (and their children) have been betrayed, long after it's too late to do anything about it.
10
When will those who support this narcissistic con man realize that he’s throwing them under the bus?
9
They could become Democrats...
6
GOP is a party of old white (uneducated) male..
I don't see women or any good white male in that statements..
Party is defined by values and GOP has zero values for any one other then - read the first line.
4
Many of these named women, and many others like them elected to any office or not, could find a hapy, healthy and welcoming home in the Democratic Party.
4
Every Republican woman I know puts greed, racism or religious fanaticism ahead of human decency.
13
Yes but certainly Melania 'Be Best' Trump, Ivanka 'First Daughter of First Wife' Trump, Betsy' Guns for Bears' DeVos, Sarah 'Huckster' Sanders, Nikki 'Confederate Sikh' Halley and Elaine' Mrs. Mitch McConnell' Chao will lead the return and rise of Republican women.
There are still far more Republican women than there are black African American Republicans of any gender.
6
"Republican women" makes about as much sense, today, as "Log Cabin Polar Bears." (google it)
4
Talk about people who do not vote in their own self- interest, repub women must all suffer from Stockholm syndrome. Or maybe they all spend their time whining about being victimized just like 45. I'd like to hear what the repub men really think of Stefanik.
4
Next we’ll have GOP purging voter rolls of women with the same “surgical precision” they use to get rid of black voters because they tend to vote for Democrats.
3
Well duh. Most women aren’t misogynists. Why would women want to fix everything the men have broken? What amazes me is that those men are so far gone, they don’t have a clue why women aren’t falling over themselves to support the GOP. Or they just don’t give a rip.
The Republican party has become the party of greedy, soulless and spineless white men.
6
They shouldn't be crisis. They should be in flight to a party that respects them as individuals and respects their bodily autonomy.
6
Mankind is like a bird, with two wings - male and female. Both wings must be equally strong for that bird to fly.
We are crippling our nation by denying rights to women.
If this angry old white man can recognize this truth, why would we expect women to fail to see it? Why should women vote for their oppressors?
778
@Bob from Sperry
Thanks, Bob! This middle-aged Gen X male sees it, too.
There seems to be not one thing that will change the white evangelical voter (male or female), but the rest of the women of this country have a clue, and more are backing people who help, rather than hinder them.
If this country is to get back on track, it will be because of women and young people (like Greta and the Parkland kids). We need to support them as much as we can.
116
@Bob from Sperry; You are right, but not everyone thinks logically. Women in the Christian Taliban adore Trump's sadism and want to punish all infidels, regardless of gender. Like all radical religious fanatics, they delight in the suffering of others. Moreover, their numbers are not insignificant.
118
@Bob from Sperry
I can get behind it. Racist and sexist policy is bad for the economy because it put targeted groups at a disadvantage and denies them a fair chance to be a contributing member of society and even bring about innovation.
44
The title implies that this is a problem. The day that all women, and all men for that matter leave the GOP will be a day to rejoice. Perhaps then we can try to save the planet, and have policies that actually benefit the public, not just a few.
7
The support for Planned Parenthood dropped significantly when they were found to be peddling in baby body parts. They denied this but were caught on camera discussing prices. President Trump won the support of pro life folks because he promised he would appoint judges and Supreme Court justices who would support the pro life cause. True to his word he did just that.
People were outraged at the Democrats supporting abortion until the ninth month of pregnancy. This has turned many against their party and into the Republican Party. Both men and women left because they were upset over the continued support of abortion from Democrats and they were not welcome. They found a voice and platform from the Republicans. As the 2020 elections become closer, the Republicans will gain new and keep former voters.
3
Republicans are NOT pro-life, they are pro-birth. Full stop.
28
@KMW The idea that they were 'peddling baby parts' has been totally debunked. That is, untrue. So if that's your basis, you're building on shifting sand.
15
This article must have struck a nerve to inspire you to reference the long ago discredited, disceptively edited footage pretending to show “selling baby body parts” by anti-women’s rights fanatics. Defend the anti-woman actions of the Republican Party on its merits, if you can find any, not on some deluded fantasy about the Right’s favorite target, Planned Parenthood.
16
I am a Republican woman and there is not a war on us. There never has been. I have never felt inferior to any man and have had advantages bestowed upon me that many men have too. Maybe I have been lucky but I know women who feel the same. The policies of the Republican Party have never held back any woman. If a woman has been held back, it was of her own making.
4
Tell us - are the men at Trumpstock dreamboat material? Are these the folks who should rule the free world?
12
@KMW ..."If a woman has been held back, it was of her own making."....Which includes doing things like voting for Trump.
15
Let's be honest...Conservative men, by and large, yearn for a time when women were "barefoot in the kitchen" without careers or any obligations outside the home. This is why they don't support abortion or even birth control, and have continually failed to act on maternity leave, child care costs and equal wages. That their policies continue to make it hard for women to be independent and work outside the home is a feature, not a bug.
Female GOP politicians, despite dutifully propping up the patriarchy that makes their lives harder, are nonetheless a form of "career-woman". No wonder GOP men are apathetic in supporting them.
17
Women were never a good fit with the Republican party. It is the party of old white Evangelicals, and others that have hate and fear as souls.
15
Wow. A NYTs unicorn - a piece that references the pink hats and how women have mobilized the Democratic turnout since Trump’s election, even as a sub-point. The media fetishizes Trumpers while dismantling the Dem presidential race on the daily. Yet all the women out there working on the resistance, making the blue tsunami? Crickets.
4
One of my senators, Marsha Blackburn, is an exception to this rule. Blackburn is as stalwart a Trump supporter as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. She replaced Bob Corker, a thoughtful conservative who (although not often enough) publicly opposed some of Trump's most ill-advised policies and actions. The fact that a politician is female does not mean she will do a better job of representing women than a man who supports policies such as paid family leave, access to healthcare, and reproductive health and freedom of choice. Phyllis Schlafly is another example of a woman who worked tirelessly to deny other women the freedom to make crucial life decisions for themselves.
As a 64-year-old woman, I joined the workforce when sexism was accepted as a fact of life and have watched fast improvements in women's educational opportunities collide with much slower improvements of their employment prospects as women joined professions with work requirements designed to accommodate men with wives that didn't work outside the home. I look at the policies, and not the sex, of any candidate.
And I've stopped voting for Republicans of any sex because of their terrible decision to opt most states and the nation out of any meaningful dialog and action to address climate change, the major issue of our time. That short-sightedness will cost us all.
38
A crisis of stupid.
11
I know women who voted Republican and are not evangelical Christians. They are all older, white, and well-to-do, and they voted for tax cuts for themselves and their husbands. If abortion was outlawed again and their daughters needed the procedure, they'd pay to send them abroad and have it done quietly. They don't give a rat's rear end what happens to poor women.
52
Men have screwed this all up.
Women are, after all, the majority of voters.
Its time for them to set this straight.
It would be very, very easy to throw Trump out of office if women were unified against this goal.
12
I think it is clear now that Trump has achieved a major campaign promise, which was to “drain the swamp.” The swamp, we can see, were the moderate republicans. We are left with only the ultra-conservative sheep following their shepherd.
13
I question whether Collins cast the deciding vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation. The vote was 50 to 48, with Murkowski voting "present" as a courtesy to a Republican senator who was at his daughter's wedding that day. Had Collins voted "no," the tally would have been 49 to 49 (assuming Murkowski didn't change her vote), which would have resulted in Pence breaking the tie. So in the end, Collins's vote was irrelevant.
3
Any woman that supports the GOP does not see the harm the GOP is bringing to women. One does not have to support or not support abortion rights in order to see that the GOP is an existential threat to the healthcare rights of women. Ironically, the GOP voters do not seem to even vote for the female GOP candidates as they are perceived as moderate according to this article. So the GOP is losing its appeal to women, people of color shun the GOP because of its complicity to Trump’s racism, refusal to increase the federal minimum wage, and it’s silence to the many social ills in this society that are grounded in poor economic policies. Clearly, the GOP is continues to be the party people are not choosing. Women, I suggest you not do it to yourselves. Everything you need to accomplish to benefit women may be accomplished as a democrat. Stop rewarding the GOP with your vote. Vote for a party that wants to respect the individual rights of all and not just a group with the poor diversity of the GOP. Women, continue to think about how the GOP is an existential threat to the welfare of women and do the right thing—Exit the GOP if you know what is good for women and our nation. Don’t focus on abortion as if this nation wanted to reverse Roe v. Wade, it would have happened by now. It won’t happen. If it does, it will only result in movement in the other direction. Women, stop affirming Trump’s behavior and that of the GOP who supports his recklessness. America’s women must vote blue.
8
It’s really simple. Today’s GOP is a party of old white men pretending to be Christian, the subservient white women who support them and would gladly relinquish their rights to these men, and a small number of minority people who have fallen into their sad way of thinking and living. Susan Collins fits in perfectly.
9
Any women still within today's Republican Party have made a deal with the devil. I have zero sympathy for them.
16
The factor that always seems to be missing when we talk about Republican women is the religious one.
Many Republican women are evangelicals who are subservient to their husbands. They attend churches where women can’t be deacons, can’t be pastors, can’t even stand up to lead the closing prayer. Are these women going to care about women’s issues like equal pay and reproductive health? Do they care about the kids in cages? Do they believe climate change is real? Nope. And it’s because they understand that their religion is tied to their politics. They know their role. They learn it from an early age.
As someone who grew up in a Southern Baptist church, and who absolutely refuses to attend one as an adult, I believe the reason Republican women are in crisis is because their churches keep them from participating in the issues that face all women. When other women see them supporting a party that consistently votes against women’s interests, they have no credibility.
Thing is, these churches are losing members left and right. It’s only worsened during the Trump administration. For every new member a Southern Baptist church gains, they lose 4 youth. The anti-science, anti-women’s equality preaching they do from the pulpit has a lot to do with it. It’s why I’m no longer a Southern Baptist. These churches need a reformation that catches them up to the 21st century. Until that happens, Republican women are going to remain in crisis.
22
Why do women not understand how President Archie Bunker is trying to protect them?
9
It's about time.
4
Who has not fled the GOP except the ignorant and the greedy?
Women have been and will remain the progressive force in the world.
10
I have zero respect for any woman who votes republican.
22
Republican women are few and marginalized in Congress, but that's how the Republican leaders and those who elect them like it. So that's how they allocate resources, from funding to endorsements. Otherwise they would never have chosen Trump and Pence and (to lead the Senate) McConnell. More than once Collins has announced that she was voting as McConnell wanted her to because he had promised her something else major. He never fulfilled his promise, nor did she ever complain - she's only a Republican woman.
Similarly, there's one Black Republican in the House, who has decided not to run again, and one in the Senate, who has not decided. There are two GOP Jews in the House, at least one of whom will not return, and none in the Senate. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Baha'i make up several percent of the US population, but Republicans in Congress? There are none. Had the GOP wanted to recruit Blacks or in any of these five religions they would NOT have chosen Scalise to House leadership, who in 2002 was the keynote speaker at the EURO white supremacist convention, founded and funded by David Duke.
14
You imply Palin should support women, rather than the person with the policy she agrees with. Isn't your perspective sexist, and hers one of political integrity? You put me in the bizarre position of agreeing with Sarah Palin. I need a lie down..
Actually, Trump won white women in 2016, and probably will again. But if you’re determined to criticize, go ahead.
1
And who do we have to thank for the vacuous loose cannon known as Sarah Palin?
Hint: his initials are John McCain. He had the ridiculous notion, and acted on it, that Palin was qualified to be president. The damage she subsequently wrought is on his supposedly sainted head.
13
I never forgave McCain for unleashing Sarah Palin on the American public though I respected him for his service to the country.
4
@Ed
She should have never progressed past Mayorette of Wasilla (during which tenure she redecorated the Mayor's office with red and gold wallpaper in bordello style). The only reason she won the Republican primary for 2006 governor's race was thanks to none other than sitting governor Frank Murkowski's dissembling over who to appoint to his vacated Senate seat. After months of 'lists' and 'semi-finalists' and so forth, all well publicized, he finally settled on -- none other than daughter Lisa Murkowski as the most 'qualified'. Frank paid for it by losing the primary to a completely unqualified candidate, who was backed by Big Oil money in the general election, allowing her to beat popular Democratic candidate Tony Knowles. (There was also some concern about hacked Optiscan voting machines, since some of the percentages of votes cast were suspiciously uniform across districts, and Knowles had been polling 10-15 points ahead shortly before the election.)
3
Yeah, the crisis is that they’re not smart enough to act in their own interest. A crisis of intelligence.
5
Populism is based on simple-minded solutions, an "us vs. them" mindset, and cults of personality.
In other words, it's a fantasized solution to complex problems that seems to relieve people of the need to think and compromise -- a sort of blissful ignorance.
So maybe most women are just too smart for that sort of garbage?
3
"If Mr. Trump wins, given his unpopularity with female voters, the future for Republican women in politics looks very bleak indeed." --------------GOOD!
The Republican party should be a scourge on all women. A party, that thanks to Donald Trump, is openly anti-democratic, for the privileged and hypocritical, it deserves to be eliminated.
11
Thank you NYTimes, this article is a great way to galvanise conscious women to vote Democrat.
Spelling out SOME of the many wonderful reminders: the party that separates children from parents, ( ala Germany circa WW2), tells women they have no control over their own bodies while threatening to abolish their right to an abortion, dismantling health clinics for poor women in rural areas, cutting food stamps for poor children, and the icing on the turdcake is watching women who vote republicans bow down and are cowards to their supreme self proclaimed sexual predator and world renown misogynist leader in the White House.
There you have JUST a few reasons.
VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY FOR ALL 2020
17
The current crop of Republicans are largely traitors who scoff at the oath when each states that I "...solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;..." Women who support the Republican party might as well live in Gilead.
9
E Pluribus Unum is a mantra not oft repeated these days for good reason. Everyone is threatened by everyone, held back, put down, left behind, subject to some slight or dys - function, - ruption, -respect.
How can anyone who identifies as and presents as fem support the last gasp of old white guys? You don't call back the dead no matter what name they go by. Praise them, fine if only politeness in public. Life is for the living.
2
It’s interesting, I was just thinking about the fact that I am pretty conservative. Conservative meaning I like traditions, believe in family, commitment, integrity and helping others in need. These conservative values are the opposite of the values of the current Republican Party who supports a man with no morals, has no integrity, believes in lying cheating, slandering and breaking up families and hurting those in need. Why would a true conservative want to be a Republican?
16
@Patriot1776
Hi, I don’t think you’ve described Conservative ideals at all.
I think you’ve described my ideals, the same as all responsible adults, and I’m as far from conservative as can be imagined.
4
As long as the GOP continues to fight to strip women of their right to autonomy, reproductive healthcare and equal pay, women will continue to leave the GOP. Simple as that.
971
Our beloved left wing media viciously attacks every single female Republican woman whom dares to speak the truth.
6
@Nature - What truth?
1
@Nature .....The truth is that Trump is a vulgar bigoted narcissist. I am still waiting for Republican women to speak the truth.
7
The Republican Party is not a party for women. It is led by an admitted sexual predator. One of their main goals is to prevent women from having control over their own bodies. The women in office who have survived have done so by making themselves useful to that sexual predator. This is a bit of an extreme comparison, but I think it resonates: being a female Republican in office right now is like being a black member of the KKK. It doesn’t make any sense.
21
Republican women: Now there’s an oxymoron.
11
Identity politics of the Democratic party is in crisis, not the Republican women. In fact a previously little known Republican congresswoman rose to be a star of the partisan impeachment inquiry. The name of this spunky brave congresswoman is Elise Stephanik from one of the most populated state of NY.
The chairperson of the Republican party is a woman from Michigan, Ms McDonald. The senior legal advisor to the president is Ms Kelly Ann Conway. The press secretary of the Trump white house is a woman Ms Stephanie Grisham, who succeeded Ms Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The most consequential US ambassador to the UN appointed by Trump was a woman named Nikki Haley who stood up to the men in the Trump cabinet with poise and dignity. The current US ambassador to the UN who succeeded Ms Haley is a woman. Some Trump cabinet appointees are women.
The fact will remain that it is during the Trump presidency, woman power has been unleashed the most then ever before. The current house of representatives has the most women ever. The unemployment among women is the least in history and Women's rights in work place and in private have received most attention and men like Epstein, Weinstein, Lauer, Franken, Handy Andy prince of England etc have been brought to justice during the 3 years of the Trump administration. If Clinton was the first African American's president then Trump is the first woman's president. Facts are on the side of president Trump. They have not changed and will not change.
3
The current House has more women than ever because most of them are Democrats who ousted Republicans.
10
@M from CA. I am independent. To me is does not matter which party. The fact is Trump is in the white house and the US house of Reps has most women ever in history since independence.
2
What do you expect from a republican cult that is a paternalistic, theocratic entity that feels women should be pregnant homemakers not informed policy makers.
Especially in this day of liberty for the disadvantaged of all types.
How could any self-respecting woman vote for an old white male?
Kick the bullies out of office in 2020.
9
Russian Republicans want all women to stop driving, remove their shoes, and get back in the kitchen where the belong. What a party!
#AmericanTaliban
11
It makes as much sense for a woman to be a Republican today as it does for a person of color to join the Aryan Brotherhood.
11
I'm not going into the new year losing any sleep over the position Republican women find themselves in. They have minds and educations, they can have convictions too, uphold laws and due process, be humane in how they represent the people in their states and districts, etc it's on them if all they do is represent big money and enable dysfunction and continue to fall in line with and continue to support this nightmare.
Basing the premise of this on Paulin is not a valid starting point in any case, she's as big an obscenity, caricature and cartoon as the one we have in the White House.
7
The heart of the Trump base is white non-college educated men. Given Trump's rhetoric one has to assume that Republican voters don't like women, especially educated women.
10
@Daniel A. Greenbaum
A few decades ago white christian men literally had no competition. Even those with mediocre talent/education and little ambition could find well paid work.
Now they increasingly have to compete with the rest of us, and they don't like it. A more level playing field feels like oppression to them.
8
This column and most of the comments prove precisely what's wrong in American politics: the fact that we're ruled by the two-party system.
2
The Republican women are not in a crisis. They are just in a lull waiting for the correct moment to run. Now the presidential Democratic candidates are in a crisis. Just take a look at who is running in their party. There is not one in the bunch who could possibly win against President Trump. I would say they are in deep trouble. They are just too progressive for our country.
@KMW
The GOP just lost the House in a landslide.
Do not underestimate American women.
14
@KMW ...Trump is a vulgar bigoted narcissist. There is not a single Democratic candidate anywhere near that ugly.
9
Sorry, but the GOP is sum of its parts and it draws those who see women as 'less'. Women's rights to equal wages, to controlling their bodies, to child are and to approaches to our nation's issues will never be fully realized until the current sum-of-parts changes. We can look at the current set of GOP politicians and shake our heads at the number of men v women in the party. In reality, its party's members clearly like that fact, they vote to achieve that outcome and they give only lip service to women and their issues.
7
40% of the country is now registered as independent. Both Republicans and Democrats are losing voters to the middle who now make up their minds on a case by case basis, not according to traditional party lines.
11
I only know of two types of Republican women: some are smart, financially well off... and (to me) shockingly emotionally indifferent to other people's suffering. The others are religious, not politically engaged (too busy or not interested or just not intellectually curious) and so they vote the way their husbands do. (Or father, church, family, friends... their peer group.)
The rest of us who grew up Republican and religious left the party, and a lot of us left the church too. We cared too much, and we were too intellectually curious not to educate ourselves and pay attention.
40
Well... yes. This isn't a surprise. The GOP is moving towards a minority-rule party anyway. Their only way of surviving is to shape the electorate so that their minority of voters can still achieve the majority of power. Otherwise the GOP either needs to update it's views (which it won't) or go extinct.
So in light of that, why *should* the GOP bother with women? Minority rule power structures don't have to appeal to the majority or even the plurality. You're seeing the distillation of Republican conservatism as minorities and women are forced out.
18
A meaningful portion of the republican electorate does not believe women and men are of equal competence. That’s going to go a long way here
17
Donald Trump is the only Republican who can win. Only the worst elements of the GOP can win. Remember when "W" was the low bar?
11
Yes. And Nikki Haley will be the 2024 nominee.
3
@Snowball - Doubtful. Republican men will not vote for a woman, especially a woman of color.
She's used now as window dressing but she will never be the nominee.
13
@Snowball Picture a Trump rally. Can you see any of those people voting for the person who took down the Confederate flags?
6
And yet she was elected as governor of SC...twice. You can’t get a whole lot redder than that.
Oh boy. Where to begin? You don't need to be a flaming liberal to recognize Republicans will never allow female ascendancy. The GOP are pluralistic in the sense that power is shared but a power hierarchy still exists. Even when obtaining positions of power, women are expected to play a subservient role to the benefit of men. It's a patriarchal structure through and through.
I'm not saying Democrats are perfect. I would prefer third or even fourth option. I understand the appeal of family values. Especially when having a family is more of an expectation than a choice. However, buying into the Republican political apparatus as a profession is a self-defeating exercise. Many intelligent women debase themselves in the process. Need I mention Kellyanne Conway or Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
There will never be a Republican Margret Thatcher. In the American mold, modern conservatism demotes feminism to the doleful wife or honored mother. Get used to it. The kicker is Trump has disrespected both wives, mothers, and daughters all. Republicans don't even have family values going for them anymore either. Time to look elsewhere for leadership and morality.
19
@Andy - Democrats support education, affordable health care, equality, compassion. Those are family values.
18
The Republican Party is well on its way to becoming a Rump Party. I fully expect another party to arise and eclipse the GOP unless things change- and soon.
A party dominated by white males in a country where the majority of voters are women and increasingly people of color is not going to be a saleable thing. A party full of people who deny peer reviewed science, basic budget math (tax cuts do not eliminate deficits or debt), are openly hostile to the LGBTQ community, and are increasingly tied to orthodox Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity at a time of increasing secularism and religious diversity away from the orthodox will be a increasingly hard sell.
Either the Democrats will move further to the Conservative direction and have anew party on it left, or the Republicans will be replaced by a more reasonable Conservative party to their left. I cannot see the current thing lasting much longer.
12
@David Gregory
Yes, and with the republicans plan on climate change and some even calling it a Chinese hoax, we won’t be here to find out.
8
@David Gregory
Your comments are logical and extremely insightful. However, never underestimate the ignorance of the American people.
5
The only women who would remain Republicans believe that the ends justify the means. But, unfortunately, both the ends and the means of this GOP are completely reprehensible.
Are you so enamored of tax cuts that you care nothing for the welfare of children? The hypocrisy is staggering. That there are any women, or men, for that matter, willing to accept Trump, is a stain on our country which will not be easily removed, even with Trump's defeat in 2020.
21
Eliminating Republicans, of any gender, from public office of any type is essential to survival of this democracy. Through the influence of Donald Trump, the Republican Party has become a de-facto partner for Vladimir Putin. Not to mention the GOP association with right-wing extremists.
16
I almost started to ask who was the most unpopular Senator. I knew the answer before the thought was fully formed: Mitch McConnell. The polling posted shows him 50 against to 37 approve. According to the website, this number is from voters reporting on "their senators." Is Kentucky finally tired of Mitch McConnell? One can only hope.
Interestingly, the most popular Senators are Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy. Not exactly the paragon of femininity. However, the contrast signals a positive trend.
12
I have yet to talk to a woman who voted for Trump who doesn't plan to do so again. Why?
218
@ebmem this whole comment begs the obvious question: what is your definition of “educated”?
96
@ebmem Republicans like the rule of law? Not if it applies to them. I'm a registered republican who will be absolutely voting blue for the rest of my life. I've never been so disgusted as I am now with republican cowards, republican corruption.
404
@ebmem And there you have it, folks, Trump will win again.
19
Why the press continues to paint Susan Collins as moderate and a swing voter is beyond me. Her support for Kavanaugh showed us her true allegiance is to the GOP and herself. I live just 45 minutes by car from Maine and will be knocking on doors for her defeat.
25
Thank you Pat Baker!
4
This article may be the push Republican women need to decide to run for public office. I have hope that more women will decide to throw their hat in the ring so to speak. Remember when everyone said that Hillary Clinton was sure to win the presidency. They were stunned when it did not happen. Do not write the Republican women off just yet. They may very well surprise you and run in big numbers. And win. What will the Republican detractors be saying then?
3
Women that I know are no different in their desires and dreams than men. They care about the economy, education, and safety. Women have never done better in the workforce or in business in the history of the world in our country. At the end of the day women just like men vote their interests.
51
@Mitchell myrin
“ Women have never done better in the workforce or in business in the history of the world in our country.”
Never ever, in the whole wide world? Some European women may disagree. And there is always room for improvement.
72
@Mitchell myrin Thanks for speaking for men and women. As a man, I vote for the future. I want my grand-kids to have clean air and water. I want them protected from climate change and to have leaders that are good role models. My personal interests are necessarily good for others and I choose to not be selfish.
95
@Mitchell myrin If that were the case no woman would vote Republican which Party believes it has the right to tell a woman what she may or may not do with respect to her own body. So long as there are some women who go along with this nonsense no woman is free to live her own life — any more than a man would be “free” to do so.
67
Here they go again confusing Donald Trump with the Republican Party...I know a lot of Republicans and they're as good a people, even better than the many fake Democrats I've known in my life and I being one of those fake sanctimonious Democrats know in truth these couple of women you're seeing in a crowd cheering for Donald Trump are not the millions of women who represent the Republican Party. Donald Trump is an unfortunate sidenote who came from the Democratic Party and so happened to land as the primary winner against Hillary and from there it was all about her, and now with this New Democratic Party that has been overtaken by the nastiest contriving liars just like Trump and it is a truly phenomenal thing to witness. Democrats are so despised at this point and are seen as the enemy of this country there's no redemption there. Trump will be gone soon enough and he's no worse for the wear than any of the others thats been put on the throne no matter how bad the Dems say it has become... most people know that's a lie. The women of the Republican Party got to see Donald Trump whip these New Democrats into an anti-American bashing contriving bunch of rabid hypocrites.
2
@Cathy Veal - Trump has been enabled by the Republican party, they are selfish, greedy and cruel and many of them have been committing treason.
5
Republican women are not in crisis, they’re in denial.
26
I'm a Republican woman. I can assure you that neither I nor my Republican female friends are in crisis. I couldn't care less what gender my Republican Senators and congressmen are. That's what you don't understand with your never ending identity politics.
96
@Jackie - "I couldn't care less what gender my Republican Senators and congressmen are."
Republican Senators and congressmen.
That says a lot right there. Probably unintentionally.
But the crisis isn't in regards to their gender but their wholesale abandonment of the principles the Republicans once claimed they stood for. The embracing of expediency over morality. The utter disregard for the rule of law or the basic tenets of the Constitution.
Just like "political correctness" is a GOP marketing term for civility "identity politics" is GOP marketing term for equality.
298
@Jackie: So are you saying there are NO qualified Republican women? If there are, why are they not running for office in the same numbers as Republican men?
137
@Marie I agree, but sometimes both political correctness and identity politcs are taken to extremes that give weaponry to conservatives. We have to be careful not to cross the lines with those.
29
Hmm. I guess even republican women use birth control. Who knew?
15
The Ghastly Old Patriarchy wants the little woman to stay home in the kitchen - except on election day. And there are still a few.
11
Palin. I almost forgot abouth her. Another GOP crazy.
12
Having left the GOP, now a trumpist, fascist cult, in 2016 and discovered that much of what I chose to believe before I left the morally decaying party to be so much rubbish I am surprised there are any women willing to call themselves republicans The party certainly doesn't have their interests at heart. The party began lurching into fascism in response to Obamas humane, but often poorly thought out and executed, attempts to keep American a humane, caring, 1st world nation. The selfish and self centered policies of trump/GOP would appear to be abhorrent to any parent trying to teach their kids to be good citizens so I'm surprised any woman/mother would even consider supporting the new GOP. Palin, thankfully, has exhausted her 15 minutes of infamy. It seems Stephanik may replace her and the GOP will have no clue how embarrassed they should be by her screaming, fact free defense of the indefensible, trump worship will do that to you I guess. The GOP has no place for women who think beyond motherhood, serving their man, and the worship of a demagogue claiming to be sent by God but whose policies are anything but Christ like.
20
oh how much would this new brand of GOP love it if women were indeed entirely wiped off the congressional map. A fresh 4 years of old white men. They'd be chuffed. America - get out and vote Blue. Its the ONLY hope.
17
The Republicans should be losing everybody, not just women. Or should I say the Trumpians. There is no more Republican party.
12
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
12
Just look at the men leading the GOP, McConnell, Trump, Graham, Pompeo and Barr. It's just not in a woman's nature to be corrupt liars.
9
@Scott Kurant - I wish that were true but Kelly Ann, Palin, Huckabee Sanders et al are proof that women can be thoroughly rotten excuses for human beings.
9
Sarah Palin is numb between the ears! it is a travesty that the best offering of a female candidate is this illiterate lightweight!For the Dems, Hillary did not have the outreach to those with less intellect or money..down the road, there will be that perfect centrist democratic or Republican, and it can not come soon enough! Today, the leadership is so hostile to decency and morally bankrupt, perhaps a woman would find common ground in an diplomatic way...Grandholm is great, but not a US citizen, so she cannot run, Nikki Haley could be good, but she has been backing the wrong horse! Time to rid ourselves of the old crusts in DC !
1
They should be ditching the Grotesque Old Party. They can't fix it. It has to die and be reconstructed for them to have a useful role. Joni Ernst is vile, but Collins is the worst for gratuitously writing the brief for Kavanaugh. She could've just cast a vote and shut up. If Murkowski could win as a write in, why doesn't she go independent and caucus with the Ds?
10
Never mind women, it’s a mystery to me why any human being would ever support the GOP. They are loathesome through and through.
22
Maybe it is time for a new party, lead by former Republican women.
3
"Should Mr. Trump lose re-election, these Republican women could provide the leadership for rebuilding the party among women."
Rebuilding a political party that has been thoroughly polluted with the poison that is Trump is a pointless task. Trump and his shills have played to the lowest possible common denominators of the American population. They've encouraged the basest and most intolerant segments of the country and are doubling down on bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia and, perhaps most tellingly, being part of the 21st century.
Locked in a 19th century mindset, they seem to want to recreate a fantasy in which they dominate women, immigrants and minorities. They want nothing more than to be able to bully and abuse everyone who is not just like them.
No, GOP hypocrisy, lies, criminality, corruption, intolerance and, yes, stupidity all deserve an unmourned burial for a once proud political party. If you're really a conservative, then the GOP makes a mockery of your so-called principles. If you're principled, your vote for the GOP belies your contention.
If you're just a bigot, then go to it!
4
How do you explain that Marsha Blackburn represents your state? She won resoundingly against a popular former governor. It is blind allegiance, ignorance, racism, and a touch of fear.
164
I suggest you take a look at realclearpolitcs.com today. In what is supposed to be the new true blue state of Virginia, Trump is behind Biden by a couple of points, and is leading the other candidates. The source is the Mason Dixon poll, which is reliable.
If the economy does not collapse next fall and Trump hasn't bungled us into a war, there is going to be a lot of long faces election night, including the writer of this column. Women will not vote for Warren just because she is a woman, not vote for Sanders because he is a radical leftist, and not vote for Biden because he wants to throw the CEO of Exxon Mobil in prison.
In other words, hold nose, vote for Trump.
3
Or breathe in and out and vote Amy Klobuchar.
1
But odds are she won’t be invited to the party.
"Seventy-three percent of women under the age of 30 disapprove of the president’s performance, according to the Harvard Institute of Politics Youth Poll."
Just the possibility that this poll is accurate gives me great optimism for the new year.
13
They need to get out and VOTE. Otherwise their disapproval is meaningless.
13
It is too bad the Trump Nationalist Party has turned the GOP into the 'government of putin'. Otherwise, intelligent conservatives could rally around someone of Nicole Wallace's stature. However, it will be a long road to undo the damage this transaction traitor called Trump has done to both Party and country.
3
The Republican Party has been hostile to professional women for a long time; remember how they viciously they attacked Hillary Clinton for saying, “I could have stayed home and baked cookies”? Instead she was a legal aid attorney for children, God forbid.
17
Republican women aren't in crisis, they are in denial. They deny that they are handmaids in a patriarchy. They deny they have surrendered agency of their reproductive decisions. They careers are literally worth 70 cents on the dollar, as far as their Republican overlords are concerned.
Worse, this is their own fault; their own creation.
16
Somehow this article missed the race issue—republican women are sticking with their party because it’s the party of white supremacy.
12
The wholehearted support that GOP women has for the most blatant misogynistic president in the past century proves that they are the "uncle Tom's" of American women.
Historically it is religion that convinced many women that they are second class citizens. As a society becomes less religious and educated we become more equal. However, the obsolete zeal for power and fame has corrupted many souls throughout history and most GOP women are no different.
As this article points out over 70% of women under 30 perhaps less religious and more educated refuses to be the female version of "uncle Toms' of the GOP. They will make sure that the future of the GOP will be that of an old white misogynous, bigoted, homophobic, christian evangelistic party. The plutocrats that control the GOP need to save themselves from their deplorable voters, or else they will be a minority party for decades to come.
5
Don't care.
The Republican Party is the party of old white guys, who are dying off.
The Republican Party should be an endangered species.
If women (or, fill in the blank) want a new home for their political objectives, turn to the Democrats or form groups and coalitions that will meet their objectives. The Republicans have had their day, and America is worse off for it, from Reagan onward.
10
I suspect Trump's belittling of Republican women like Carly Fiorina and Megyn Kelly has had a chilling effect.
6
Greed will do that to people. Greed is the driving force in GOP politics - unless one is more activated by bigotry, at which Republicans also excel.
9
What's puzzling is how so many women still vote for Republicans when it's clear the party disenfranchises their power. But I suspect it's related to the reason why middle and working class and poor people vote for Republicans when their economic interests are undermined by Republican policies.
My best guess is that it's fear that binds them. Fear of change, fear of the "others", fear that the Republicans are masters at exploiting. Fear is the foundation of conservative beliefs,and that usurps all other considerations, including the gender of who's running for office. Speak to their fears, promise them that you're their only salvation, and victory is yours. That is a large part of why Trump won, and continues to hold onto his base.
In these uncertain times, the fearful look to those who project authority and power above all else, and these are qualities most often attached to men, right or wrong. So women who hold conservative beliefs will vote for these rich white guys who project power and authority, even if they're openly misogynistic, like Trump. Fear can be conquered by faith, but when the System is so clearly broken, and hopes are so often left unfulfilled, there's not much faith to overcome the fear.
The antidote to this isn't promising to remove their fear, but delivering the changes that fulfill their hopes, even if they don't believe right now. That Judean Carpenter didn't preach fear, he preached love and hope. I'd say his message was the one that lasted.
7
I think Ms. Cohen is missing the big picture. The problem isn't with Republican women. The problem is with rational Republicans. There are enough. And what's wrong with all those Republican men??
What's more, there's a huge gender gap in voting. The problem isn't with women, it's with men!
6
I don't even know what it means, the idea that Republican women are in crisis. Does it mean they should be better represented in positions of power within the party? That's a strange idea, given that the Republican Party is anti-woman.
9
Splattered all over the page of your assertion is the answer:
Palin. The female epitome of stupidity.
15
While digesting a story about the integrity of GOP women in the House and Senate, and their chances of getting reelected, it seems to matter little, given the thousands of venom-dripping women in MAGA caps and t-shirts bearing twitter out-takes at Trump's rallies.
Journalists have interviewed many of those women and, like the men in the crowd, they exhibit a total lack of education, cognition, and awareness of facts. Most of the men and women interviewed at Trump rallies also sound hideously illiterate.
Yes, that all sounds rather judgmental. But it only takes a few minutes of watching and hearing those Republican voters parroting the Republicans in the House and Senate who, by the way, in a split-screen comparison, are parroting Putin's most recent interviews and speeches.
Was it really a mere 30 years ago when all of America loathed the Soviet Union? Today, one could get the impression Putin is up for grabs as Trump's next Secretary of State. Trump's embrace of Putin and other bloody despots has been given a green light by Republican women, as well as men, in the House and Senate.
So here I am at 75, fearing Trump could keep the job of POTUS for a second term, and I will have to witness the final and total destruction of America's fragile experiment in democracy by Trump and the invertibrate GOP he owns lock, stock and barrel.
They have always made one-party rule their long term strategy.
End the madness in Nov. 2020.
32
Agree. I know it’s a cliche’ but the Titantic consistently comes to mind when pondering the mess that is the current (and likely ongoing) state of the GOP. So, discussing the plight, and unlikely recovery, of GOP female politicians is utterly similar to rearranging deck chairs on the doomed boat.
7
A canary dies in a coal mine. Two reactions (one sane):
1. "Uh-oh, the canary died. Let's try to find another one tomorrow."
2. "Uh-oh, the canary died. Let's get out of here!"
13
It should be noted that Martha McSally lost to a woman. The democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
And it could be further noted that this occurred in the libertarian bastion of red state Arizona.
These are harbingers for the future of American politics: less male and less white. Everyone knows this, which is why they elected Trump. Sadly, Trump and crew will stop at nothing to give up white male power including going full NSDAP and burning it all down. Sounds hyperbolic but unfortunately it is not. Our great democratic experiment is at risk of coming to an end. But it seems most people want this.
9
Women who vote for the GOP demand nothing for American women. So why would the party change? A woman’s vote for Trump sends the message that undoing women’s rights is fine.
15
Oddly, the author doesn't mention that the situation is totally self inflicted. It really is harder to drive the car forward when you are constantly looking in the rear view mirror.
6
@RPU actually, they’re driving the car in reverse with their eyes closed.
6
Loser Palin as a leader? GOP women are in crisis? What? They can’t support their own defilement? That shouldn’t be surprising. What should be surprising is that men think that they should.
6
A woman signing on with the GOP is like a chicken signing on with Colonel Sanders. And just as perceptive.
21
This article is a great way to galvanize women to vote Democrat.
Spelling out SOME of the many wonderful reminders: the party that separates children from parents, ( ala Germany circa WW2), tells women they have no control over their own bodies and threatening to abolish their right to an abortion, dismantling health clinics for poor women in rural areas, cutting food stamps for poor children, and the icing on the turdcake is watching women who vote republicans bow down and are cowards to their supreme self proclaimed sexual predator and world renown misogynist leader in the White House.
There you have JUST a few reasons.
VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY FOR ALL 2020
17
A woman voting Republican is a demonstration of recency bias, nothing else. Their mothers were Republican, so. But that Republican Party is long, long gone, and if female candidates don’t want to jump into this bag of rats no one dast blame them.
5
GOP women in congress are basically Stepford wives....
13
Time to let the women lead, the old men (my demographic) have royally screwed up this country. Vote them out.
12
If the GOP were the party of fiscal conservatism, defense of free markets and strong foreign policy, there would be as many (or more) women as men supporting them. But with Trump at the helm, they have mutated into a chaos party whose only coherent ideology is Christian fundamentalism. While there are plenty of women acquiescing in their own enslavement to a patriarchal deity, they are not a majority. This said, as a woman I vote ideology, not gender. I would vote for a pro-abortion man rather than a “pro-life” woman. Just because I share the same body structure dies not mean I share the same views or have the same interests as conservative females.
12
How is it possible for a woman to be associated with the Republican Party where free thinking is not advised and loyal of their oath to the constitution means nothing. Shameful and America will fail with republicans at the helm dismantling the balance of power orchestrated by McConnell and Trump, bed buddies.
6
We've watched this for so long now, and I don't see a single feature of this story that does't fit this statement: They brought it all on themselves.
What a shame. The GOP used to be 'grand,' but hasn't reached that height for several election cycles now. And they - the blind men and the women who are themselves anti-woman - display too much ignorance to be able to stop the demise of their party.
5
I just spend 10 days with relatives in Louisiana. The Democrats need to advertise on Fox News. These Trumpsters are watching Fox 24/7 and are self-brainwashing. From what I experienced, the Republican women seem to ignore what they deem "boy's locker room behavior", the Trump corruption is not even considered worthy of discussion, and they're convinced that global warming is not real. We must takeover FOX NEWS.
21
Nailed it. Thank you.
5
Bring back the Fairness Doctrine (good article on it at Wikipedia) to destroy the Fox “News” media bubble.
6
Republican women voters are victimized by the Trump nothing else matters strategy. If you are passionately pro life you vote Trump and nothing else he does matters. If you are anti immigrant you vote Trump and nothing else he does matters. This divide and conquer strategy is very effective. But the time has come for all voters regardless of gender to determine if America under Trump is the kind of country they want to live in. America today is no longer the envy of the world. No longer the last hope for freedom loving people. What a shame!
9
The GOP is led by a man who was caught on tape bragging about his privilege as a wealthy man to grab any woman anywhere on her body he pleases without consequence. Recent polls have shown that man has around a 90% approval rating within the GOP. Having said that, I always find it mind-bogglingly strange that any self-respecting woman - or, for that matter, any adult who believes in decency and respect - can support this guy or the GOP. What if it was THEIR mother, wife, or daughter the guy was bragging about assaulting?
17
If the recent set of behaviors of GOP women in the senate is any indication, one is much less likely enthused about the recent ''concerns'' expressed by Lisa Murkowski, as regards Mitch McConnell's intransigence towards Trump impeachment proceedings in the senate. This may not translate into a ''nay'' vote from her, when it comes to convicting Trump in the senate, for his flagrant violations of abuse of power and obstruction of congress.
And then there is Susan Collins. Her nearly an hour of pontification, in support of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation for the SCOTUS, was quite unpalatable to many, perhaps. Another couple of 180 degree turners are Elise Stefanik from NY, and Nikki Haley, the latter stealing the limelight after she almost vouched for Trump's (?) veracity, despite his oft-repeated flibbertigibbety behaviors.
Not one GOP woman senator, or one congresswoman from the GOP can be trusted, and all of them have proven themselves to be a bunch of perfect Pecksniffians. The flapdoodle they dish out from time to time is a testimony to their polemical pronouncements. And the GOP men seem far worse, forsooth.
11
Women make a lot of the big ticket spending decisions and women care deeply about health care and education.
No woman with any common sense is going to vote for a party that makes it harder for her and (if she has one) her family to be healthy and educated.
Republicans opposition to wage equality and things like Trump's stupid tariffs increasing the price of goods aren't lost on many women.
12
Nikki Haley will becomes the next president. She’ll finally be a (female) candidate who can appeal to all. Then, Republicans win big (and everyone forgets about Trump).
37
Haley’s support of trump will forever tarnish her. In the same way that Colin Powell’s lies at the UN ruined his political future. Such a waste in both cases.
278
Dream on David. The republicans will NEVER nominate a woman to lead their party!!!
189
So it's ok for her to refuse to condemn a President who brags about sexually assaulting women and criticized the facial appearance of a Republican female candidate for President? She's quite a role model for young woman eh?
274
"To survive, most Republican women have tethered themselves to President Trump. Senator Susan Collins, a onetime moderate with a bipartisan record, provided the deciding vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court?"
Onetime? Collins votes for a judge due to unsubstantiated claims against him and all of the sudden, she's no longer moderate? Yeah, right.
49
@Independent Observer
In what other votes with the Party has Collins demonstrated being moderate? She talks the talk but votes the party line.
People have not been hired for far less responsible positions for far less provocation than Kavanaugh was hired to the highest judicial position in the land. His demeanor alone, revealed for all to see, should have disqualified him for such a position.
256
@Marie There's a conservative organization called the American Conservative Union that rates every single federal and state representative/senator based upon their voting record (and by that, I mean whether or not they voted conservatively or liberally in each of their year's votes). I'd like to find one that's from a liberal organization so that I might compare their two findings, but I'm not sure if one exists that's this comprehensive. Anyway, their link below shows Collins as having only a 44.82% lifetime conservative voting record (based upon their calculations, of course). If you can find some contradicting data, please link it as I always welcome new info into the fold.
http://acuratings.conservative.org/acu-federal-legislative-ratings/?year1=2018&chamber=13&state1=32&sortable=1
9
@Independent Observer No they were pretty substantiated.
51
Who are Republican women? They are women who think like Republican men.
I know one very successful professional woman in particular who has three college degrees and is scared to death of Democrats because she is convinced they are leading the country towards socialism. She clings to that belief and ain't going to change her mind anytime soon.
199
@Silence Dogood - Proof that being educated isn't the same thing as being smart.
117
@DR Also: Proof that having a college degree is not the same as being educated.
76
@Silence Dogood I guess her education stopped when it came to opening her mind.
62
From your mouth to God's ear. My Grandmother.
3
For now I have but one term for any truly legitimate Republican female out there; Stepford Wife.
John~
American Net'Zen
7
Honestly there is nothing in the republican agenda for anyone who’s not an old white man or total sycophant to the naked king.
9
There's room in the Democratic party for all who want to leave the party of cruelty, greed, and stupidity.
15
Thanks to McCain's spectacularly poor choice of a running mate, Palin introduced the Party of Stupid. That has nothing to do with gender.
10
Speaking of Republican politicians, what about Elaine Chao?
This is a bit off topic, but since she is the wife of a very powerful Senator and the Secretary of Transportation, can we have a discussion about her? Is she moderate?
Why do Republicans tolerate such a conflict of interest with Mitch McConnell's wife being in the Cabinet?
When is the NYT going to focus on this?
10
@kj
They have been. Unfortunately, there has been no real outcry because we the people haven't made enough of a stink.
#BlueTsunami2020
5
Evidence suggests that the GOP is determined to place itself on the wrong side of history by not only electing Trump (albeit it they backed into it by eking out an electoral college win rather than a majority voter win), but also by resolutely refusing to admit that anything is wrong. In the near future, as the party implodes under the weight of its foolish support for unsupportable ideas, we will see the rats abandoning the ship but finding themselves with no place to go.
A stronger move now would be for moderates in the party to immediately create an alternative, middle of the road party that could gain momentum as the reactionaries in the GOP cause it to bleed support. At the same time, this could be appealing to hordes of moderate democrats unwilling to meet the demands of the radical wing of that party.
We may be unsexy, but we moderates are always where the votes are going to be. The extremes always attract those desperate for, well, extreme ideas. The middle, however, reflects a statistical reality: for any range of responses to any question, the majority of responses will always be in the middle.
Perhaps it’s time for a three-party system, and women could lead the way.
4
@Marshall Doris
You assume that voters and their opinions perform on a bell curve.
Right now, a moderate approach will doom us. We need more than moderation to fix Trump and the current Republican party and its supporters.
Now that Trump has destroyed the norms, we are primed for a demagogue with a brain and good looks who will lead us the rest of the way into a dictatorship. If Trump wins the next election, we must assume he and his offspring will be there for life. To think otherwise is foolish.
And of course, as long as the Republicans hold sway anywhere, we will be hard pressed to take the actions needed to reverse the effects of climate change, if that even can still be done. We wasted a decade.
We are in the process of leaving nothing for our grandchildren but rising sea levels and dust.
#BlueTsunami2020
3
@Marshall Doris
Good morning. Hillary seemed the epitome of a moderate candidate, she lost. Trump, in many, if not most of his (policy?) positions seemed more extreme. He won.
There are plenty of questions that are answered predominately yes or predominately no by Americans. Universal background checks anyone? Check out http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/poll-marijuana-legalization-data-for-progress-radical-ideas-popular-aoc.html
Finally, there are plenty of questions that surround problems that are not moderate, they are existential. These problems are truly worthy of extreme responses.
2
Let's hope this trend continues and will erase the careers of many republican men as well.
9
After some 30 years being a registered Republican, I finally came to my senses and figured out why they think the way they do. They are literally remnants of evolution, thus out of place in a modern world. Cavemen never favored women and still don't.
14
NOW Republican women are worried? Well, better late than never but they left it awfully late. Vote blue!
11
I am not interested in learning about how Republican women find themselves in a bind.
12
I find it hard to believe that a woman who is running to be a public servant could embrace a party that so despises women and families in word and deed. Republicans only care about cutting taxes for the wealthy, and promoting businesses' rights over citizens rights. Republicans do not believe the rule of law applies to them. Hence, Trump, the criminal prez. Republicans do not believe in climate science; they have abandoned regulations that protect water, air, and land. Lead in the water? Oh, well. Buy plastic water. They do not protect children; they have no problem separating them from their parents for immigration misdemeanors, or eliminating healthcare or food subsidies. Republicans despise the poor and needy. They jeer at the disabled and POWs. They do not care about education, the ability of the next generation to pay back their student loan debt, buy a house, or have a family. Republican women seem to value the abortion issue over any human right, social or economic need. Republicans only care about Americans who look like them, vote like them, and share their religion, yet feel entitled to use or steal the tax dollars of the entire country for pet projects like border walls. What is shame? It is a shame for any woman who claims to serve the public to be a Republican. Stay home or change your party. You've done enough damage to America.
20
At one of his recent Liar-Palooza tour events, President Trump attacked energy efficiency standards for dishwashers by citing what "women tell me" about their perceived performance. A telling garnish about where the Republicans' Dear Leader thinks about a woman's place, on an otherwise incoherent word salad.
12
Republican men or better yet conservative Republican men have a really hard hard time respecting women.
8
Man or woman, there is only one place for the Republican Party - the dustbin of history.
9
As Betty Friedan suggested in her classic “The Feminine Mystique”;(during the 1960’s) until overwhelming numbers of females realize that they were raised (socialized) for the express purpose of taking care of the males in their lives, they (all females) will continue to be a subordinate category of human beings.
And, nothing makes females lower in status than males, than all of the World’s major religions; and right now, Trump and his GOP base, are making this clearer than ever.
Significant numbers of self-identifying Christian females, refuse to vote for any woman candidates, because the founder of Christianity (Saul, aka, Paul) was told, by the Christian God, that females should not be allowed to have any authority over a man.
458
@William Dusenberry the great irony of Paul's alleged discriminatory remarks about women, was probably inserted by later writers who wanted to establish Old Testament misogyny into Christianity. To the contrary, Paul in Romans chapter 16 verse 7, ask that salutations be given to Junia who is of note among the apostles. Of course the Christian apologists try to explain this away by saying that the individual Junia was really a man or some other nonsense nonsensical explanation. Sadly, too many women are sold this confederate bill of goods when it comes to patriarchal Christianity.
48
@William Dusenberry
My church needed a new pastor. Lutheran. Wisconsin Evangelical. The congregation met to review the candidates to call. The male leader from the local WELS HQ said that women don't get to vote according to their rules and common practice.
I had no idea there was such institutional disrespect in my own hometown. So much for evangelicals of all stripes -- Trumpers true.
50
@larkspur
So, have you left your church? If not, you're part of the problem.
52
I live in the heart of evangelical country and lots of my neighbors vote republican. Many also listen to FoxNews or Christian radio for hours and hours. They are pretty well indoctrinated and will need Trump-cult deprogramming to escape the misinformation campaign.
For many, the pro-life issue is the only issue—because that is what their churches teach. Other than women’s issues, Alabamians trend ornery and independent. I wonder why so few evangelicals are angered by the intrusion of crooked politicians into a woman’s—a family’s—own medical business.
It has become increasingly clear that the Republican Party is full of men who think grabbing women by their privates is okay. Most of the younger generation of men and women—even in Alabama—is not having it.
889
@Bamagirl - I like to tell Republican women about one of the reasons I left the Republican party.
Abortion makes me uncomfortable, so I vote for Democrats because their policies help prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions and they let women decide crucial health care issues for themselves.
168
@Bamagirl Evangelical women will never be angered by the "intrusion" of crooked (or otherwise) politicians into a woman's most private medical business. They embrace this personally because they willingly submit to similar (mostly male) dominance via their church doctrine in literally every aspect of their waking lives.
What has happened is that through an electoral fluke (trump) evangelical women (and men) now have the power via the courts to force all women to abide their forced regime of submission to (mostly) men.
They have waited for decades to achieve this power and will not release it willingly. Religion wielded for power is a dangerous thing.
113
@Bamagirl
I've come to understand evangelical support for Trump is based in aversion to "humanists" in the Democratic party. That could be code for the Democratic (American) ideal that all people are created equal and treated equally under the law. The Republicans don't want equality for anyone other than true believers in the Republican party no matter who runs it or what they do to the world.
I can say that Jesus didn't care about nationality or political tribe. But it's awfully hard to live up to the prescription to love one another these days.
52
“I’m conservative, I’m not insane.” Several Republican women I know have said some version of this in the past year when I asked if they supported Donald Trump.
This is the hope I cling to as I keep reading how Trump will be re-elected in 2020. Let’s not forget he won by handfuls of votes in 5 states while losing the popular vote by a substantial margin.
So if just a few thousand women change their votes, and a few more young voters vote, we can send this disgrace back to Trump Tower to await numerous trials.
Of course the75 days between election and inauguration will be a nightmare, but we’ll cross that bridge when we (hopefully) get to it.
1146
@AA
The 75 days you refer to is what I worry about. The NYT article yesterday about the radical group in AZ stockpiling guns for a possible civil war is horrific. Would love to hear more from the government and press about what precautions are being taken to avoid such a tragedy. A Trump loss would surely not result in a smooth and totally peaceful transition of power.
203
@AA: And now they are banging the hornet’s nest that is Iran, trying mightily to create a distraction there.
87
@AA "I'm conservative, I'm note insane" I'm sorry that seems a distinction without a difference.
54
It's a sad commentary on the Republican Party that Sarah Palin's opinion counts for anything.
15
If that ignorant, screeching, holier-than-thou-but don't-look-at-my-family, half-term governor was the Party's "queen-maker," then no wonder the "stampede of pink elephants" went the way of compassionate conservatism.
Inclusion and diversity among the Cons reminds me of how Hollywood action movies often try to write female roles: write it as a male role--replete with 9-inch revolvers and "make my day" dialogue--then cast a woman. Something's missing. Oh, yeah, difference!
12
The biggest choice Republican women have right now:
(1) promote your own beliefs/causes, regardless of whether trump agrees, and risk dying on that hill when trump comes after you personally to exact his revenge, or
(2) blind-fold yourself, insert ear-pugs, hold nose, and cozy up to the orange menace just enough that the base thinks you, too are an orange supporter, even if you secretly wish he would suddenly disappear.
What a choice! The 2020 Republican party. Not even a shadow of its former self. Women are typically the first to listen to another's point of view and give it reasonable consideration. Republicans are choking out those same women, the very foundations the party needs to survive.
From this great slide into the ashes of history, maybe a few women will emerge as leaders to stand up again as a fledgling Republican party of responsibility to lead the comeback.
Republicans have been pulling themselves down this rabbit-hole for a long time before trump. But the cancer of trump will be their death.
3
Elise Stefanik showed her true colors during the impeachment hearings: she is willing to obfuscate, lie, and be another goon for Trump and his crimes. North Country voters show up at the polls and vote for Tedra Cobb. Elise doesn't deserve the honor of being our representative.
15
My dream: George Soros and Michael Bloomberg make Murdoch an offer he cannot refuse. They turn Fox News into a
fair and balanced news source.
12
who cares? since reagan rebranded ketchup as a vegetable, republican women have made themselves irrelevant by adopting an anti-American, anti-children, anti-civil rights agenda. Palin was an affront to human values and decency.
7
@jim jennings
You should have seen her as governor. As corrupt as the day is long.
People here in Alaska despise her.
1
" G.O.P. women, at both the national and state levels, are on the brink of extinction." Hopefully the party will soon follow.
10
Donald Trump has destroyed the USA brand on the national and international stage.
4
Evangelicals and Conservative Christians have taken over the GOP. Goldwater warned us of this and we ignored him. I share many of the values of the old GOP - small government and fiscal frugality. I left the party years ago when it was clear that they have abandoned those core values. Now we are spending money on temporary gains that my grandchildren will be paying for. Today the GOP is full of sheep that just follow blindly with the hope that they too will be rich someday. Too many of the fools are realizing they’ve been conned and they’re angry. The response? Destroy it all for everyone out of spite for their own ignorance. I’m not sure how it will all fall out, but I see the next generation an I have hope.
7
The GOP war on women started under Regan. You had Phyllis Schafly among others shaming women for being out in the work force while herself being a paid political operative. Women working outside the home were regularly demonized. When it came time to support working women by voting for the Lily Ledbetter Act in 2009 so women could be guaranteed equal pay, again the GOP didn't support women. And the GOP constant attempt not to allow women control of their own bodies is extremely misogynistic, I cannot imagine any woman supporting the current GOP.
9
We live in a strange political world when "conservatism" means tearing down established institutions such as the Constitution that, although flawed, have served us generally well for over 200 years. The last time I checked any dictionary (which is recently), "conservatism" is not a synonym for "fascism." John McCain, for all his flaws, knew this. The farce that calls itself the Republican Party has chosen to forget it. Time for thinking people of whatever gender to vote with their brains.
8
Within this oped is everything Democrats need to know to become the dominant national party.
And yet, the left wing is doing everything it can to push us away from that by their ideological blindness to the fact that neither Warren or Sanders will win a national election because we will lose all of these voters turned off by Trump.
To so thoroughly reject the blueprint of success that won incredible victories in 2018 and 2019 is beyond me.
And to do so on a marquee issue--mandated Medicare--that stands no chance of passage no matter the outcome in 2020, is soundly rejected by growing numbers of Democrats and independents, that will force 200 million people from employer provided insurance, that will require massive tax increases, and that is dependent on voters trusting that what they get in return for all of that is better than what they have now.
You can argue the policy all day long, but the politics of it are terrible and disastrous.
4
Sprinkle in some good old fashioned identity politics along with this and you’ll get to see Trump Twittering on for four more years.
Trump discussed how he grabs women by their genitals. Some women support Republicans because of abortion policies, etc. However, any woman my age has had to deal with men like that, and should know better than to vote for him.
He has no respect for women, and he will not improve any time soon. Trump will never be better than this.
9
Sarah Palin and her legion of stupid clearly bear some of the blame for driving women away, but I think the fundamental reason is much deeper than that. The vision of the Republican Party is to re-establish a social system in which women were subservient to men.
Some women don't have a problem with that, but many do. Those many will have a hard time supporting the 'old boys' club.'
Or maybe they just don't like being grabbed by their genitalia.
7
My mother, a Republican voter for most of her adult life, was driven away from the party in the last decade by George W Bush’s warmongering and Sarah Palin, the most frighteningly unprepared candidate for national office until the current occupant of the White House. She enthusiastically voted for Barack Obama twice and considers herself a Democrat again, the party of her parents and grandparents. If Republicans don’t do more to win back college-educated women like her, they’re sunk. But that might not be such a bad thing.
14
Underneath their clothing, Republican lawmakers look just like Democrats. The problem is that the GOP lawmakers, in the main, decided to carry water for the one percent of Americans who don’t ‘work.’ Instead the top one percent employ the GOP to do the dirty work of lawmaking.
3
Good article but completely ignores the reality that the 2016 election put an openly racist candidate into the presidency. Trump launched his political endeavors with the blatantly racist and bigoted birther movement. When he saw the media visibility and GOP support that produced, he continued with the openly racist speeches, tweets, and policy proposals throughout his candidacy.
Its been my conclusion that racism explains how the pre-2016 election polls got it so wrong (say one thing to the pollsters, do another in the privacy of the voting booth). The last three years since the election have proven that racism is still a major motivating force for may voters, including women. The GOP is not dead yet.
6
Ms. Cohen I think you give some GOP women too much credit. Many of these will go on to vote for trump yet again. Just because they are women doesn't mean they are for just immigration policy or equal rights for women.
7
If Republican women tether themselves to Trump they have only themselves to blame when they lose. Women know right from wrong. This is what women should fight for--not red or blue.
6
Endangered! I would hope so. There is nothing pro-woman or pro-humanity or pro-the-future about Trump.
16
Two observations:
If Sarah Palin is representative of Republican women, we are all in trouble.
And perhaps it is a complement to Republican women voters that they are leaving the party of Trump.
10
I left the GOP for good when Reagan was elected for his first term. I remember well his “the ladies” comment, blaming women for high unemployment and scolding us for working outside the home. The GOP “traditional family values” dog whistle is about the subjugation of women, especially wives and mothers, and nothing else.
Those who support the GOP because of the abortion issue need to face up to this—a good number of those heading the drive to outlaw abortion also want to outlaw birth control. And it isn’t about the sanctity of human life. It’s about power. If a repressive regime is powerful enough to tell you you cannot have an abortion, it’s powerful enough to tell you you must have an abortion. These are people who believe women should be denied agency and any say in their lives. They want to codify their repressive beliefs about women’s “place” into law. I fear for the future of young women. I fear the loss of rights that will rule their lives if we don’t curb the despotic tendencies of the GOP.
22
Assuming there are wise Republican women, the wisest thing they can do in my opinion is to abandon the sick and sinking ship of the current Republican party and vote Democratic in every election until they can establish a moderate forward-thinking new party to replace the GOP. Another hint: leave religious issues outside of politics. I confess that my empathy for their plight only goes as far as feeling sorry that they chained themselves to the party of sexism, racism and Trumpist selfishness. I can't help but wonder what took them so long to realize their dilemma when it was, I think, crystal clear to anyone whose eyes were open that - especially for educated women - the bus they were on was speeding at 100 miles an hour toward a stone wall across a dead-end street.
3
The ability to make individual choices is what really matters.
The Party of Trump (POT formerly known as the GOP) wants to control individual choices.
The POT depends on individual factions of society for support.
The Pro Birth ( aka Pro Life) Pro Gun Anti LGBTQ Anti Immigrant etc.
The ONLY thing those individual factions care about is their own cause.
You don't see Pro Birth signs and Pro Gun signs together!
IF ALL the woman vote= end of POT
2
Can we please stop saying that women are leaving the GOP? They're not. So-called "moderate females" say they're disgusted but *repeatedly* deliver the votes that put Republican men in power. It doesn't matter how hard the right attacks women's choice, or how vile Trump behaves towards women. It didn't even matter when this administration separated migrant children from parents. These women always "stand by their man."
Honestly, I see women at Trump rallies and think of Hazel Bryan Massery, the white female student at Little Rock Central High School during the Civil Rights Movement. She's the woman in the iconic photograph shouting at Elizabeth Eckford, one of the African American Little Rock Nine, during the school integration crisis.
Those are the women in today's Republican Party, and they are never going to stop voting for men who take away their rights, because those men are also taking rights away from people of color, the LGBTQ community, etc. You're either for equality or you aren't, and they aren't. They also aren't leaving the GOP, and we need to stop pretending like their votes are in play.
12
Since women have proved themselves to be more sensible voters than (us) men, I propose we initiate some Republican-style voter suppression in their favor. First we drum up outrage over rampant non-human voting. Then we hire some of the non-scientist blowhards who have given up the ghost on opposing evolution and (soon) climate change, and so are in need of new gigs, to assert that the ultimate proof of human-ness is possession of at least one X chromosome. By their rigorous standards, anyone who "looks female" qualifies. Anyone else needs to undergo rigorous medical testing, months in advance, involving only approved biomedical labs. Discriminatory? No way, the testing is available to anyone who provides the appropriate government or "Me, too" ID, plus the time and the fee for the extensive medical testing. Sound like a joke? It's no funnier (or sadder) than the fake outrage over in-person voter fraud, the blowhards who stoke it, or the solutions requiring government or gun-based ID.
1
How can any woman support a party so devoted to misogyny, much less choose to represent these aims in governmental service?
4
Republican women, at this time, are a complete enigma.
Trump has seized control of the Republican party to the extent that it's entire philosophy of government, accountability, economics, and even social contract is as chaotic, confused, and inscrutable as Trump's business practices. Trump wants to blow up the government, not fix it or make it run better. Trumpism has an unplanned hard edged and ham handed approach that I would expect to find appealing only to an angry, reactionary voter base. I'm puzzled that many women would find that blind rage approach appealing, and yet, the brand still holds sway with some.
Trumpism is inherently misogynistic. Women can find a home for anger in that. Women in the political business may be stuck with Trump; they certainly should have called him out long ago so that train has left the station. Voters, however, are not. Trumpism's toxicity cannot remain. It is completely unsustainable. It will probably be a a long time before the women who fled the shambles will be willing to trust the party if it ever manages to get itself recentered.
3
The desire for the protection of white privilege, that Trump promises, seems to trump all other instincts in many, male and female.
5
McMorris-Rogers is just another party loyalist. No matter what the issue, she does not have the courage to vote based on the needs of the constituents, or the constitution. She is also a Climate and Science denialist.
Nothing original from her. Same old message “protecting our freedoms..etc.”
3
The only way I can make sense of Republican women is that they identify with one or more of these: their white race identity, their wealth status, or their Christian fundamentalism—more than with being a woman. Still, it’s quite challenging to wrap one’s head around their thinking and their passion. I am remembering anti-ERA Phyllis Schlafly and the female anti-suffragists.
10
"Seventy-three percent of women under the age of 30 disapprove of the president’s performance"
That's a stunningly low number.
4
But it means 1 in 4 approve!
As millennial women age and take a real interest in the impact of politics and vote, today’s GOP is doomed.
3
"Mr. Trump’s misogyny and the party’s far-right stance on issues such as abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights, guns and immigration have driven away many female voters."
*
Did Donald Trump's history of sexual assault impact his support among women voters? Incredibly, maybe not.
2
Repub women are showpieces and expected to obey the male leaders. They are allowed a little freedom to carefully act like they care but they always get inline and vote the way they are told. Susan Collins is the poster repub woman.
Mothers supporting more guns? separating families, ignoring climate change, looking the other way when trump lies and insults women? Hard to sell these things to a really thinking and caring woman.
3
I will leave it up to Republican women to justify their support of Trump. I fail to understand it.
3
How to get a woman to join or support, much less represent, a political party which has been taken over by a cult, Trumpism, which has as its most cherished goal the continuing aggressive control of women? "Saving Babies" is Trumpism speak for "controlling the reproductive process". The babies themselves are meaningless since Trumpism is perfectly content with caging babies already born, especially those of color. The deeper goal is becoming clear to women and they're not buying it, in droves.
4
I contacted Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers office numerous times and politely reminded her staff that her oath of office was to defend the constitution not to defend Donald Trump. I promised to not vote for her again and to actively support whomever her Democratic opponent is if she did not honor her oath and vote for the articles of impeachment. She betrayed her oath. I will now end my four decade history of voting a straight Republican ticket in every election. The Republican party is dead. It is now the party of Trump. A party that supports cruelty, corruption, mendacity, misogyny, racism, bigotry, and a President credibly accused of sexual assault by over a dozen women.
9
Yes, the number of GOP women in office is dwindling, but the GOP is alive and well. In fact, women still support the party and its dear leader. It's an unavoidable fact that many women are conservative and enthusiastically vote against their own reproductive rights and economic wellbeing. They do so because they are married and secure and therefore do not care about abortion rights, do not expect to get paid fairly and with benefits, and could not care less about equality or human rights. They buy into the patriarchy (especially Evangelicals as the article notes). But I'd add this component: racism. Many white women are incredibly racist. So when you see women cheering for Trump at his Nuremberg rallies, remember that they hate minorities more than they love their own rights, children, country, and the planet combined.
4
Elise Stefanik seems to think Dr. Cohen is absolutely wrong.
At the start of 2019, mainstream media gloated about the impossibility of an effective & comprehensive GOP effort to recruit women candidates. We went to work & successfully recruited the strongest slate of GOP women candidates in any cycle. Ever. And it’s not even 2020!
I question the assertion that Sarah Palin had any influence in these people being elected or that she has any feminist values or ideals.
Senator Lisa Murkowski is the hero of the Republican party. She has put Country and Constitution over Party bullying and threats. She represents her constituents well and maintains her independence.
Susan Collins previously served her constituents well, but she crumbled to Republican Party threats and bullying and her constituents are, rightfully so, furious. She forgot that she works for and serves her constituents, not Trump. Her support of Kavanaugh was vile.
The Republican Party has always been against women in policy and practice. In my lifetime, electing Sandra Day O'Connor is the only Republican example of treating women with any level of equality.
Now the Republicans support a man with multiple wives and children by them, gropes women and brags about it on tape, solicits sex workers and strippers and has his lawyers pay them hush money, etc. How can any women align with that?
12
@Gus And Sandra Day O'COnnor wasn't elected; she was appointed.
1
@Gus
Of course she was appointed. I was writing in a fury and not proofreading before hitting the send button.
1
"In an effort to appeal to working suburban women, they focus on issues like paid maternity leave and the cost of child care."
Let's not conflate Republican ideas of "paid maternity leave" with Democratic ones because those policies differ just about everywhere except the title.
6
I am not a Republican, and with the present state of affairs in the Republican party, I never will be. I hope that the Republican women stay in the Republican Party and fight the good fight from within. A healthy country needs a strong opposition party where we can hear diversity of opinion. Without Republican women staying and challenging the old white men the whole country will continue to suffer as we do now. I can easily understand their frustration and would find it very hard to put up with lies and attacks on our constitution. Without Republican women and change the Republican Party is doomed and that may not be what's best for the country.
3
I wish I was eloquent enough to express how or delineate how there is a direct connection between the conservative world view and it's relentless marginalization of any person who does not belong to the dominant class.
While non white male heterosexual members are welcome, they are never really accorded full membership status in the leadership of conservative entities such as Wall Street, the GOP, or the country club.
Of course there are exceptions, but one only need to look at the careers of JJ Watt, Nickey Haley, David Brock, the women of the Bombshell movie and countless others show that any 'non traditional' members of the conservative world can go to the conservative water but can never truly drink it. At best they sort of serve as mascots to the party while never gaining access to leadership inner circles populated by Murdoch, McConnel, the Koch family, and, it seems, Vladimir Putin.
It's a troubling assertion for women, homosexuals, African Americans, etc. who believe in market forces, low taxes, strong national defense, and the role of personal responsibility for succeeding in society. People like this are welcome vote GOP and wave their flags at rallys, but the GOP and their dinosaur leadership will never fully accept them as full fledged members of Conservative leadership in whatever form it happens to take.
8
@J Gilbert "Personal responbility" is a hollow talking point among Cons, not a held value. The GOP are among the biggest whiners and victims in modern politics, and have been since at least Reagan. Nothing is ever their fault.
3
I'm no longer a Republican after 40+ years as not only a member but also a worker. The Tea Party did it for me.
But I still get Republican ads and mailings. And Rep. McMorris Rodgers campaign staff is, oddly enough, convinced that I'll support her as well as donate money. (Not my circus, not my monkeys and all that.)
I feel for the (few) moderates and women in the Republican Party. Maybe they're like I was: hopeful that at some point the party will come to its senses. I had to tell a local candidate that as much as I liked them personally, as long as they remained loyal to the party and Trump I would never vote for them.
Trump has poisoned Republicanism, and far too many Republicans are enjoying, even furthering, the desuetude of its prestige and values in the vain pursuit of importance.
26
I hope you are a democrat now because it is a binary choice.
3
"Even though Ms. Palin promoted herself as the leader of a new conservative feminism, she went on the attack, endorsing men against both Kay Bailey Hutchison, who resigned her Senate seat to run for governor of Texas, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska"
I'm about as far from Sarah Palin on the political spectrum as one can be, but this idea that feminism mean always supporting women against men, no matter what, even if the male candidate lines up much better with your platform, is the kind of nonsense that is going to do nothing but harm to that cause.
12
The Democratic women in the party are just too far left. They do not speak for the majority of Americans. They will continue to lose voters of both sexes if this trend continues. Sometimes I think they do not care if this happens.
2
@KMW They don't have to speak for the entire party but they certainly should be shut up for speaking. That would be so republican!
4
I was particularly galled when Susan Collins gave her news conference to announce her decision to throw all American women under the bus, with her hair makeup, and wardrobe professionally styled for the occasion. I hope the women (and men) of Maine have had enough of this self serving creature, and will elect someone, anyone, that puts the interests of that state above their own personal ambition.
31
The Gerald Ford Museum here in Grand Rapids had a thoughtful retrospective on Betty Ford recently. Pro-ERA, pro-choice, speaking her mind. Not sure even she would be a Republican now. Women need to take a hard look at today’s Republican Party before signing on. I will never vote for another Republican for any office. Trump et al have poisoned the well.
23
Seriously? Ms. Cohen, you have it all wrong. Today's GOP is exactly about putting women (and minorities) in their place and it's being driven hard and fast by the old white men and their warped religious beliefs and the constant brainwashing complements of Faux News.
Republican women simply don't get that the patriarchy they blindly serve is aggressively working rapidly to stamp out individual rights. And one area they have clearly capitalized on to keep the women in their party in line is abortion rights. Republican women should stop wringing their hands over their support of their party because they want to abolish abortion - this is a fight for individual rights of all women, not religion. The most significant difference Republican women can make is to stand up to their party by leaving it. Just a reminder of our power; more than half of all women who voted in the 2016 election pulled the lever for Trump. We owe to the world, our children and ourselves to stand together against the tyranny Republican women in particular let loose on our country and our world.
22
If Trump wins reelection the future looks very bleak for far more than Republican women in congress. The death of the amoral Republican party can't come soon enough.
18
If Trump's re-elected, it will never come at all.
1
The worst thing Donald said in that Access Hollywood tape was not the grabbing part -- though it captured the headlines -- but the part where he said, "you can do anything you want."
That is why women steer clear of the Party of Trump. Men, too.
16
I also think women in general cannot count on women's support whereas there is a subsection of the populous that will vote for a male politician over a female anyday.
10
Stefanik blew her credibility during the impeachment hearings; Collins by her speech and vote for Kavanugh.
9/10s of the female Republican women are a disgrace. They lay low instead of sticking up for women's issues, minorities, and the like.Their too afraid to buck Trump. They are no different than their Male Republican counterparts.
The GOP has always been a party of white men. This factor will never change. Why a woman would run for Congress on the Republican ticket is beyond my comprehension.
21
I'm not surprised the only reliable women in the Republican Party are evangelicals. They are not particularly bright and are driven by issues like abortion and gay marriage, ignoring real issues that impact their day to day life and health.
When are people going to state the obvious. You have to be fairly dumb to continue to support the Republican Party, regardless of race or sex.
20
@Texas Duck They're pretty much down to evangelicals and uneducated white men. Maybe a few very elderly women who imagine Trump is still the man he was in the 80s.
1
A Republican woman these days is as confounding to me as a black Republican. Maybe it's an evangelical thing. But for white women I'm afraid it might be the patriarchal pull of husband, father or minister. We've got a ways to go, that's for sure.
12
@Jorge I actually know a black Republican woman who's a member of the NRA. If I didn't know her, I'd assume she was a myth.
I do not understand the definition of ‘women of color,’ especially when Susana Martinez is included. Is minority the correct term, if indeed, one is necessary ?
From the article, “Well aware of how Mr. Trump’s demands for loyalty have endangered their colleagues, they have tended to lie low, neither publicly embracing nor criticizing Mr. Trump, while consistently voting in line with his positions.”
If you neither embrace nor criticize Trump, but vote for his positions, then you are an acolyte of Trump’s personality cult.
8
This isn't rocket science.
When the head of the Republican party is on tape bragging about his success in habitually sexually assaulting women, rating women on a scale of one to ten, confessing to barging in on undressed beauty contestants (and there were teen pageants), and gushing over his own daughter's "great body" and, "if she weren't my daughter, I'd probably be dating her," -- if you a are a woman and okay with all of that, then your wholesale lack of morality is all the more obvious.
23
@Ann
And yet we are supposed to accept touchy-feely Good Ole Joe (Biden), whose documented behaviors towards even pre-pubescent girls gives me the creeps. It is far from 'innocent'.
There’s a very big difference where the hands go.
3
@Ann
Pelosi:
“ I Am impeaching him and impeaching him from head to toe. When you’re the Speaker, they just let you do it.”
The Republican party officially dismissed women when it nominated the man who said he could grab a woman's private parts and get away with it. It's that simple. Any residual support by women for Republicans is just social inertia, which cannot be dismissed, but that's all. The party as it is constituted now is just a dead man walking. If Trump wins again, it's deader sooner than later. And I offer simple proof. Look at all the voter disenfranchisement efforts under way by the party. When you have to cheat to win, you know your a loser.
12
I can't help but think that part of the problem was that the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann led the charge of Republican women in the first half of the decade. With half wits like them, the surge was bound to be short-lived.
Republican women need to dump Trump, then taken principled stands against racism, cruelty, and trickle down stupidity.
12
It is incomprehensible that any woman with a modicum of self-respect can support Trump.
20
@Fascist-Fighter Not sure how the men can do it either.
4
Couldn't happen to a better bunch!
Why any women would be Republican eludes me. The party is anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-child, anti-immigrant, anti-ERA, anti-gun control, and anti-feminism.
Trump made it worse, but the GOP was a mighty odd place for women long before he further soiled it.
13
Simply put: Most women aren't that mean, and are adverse to a party that prefers them barfoot and pregnent. This is what happens when women achieve independence.
5
While men don't have a monopoly on stupidity, I believe female legislators remain the last greatest hope for getting our country back on track.
3
How can any women support this man who would not be allowed in their homes if he wanted to befriend a daughter of the house?
9
@S. Mitchell
The same could be said for Bill Clinton . . .
1
Sarah Palin's ditzy word-salad ignorance and vulgarity made Donald Trump possible. Thanks, Mr. McCain.
Women are figuring out that Trump Republicanism is not their friend. We're not as stupid and indifferent as they'd like to believe, and as evidently they're counting on.
Women will not go back to chattel status, when men controlled the territory under our skins.
10
It is heartening to see the admiration and respect that NYT commenters have for GOP women. It’s almost enough to entice them to join the Democratic Party.
2
The wonder is not how few Republican women there are, but that there are any at all.
7
Even if the GOP was as friendly to woman as the Democrats, why would any sane person stay in today's GOP ?
today's GOP has a decades long history of racism, favoring tax cuts for billionaires over healthcare for kids, deregulating asbestos and lead (!!) etc etc
If you are a woman who would be Republican if the Republicans were nice to women, you would still be a horrid person
Remember, D Trump didn't win the primary in spite of being racist crude and islamophobic; he won because he was racist, etc
The GOP base Liked Racism and Islamophobia
And this is the party you want to be part of ???>
7
Being identified with a political party isn’t or shouldn’t be a permanent condition. A person should follow their moral beliefs rather than identify someone else’s. Unfortunately Republicans must obey Trump and stand for whatever he believes at the moment. As Americans we are supposed to be free to choose our own path. Men or women who can’t agree with current Republican orthodoxy should have the ability and right to make a different choice; if they don’t they only have themselves to blame. The refusal to face the difficulties of having freedom have given us Trump.
6
I don't understand in a visceral sense why anyone would vote for someone that hates themself. I also continuously don't understand why various groups vote against their self-interest - I get why billionaires support republican policies, but not women or really anyone who isn't at least a millionaire, but especially poor whites, and I've heard legends that there are some black republicans on Fox News (could be deep-fakes, though).
But in most systems that are built on oppressing specific groups, like most political parties, but especially the republican party, there is always a reserve of scraps to be given to anyone willing to act as an enforcer on their own group, so good for those women that choose to find their personal individual niche at the expense of broader humanity.
3
The question begs,Why is Susan Collins running? Why not enjoy family, travel the world, join a book club, enjoy the arts, hike across Maine, join a local non-profit. Does she have no interests? Other than staying in power just for the sake of having something to do, what could she possibly hope to achieve?
10
"In the past 10 years, they have become an endangered species on the political stage."
That's because many of us, including women, have moved on from the 1950's version of America.
What's so hard to understand.
12
To share a slightly different perspective.
A former neighbor and friend voted for Donald Trump and has let me know she plans to do so again. She is privileged, wealthy, and well educated, has a gay son, and from what I understand, had herself undergone an abortion may years ago. So her life experience - both past and present, do not appear to be influencing her political leanings.
While she wishes he would tweet less often, nothing he has done thus far has diminished her support.
I do not believe she unique, remember more than 50% of white women voted Trump 2016 and I expect that will be repeated again in 2020...
5
She’s wealthy, and probably benefited from the tax break.
3
@maureen
I think your friend is an outlier. In 2016 many women were taken in by a con man, hoping he would grow into the office. I think most women now realize that Trump is a morally and intellectually stunted man on a slow downhill slide. I doubt he will get more than 40% of female vote.
2
Wealthy white women can be just as racist as anyone else.
3
In my opinion, any woman today who supports Republicans is herself exhibiting at least some of the symptoms of battered woman syndrome.
While christian evangelical women are prime examples of this, ANY woman who continues to support Republican policies and candidates in the face of that party's obvious psychological aggression against women is in deep denial of her situation and of reality itself.
This is a tragedy and a catastrophe which only women can confront and change.
Men may help with our votes, but women must lead and only women can speak effectively against this travesty.
11
If women in the Republican Party are facing difficulties what is holding them back from confronting party leaders such as Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy to air their grievances? I recall an article a short while ago about a town hall meeting in Iowa where Joni Ernst spoke. One person asked her about the difficulties of supporting Donald Trump and she would not give a straight answer. Lisa Murkowski recently shared issues she has with the upcoming impeachment trial but will she actually act on her words? These are only two of many examples regarding this matter. If the women of the Republican Party remain unwilling to challenge its leadership they will continue to receive what their silence delivers.
12
I will be a very happy person should the words woman and Republican be mutually exclusive. It would also please me greatly to never hear of Sarah Palin again. The Republican Party is an unwelcoming organization for women of independent thought and who respect their own decisions, particularly in regard to reproductive rights and equality.
17
Perhaps we should have taken the advancement of Palin in politics as a dire warning. She was a joke. So was Trump, but he had money and a machine. The premise of this article includes the acceptance of differences (psychological? genetic?) among men and women. Men are from Mars, women from Venus? So this article and many comments reflect the expectation that women should be more caring and more nurturing than men. Let's hope that this is so, for America needs every ounce of caring it can get.
9
“Change is the only constant in life.” -Heraclitus
Railing against demographic change and social progress is a losing strategy in the long-term. It will be interesting to see what happens to the GOP over the next 50 years.
10
To start the New Year, I want to put a positive mask on the ugly face of Donald Trump. While there are ample reasons to be depressed that this narcissist, cruel, and ignorant person is the representative of the world's greatest democratic power, we should feel some sense of hope that the majority of Americans continue to reject him despite a robust economy. He got less votes than his opponent, has never topped 50% in approval ratings (Clinton was at 73% during his impeachment trial) and his rantings helped fuel the Democratic takeover of the House. It's a clear and positive sign that most Americans still consider decency, intelligence, and morality to have some value.
15
@Dan Shiells
I would like to see more evidence that "most Americans still consider decency, intelligence, and morality to have some value." If these values still exist in Americans they are not shining out these days.
10
Pink elephant stampede.
Mama Grizzlies.
Going Rogue.
I miss Sarah's homespun hypocrisy. Good times.
It's no surprise that women are running from a party the advocates genital grabbing, the restriction of women's health rights, calling female critics dogs, and jailing children and deporting heads of working American families.
Any woman left in the republican party is suspect for betraying American women.
But when you are grabbing power, thoughtful women just get in the way. Just ask members of Barr and Kavanaugh's religion. Ask the evangelicals. They know where women belong, and it isn't the halls of power, nor even the voting booth.
36
Bravo, well said
It's wonderful to end this decade with such good news! Next step: making "Republican women" an oxymoron.
20
Republican women who want to see more Republican women win elected office as Republicans must first stop supporting Donald Trump as the standard bearer of the Republican Party. Trump is bad for women, Trump is bad for America, and thus he is bad for Republicans male or female. PERIOD!
25
The secret to Republican success is by currying favor with their coalition of "deplorables". A majority of white women are good with the GOP group of designer money grubbers, profiteers, polluters science deniers, punitive misogynists, racists, homophobes, gun huggers, down punchers, fire and brimstone Bible thumpers who hate the mercy part, et al? Maybe the deal is: it pays the bills.
But, even the rich, tax cut enjoying Caitlyn Jenner got "woke" to the downsides of the deal after living just a short while in a dress -- some things just can't be satisfactorily monied away.
If the GOP could only find people that white women thrillingly detest. Ridding Republican women of their undocumented, non-registered-for-taxes cleaning ladies probably doesn't sound appealing. Depriving women other than themselves of of health and reproductive services? Maybe not.
Perhaps, the GOP needs a new,uplifting role model on the order of a Phyllis Schlafly, a woman who traveled around lecturing women from a high stage on the need for them to stay at home and be obedient. We are, after all, in a post-fact, post-ironic age.
Who could be the new "Grizzly Mama"? Maybe one of the long list of women who were harassed at Fox News could step up.
10
The GOP has made it clear by its words, policies and actions that it is no friend of women, unless they are submissive and “stay in their place.”
This differs from the Republican take on minorities only in that women are the majority.
The party of Lincoln is now a cabal of old white men with 1940’s (and in many cases, 19th century) social consciousness who have forfeited their legacies to cover-up a criminal wannabe tyrant in the White House that is utterly incompetent and amoral, betraying both the U.S. Constitution and the rule law.
No wonder women, who typically have more sense than men, are leaving them in droves.
13
If the Republican women in Congress do not have the courage or convictions to stand up to Mitch McConnell and Trump then they deserve to be voted out. The same goes for any Democrat who voted against Impeachment or Present, looking at you Tulsi, and those Republican lemmings who voted no, a straight Republican vote.
I hope Pelosi never send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. Trump deserves a big I on his forehead.
16
We sure have great expectations from Republican women.
But... Republican men are in charge.
5
It appears that, should Trump prevail by whatever means necessary, the GOP will become the party of old, white men entirely. All that will remain of women will be the church ladies making coffee in the kitchen to serve the men making all the decisions. Ghastly.
18
So the bottom line is,
Educated and young GOP women choose to vote Democratic.
Religious and older GOP women have stayed with the GOP.
Truly revealing, what Republicans stand for.
8
Conservative like Nationalism are focused on some point in time in the past. Both wanting time travel to relive that period in time.
GOP period in time prior to Roe v. Wade, before Civil Right's and Voting Rights.
World moves on from there to find "magical point in time" was complicated.
1
I was born in 1956. I learned early as a female that to aspire to be a doctor (like my father) was not for me although definitely a goal for my three younger brothers. Patriarchal society told women that politics was a male preserve. I was taught that I could be the cook but not the chef, the nurse but not the doctor. I could go on and on. The situation became very clear . . women become what men want them to be, they wear what men want them to wear, do what men want them to do, say what men say they should think. Through my religious education I found that females were weak inferior, and intellectually deficient. By nature! I learned to doubt my own insights, judgments and abilities not less but more and more as I got older. Being approved my men, a good Christian, a good wife, a nurturing mother marked the highest level of female achievement.
19
I think your comment is spot on, with one exception. The biggest critics of women’s clothing, hair, makeup, and weight are other women.
5
@MARY
And this is how slaves are born.
The Republicans have chosen to cut funding to school lunch programs, to women's health care programs, to the Violence Against Women Act; they have separated women from their children at the border, they have voted against equal pay for equal work. I will never vote for a Republican again.
44
There is no Republican Party while Trump is president.
Republicans have to clean house to get their party back.
The only way to do that is to vote out Trump and his cult followers even if that means voting for Democrats.
Republicans have no other choice if they want their party back.
13
The saddest part is that women at GOP rallies are demanding the "right" to have their p's grabbed by successful men, both literally and figuratively. Why not add: right to stab self in eye with a fork?
21
It is time for us to discard the old and phony view that women are more moral, more caring and more honest than men. They are not. Just look at the numbers who support Trump or the numbers who were on the anti-integration picket lines or approve of bombing Planned Parenthood.
9
Trump may well secure another four years. But his transformation of the GOP into little more than an immoral band of enablers willing to sacrifice everything for another day in power leaves no room for conscientious people, women or otherwise.
10
Republican women that I've known generally accept whatever their husband, or the bible, says as the "way things should be", so they vote for the white male. I haven't met a Republican woman yet who didn't.
8
Well, then, do something about it! I am getting sick of reading op ed pieces by Republicans bemoaning Trump and his long-term effects on their party. Any Republican in the Congress or the administration who knows that this man is creating long term damage, not just for their party but for their country, needs to speak up and organize the conservative opposition to this would-be tyrant. If you all stand up together, you might be the tipping point that ends the GOP's sick love affair with Trump.
14
Women are co-architects of sexism and misogynistic patriarchal norms.
Any well versed feminist could tell you that and there is a dearth of research that supports that.
Patriarchy is also a form of colonization. It divides by any means necessary, race, creed, class, sexual orientation.
We women will never truly be free and equals as long as we resist to unite as a sex, and by sex I explicitly mean biologically female, as opposed to gender, which is a social construct.
As a sex we are the majority. We need to start acting like the majority and that includes voting as a majority block for female candidates regardless of political persuasion.
Only when we have a critical mass of females in power will we move the needle to genuine equality.
5
@PP -- "... voting as a majority block for female candidates regardless of political persuasion."
You lost it right there. Sexist and right-wing usually only applies to men. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann never got any votes because of their gender.
1
@PP I've advocated exactly this for many years. But when I share my thoughts online, women immediately respond: "I vote for the person, not their sex!"
Politics ain't beanbag. Should women decide to unify their vote, they'll win. And it will be good.
2
@PP
Why on earth would women refuse to unite with any woman who self identifies as a woman? That discrimination in itself is part of the patriarchal worldview.
Transgender women are almost by definition some of the strongest and most courageous women you will find, and they know exactly who they are. It’s not only wrong to reject them as women, it’s self defeating.
As long as so many women are economically dependent on men, we can never count on just biologically defined women to support women’s rights politically. It’s a Catch 22 that can only be conquered by fully embracing the support of everyone willing.
This sounds confrontational. It is intended kindly.
1
The Republicans would prefer to see women poorly educated, barefoot, hungry and pregnant.
Why would ANY woman support the GOP?
17
@Rax "The Republicans would prefer to see [us all] poorly educated, barefoot, hungry..." Old white guys, and young white guys are also victims.
1
Working against one's interests leaves a person broken. It is no wonder there are fewer and fewer Republican women of note. The Republican party of old is dead, and what is taking its' place has no interest in the lives of women, beyond their subservience.
12
If your party platform rests solidly on propping up white patriarchal power then the term “Republican woman” is, and should deservedly be, an oxymoron.
10
IF Trump loses... WHY rebuild the Republican party at all?
11
@R Kagan Good question. Maybe an answer is that a healthy polity needs vibrant discussion. The GOP, shameful as it is now and has been for a long time, once served a reasonable purpose. Que sera sera!
3
Over the holidays, my brother and I bickered over whether the women who support Trump are ignorant or just agree with him (my brother arguing they are ignorant). An example, his actions regarding overturning Roe vs Wade and birth control access. He stated they just hear the snippets they agree with. I countered that is not ignorance but agreement with minority rule which is antithetical to our secular democratic republic. That these women may be semi-literate (or unable to cognate above middle school level) and thus more susceptible to disinformation does not make them victims in campaigns of hatred and division. That the more literate Republican women who run for political office would go along with such exploitation of those susceptible to disinformation and the unraveling of our Republic is the core reason Republicans have made themselves politically irrelevant (though the male and female clowns in the House and Senate and their defense of Russian interference in the Executive is the icing on the cake). As my mama used to say: good riddance to bad trash.
3
I am a registered Republican woman and proud to wear this banner. I am college educated and have been associated with the party for as long as I could vote. They speak my language and they share my values. They support the issues that are important to me such as religious liberty and pro life issues. They have been standing up for us which had not occurred before. They have been the ones who have been speaking out strongly against illegal immigration and taking a stand to stop it. They are serious about making our country great once again,
3
Female Republican candidates face an extra hurdle in getting elected:
Male Republicans are less likely to support them with donations or party money since those women might vote their own beliefs instead of the men’s beliefs. Even when Republican women won primaries, the party withheld money, resulting in losing “safe” seats to Democrats in 2018. The men wanted to spend more money on male candidates.
Republicans disrespect their females so much that they won’t help them win races.
8
Did the author spend any time at all analyzing how the MSM treats GOP women leaders? It's much like how they treat any GOP leader they feel they can "work with". They build them up and then tear them down. The MSM assumes bad intentions of any GOP woman who doesn't step into line vis a vis "progressive" policies and rips them to shreds. But why should anyone n the GOP, male or female, buy into "progressive" policies the MSM tout as "moderate" or "centrist" when the very notion of moderation they sell is false? No, if there are fewer GOP women leaders, it's the result of a press that refuses to believe one can be a woman and be conservative. Honestly, without bad intentions, and mean it.
4
A poor attempt at deflection. Rather than engage on the facts, you fall back on “but what about?”.
1
At this point I do not know why there are ANY republican women. By this time November rolls around perhaps our only hope is for those gop women standing in a voting booth and deciding what kind of a country and world we want. What are we voting FOR, not AGAINST.
13
@Jack Frederick, I’m a proud conservative woman who will continue to vote Republican so long as the Democrats destroy unborn babies in the name of “choice.” It’s a no brained for me.
@Sue And here is the genius of the gop. "God, guns and abortion". Pick one! It only takes one. Create the single "social issue" voter and the gop can line its pockets, which it has done, and those voters will cleave to their issue. The house burns down around you, but you have your call. After all, only Democratic women have abortions!
3
How about the migrant children who have died in the detention centers, due to Trump policies- do you care about them?
1
There may not be a lot of Republican women in political office but the ones who are there are outstanding. They are bright, intelligent and articulate. I was very impressed with Elise Stefanik, a young congresswoman from New York. I am not alone and she will be a rising star in the party. There are many just like her but they do not stand out because they are not loud.
I am not too impressed with the Democratic female politicians such as The Squad. They have become the face of the Democratic Party. They are brash and brazen. Is this what the Democratic Party has become? It certainly appears this way.
The Republican women in office are very impressive and we can expect to hear more from these fine women. There are many smart women who are very capable of running for political office in the Republican Party. I am sure we will be seeing this occur as time goes by. And remember. It is all about quality and not quantity. The Republican women have this going for them.
3
@KMW -- No, the squad is NOT the face of the Democratic party, except in the media. More like Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and Warren. Stefanik is impressive in her astonishing hypocrisy in justifying the treason of Trump. Who is willing to stand up to him? Crickets.
8
@KMW Brash and brazen as opposed to the President?
2
Pres Trump’s comment at his rally last week said it all. He was talking about some ridiculous problem with dishwashers he said he was aware of because ‘women tell me’
The GOP is now the party of Trump and that is a world where the women, with few exceptions, are there to serve men.
18
The Trump Republican Party through gerrymandering has succeeded in creating a political environment that fosters in primaries casting aside female candidates for male and moderate leaning conservatives for the right wingers.
Non-college educated women who went for Trump and will again, blame Democrats for their weakened economic status. They perceive that their social status is under threat by the cultural diversity that Democrats welcome. Trump’s divisive ranting gives voice to their own anger and fears. Republicans don’t improve the women’s lot; Republicans just fan and exploit their resentment.
However, one can’t conclude at this point how college educated women will vote in the fall. If their economic status or retirement plans are threatened by “revolutionary” policy proposals of the Democratic nominee, not sure that women’s issues will carry the day. Sadly, there may be limits on just how progressive they are willing to go.
5
In 2016 52% of college educated white women voted for Trump. I had hoped that women might move the country forward. They held it back in my opinion.
Misogyny is not solely a male related concept. Women participate--especially Republican women.
32
@Doctor No
This statistic is incorrect. 35% of college-educated white women voted for Trump, while 56% of non-college-educated white women did so.
11
@theresa Thanks for the correction. 52% has been the number I’ve seen. I am having my faith in women restored.
I've been paying attention to Senator Murkowski, lately, beginning with her calm, reasoned comments in regard to Kavanaugh and her statement concerning McConnell and the impeachment hearings. I am a liberal Democrat, through and through. I find that I like and admire Murkowski - she appears almost regal in her poised, knowledgeable and thoughtful manner. Unlike the screechy, annoying, and...well..classless Palin. I was beginning to like Nikki Haley...until she showed us who she really is on CBS Sunday Morning, recently.
16
Republican women standing close to President Trump's flame, one burning as healthy as ever, are doomed to failure if they don't march in locked bootstep behind him like the rest of Republican Politicians wanting to get re-elected.
Until Trump gets defeated in 2020 Republicans can forget believing there are moiderate minded candidates who could survive in an election if they stand in opposition to Trump.
And with that said, for the rest of the country looking to oust this frightening administration, without Democrat Candidate victories in the House and Senate, what we've witnessed in Washington for the past three years will simply continue. And how frightening is that?
Democrats should be crazy with an ernestness they've never felt before this Trump Presidency. Anyone wanting to end this nightmare must become part of a mobilization to 'Get The Vote Out'.
Not just ringing doorbells but getting in place a network to physically get their supporters to the polling booths. Rides is what I'm talking about. The turnout we'll need will have to be record-setting or unseating Trump just will not happen.
10
It's not just female Republicans who are on the verge of extinction. No woman in her right mind would be a Republican. The only ones left are those who are tethered to patriarchy or who oppose women's rights to control their bodies.
18
@Mary Rivkatot, educated, literate, sane, and conservative female. I rather like being in a minority group. I can be an individual. I see none of that on the liberal side.
There is a wide spectrum of individuals with different opinions among Democrats. Look again.
1
There are two republican women in our family. They flipped from democrats when they married their republican husbands because I suppose they had no real clue what they thought or believed prior to getting married. In all honesty they still can’t hold a conversation on the current political climate or any uncomfortable conversation they change the subject or deflect attention to “what are your plans for spring break?” I might as well be talking to an 8th grader they are more engaged in current events. Some women would rather be chameleons and be safe rather than think for themselves it explains Republican women.
21
I still feel that it will be women from both (all) parties that will bring back moderation to DC. Just women need to be willing to be women and not just men in a female package.
1
If past is ugly prologue, the small, but dedicated group of professional Russian trolls, very likely of both genders considering their business, who warped the last election under GOP and Putin’s orders, are hard at work devising ways to do it again. This involves sophisticated, intelligent understanding of American culture and its drivers, like the internet, media and religion. I’ll bet that their data surpasses anything we have on women’s fears and aspirations.
Do they care about America becoming fractured and dysfunctional? Of course, that’s their job. Do they care about using any possible levers to get there? It must be professionally gratifying to stick wedges in our soft points, to understand us so well that a few hundred folks can, without guns or missiles, shatter such an enemy. Women’s votes are just one soft point.
10
The only thing Sarah Palin legitimized was that a person with minimal intelligence, no track record in government, and delusional beliefs--who happened to be female in order to attract female voters-- can be elevated by the Republican Party to the highest office in the land. Her success has enabled the elevation of a malignant narcissist, Donald Trump, to the presidency. We can thank Sarah Palin (and the late John McCain) for creating and legitimizing an Idiocracy.
25
Cathy McMorris Rodgers has ensured her place in the 2016 Hall of Shame . Even though she is the mother of a challenged child , she was silent when Trump cruelly mocked a challenged journalist
I wonder how she explained her silence to her children
19
Any woman or person of conscience should leave the Republican Party.
18
I can't say in my lifetime that I ever considered being a Republican. It's been probably 30 years since I've voted for one and 15 years since I've been a registered Democrat.
I feel the same way about the GOP that I feel about the Catholic Church...I simply can't understand why any woman would want to be a part of something so that blatantly minimizes their value and treats them as a worthless afterthought.
And trying to use Sarah Palin to appeal to women? You have got to be kidding me. In what way is that ignoramus a role model? Except perhaps as an example of something to never become.
22
Not many women of either party support barbaric policies such as separating children from asylum-seekers at the border and refusing to provide healthcare to vulnerable families. Very few women see a man of honor and integrity in the Presidency. They don’t want their children to grow up like him, crass, money-grubbing, and casually cruel. They would prefer leaders who respected science, and the law, not this science-denying, extortion-approving crop of self-serving Republicans in Congress. More and more Democrats appear to be the party of morality, responsibility, and prudence.
13
"Republican" women should have recognized this crisis long before now. It's been going on for at least 40 years. I didn't see it until the early 90's. All I can say is they are not stupid. Now, that it's all gone south, they seem to want to be relieved of their responsibility. There can be redemption, if they want to work for it. I, myself, am not a life-long Democrat--actually I'm now a Progressive, so not really a Democrat, either. The question is what do they REALLY want for this country? I have misgivings. There are terrible consequences to be dealt with, for decades to come.
8
Perhaps Republican misogyny is what is really driving Republican women away from voting Republican and running as Republicans. The party of Trump, Kavanaugh and company are reaping what they have sown. I'm hoping that women will desert the Republicans in the 2020 elections.
12
Why would women join the GOP, when its policies are not helpful to women and its leaders are anti-women?
14
I will never understand how any woman in this day and age would vote for a Republican. Republicans claim they want less government but Republicans want to take control of our reproductive rights. Republicans seem to think women are second class citizens. In my opinion no woman with critical thinking skills would vote for a Republican.
18
I suggest: Women who vote consistently Republican identify more strongly with being *white* than with being women.
That, and the single minded obsession with abortion, which wasn't even on the conservative/Evangelical radar screen a few decades ago. It was consciously chosen for exploitation by the religious right as a highly emotional wedge issue.
22
"Republicans will ring in the new year with only 13 women in the House of Representatives,...and eight women in the Senate. (There are, for comparison, 88 Democratic women in the House and 17 Democratic women in the Senate.)"
How can this be? Over half of the population and yet ...
If women would just get their backs up and run and vote and take charge, what a blessed relief that would be.
9
You know Republicans have gone nuts when what they fear most is being "primaried." Respect for Republican positions has gone out the door because the Party is more concerned with ideological purity than actual legislation that would help people. That's why there is no action on health care or immigration.
It will take enough Republicans, especially women, to see the hollowness of the ideology, and begin to vote against the fear of a primary. Being primaried is less devastating than being steamrolled in a general election.
3
Here in Ohio, Republican women are the driving force behind some of the most anti-abortion legislation in the entire country and many of these GOPers were just reelected with little opposition, largely with the support of women voters. On the whole, women GOPers are just as bad as men GOPers. What a win for equal rights!
9
@Jolton Yes I am working in Columbus right now, and I am shocked that Ohio is way more conservative than Texas. It's just nuts.
1
When misogyny is one of the pillars of the party, it’s hard to imagine this situation improving.
8
Vote Sublime Patriarchy 2020!
Let's be honest: Phyllis Schlafly and her ilk would be a good Republican today. Hierarchy, gender roles, station, etc.
The Dr. Frankenstein electorate should be proud of the monster it created.
11
How can women possible be politically conservative now? The Right is mightily trying to remove rights from women and non-corporate men.
9
The modern GOP disrespects and degrades women.
No women of my acquaintance tolerates separating children from their parents and imprisoning children in cages. Plenty of these women find themselves working in low-paying jobs, lacking health insurance and health care, their children getting inadequate schooling, and the future dim. The American Dream is dying.
The GOP riches-to-more riches and rags-to-worse-rags story does nothing for these women nor for any sentient being who subscribes to basic human values.
Why does any woman, save Ivanka, support the party of Trump?
13
Republican women are not in crisis.
1) White women voted for Trump. Whatever protests you cite, or views among the under-30s, this is the world white women and Republican women voted for. This is the world they wanted.
2) All moderates are being forced out of the Republican Party, not just women perceived as moderate. The NYT just ran a piece on this. It’s Trump’s party, and his base does not waiver.
3) Evangelical women are fine with male leadership. “There must be something unnatural about the rule of wives over husbands” states CS Lewis, and this is not a sentiment that is restricted to marriage.
4. College educated women may have voted Democrat in 2018, but whites still voted Republican and, despite greater Democratic turnout, white women only split their vote.
The GOP may have a women problem, but “Republican women” are not in crisis. They simply don’t share your values.
6
By citing Sarah Palin, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins as standard-bearers Ms. Cohen demonstrates only that republican women are capable of the being equally mendacious and mean-spirited. If that is the best the republicans have to offer, good riddance to them.
12
The question should always be, who is best suited for a particular job? Gender, race, age, etc., should not be determining criteria in and of themselves.
Nobody seemed to ask that question when they were voting for the president 3 years ago, did they?
@Bonnie Huggins I think they did, and felt that Trump was the lesser of the two evils. If JFK, whom I'm old enough to remember, ran he would have won.
Not much in the comments about how the racism of the Republican Party may be an attractive feature, but a bug, to conservative women. The patriarchal view is that these women must in some way be influenced by the men in their lives to vote against their interests. I see more agency. As a Black woman who has experienced as much, if not more, racism from white women as white men, I’d say that it’s high time we start holding the ladies who do support this party as the bigots and champions of discrimination that they are.
32
We have seen that women CAN do well for the GOP if they are willing to forsake truth, ethics, and morals. My former governor, Nikki, will say anything to get her next job. She now regrets taking down the confederate flag -- conveniently. She now is full-on trump fake news follower -- even though she won her governorship by playing the bi-partisan card. All that's required is the moral flexibility to forsake anything resembling morals and you too can win office as a GOP female.
37
@CW67: Exactly!
1
A big reason Republican women lost seats recently is because they predominantly held swing seats. The women were always tasked to appear more moderate in order to win these hard districts. You almost never see a woman in a safe Republican district. Until this changes the GOP will always represent a male hierarchy.
12
Thanks for the op-Ed, Dr. Cohen, very distressing and also there’s hope. Many older women of my generation, Boomers, now in their 70’s are still clinging values that are quickly becoming obsolete. One friend, refuses to read or watch news except for Fox. She is a good person, but very stuck in her ways. She is like the millions of women who voted for Trump, most religious and fiercely anti-choice.
If all women voted, we, could change the trajectory of our future. Women, old, young and middle are the largest voting block in the United States! Ladies, the future is in danger IF we don’t decide to show up and vote in 2020, and in each and every election!
Until 1974, birth control pills were outlawed in several states, they are plenty of Republicans who would like to make birth control illegal again. Republicans are determined to take choice away from women, and in many Red states they are heading in this direction. Kansas, for example, has only one clinic left and it’s provider is in danger of being killed every day! Then, there’s the Republican decision to make the ACA unavailable to Americans, Trump’s administration has been in court attempting to take away the pre-existing condition protections of the ACA! Do not believe for one minute that Trump or the Republicans are on YOUR side, they are not!
Republicans want to preserve and protect the patriarchy, they want women in “our place.” They speak “nice” but they have no respect for us.
30
Dr. Cohen writes: “ Should Mr. Trump lose re-election, these Republican women could provide the leadership for rebuilding the party among women.”
She also writes that “ Seventy-three percent of women under the age of 30 disapprove of the president’s performance, ”
How depressing. There is strength in numbers like these and these women should provide leadership NOW instead of withering away while waiting under cover for trump’s stranglehold on Republican members of Congress and the far-right voting bloc to magically dissipate.
It is clear that most American women do not want reproductive restrictions, they want Roe v. Wade to stand, they support LGBT rights, and so many other positions that have been hijacked by the current Republican party. Come on.
Carpe diem!
23
Many of the issues Ms. Cohen cites are not 'women's issues,' but issues of concern to a wide cross-section of Americans.
While Republicans need to persist in outreach to women as part of their national outreach, they need to remain true to their stances on abortion, sensible gender practices and policies, gun policies that recognize the Second Amendment, and a continued rollback of illegal immigration.
As for the accusation of 'misogyny,' that has been and remains a canard foisted upon the public by those who still fail to understand this president and those who support him.
Women should recognize that Democrats treat them as a segment of the electorate, another of many segments to be 'treated differently,' instead of being recognized as integral to the whole of America.
1
Actually Trump regularly and consistently demonstrates his misogyny when he tweets about a female ambassador when she testified during his impeachment hearings. The only canard is the one peddled by Trump cultists who refuse to acknowledge his misogyny.
7
@rcrigazio . The recent election numbers do not support your argument. The misogyny "canard"? C'mon. The Access Hollywood Tape, Sunny Daniels, 19 sexual harassment accusations, Epstein and on and on make it very clear Trump is a misogynist.
1
Plenty of "elites" and Democrats have been strong advocates of improving the lives of white, blue-collar women. How can any of them say that Bernie Sanders or Robert Reich, for example, don't care about them? But because they didn't see/hear it on Fox or Sinclair, it's not real.
14
If there are fewer Republican women seeking and reaching office, it may be because most women with the experience and motivation that drive them to seek office might not appeal to the same women who would have liked Sarah Palin and currently like Trump and his polemics. I was at a dinner the other night where women of diverse views were discussing current events, such as Brett Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court, Bill Cosby's conviction and the current clerical sex abuse scandal. It is often the same women who don't believe "we" or society should blame men for old, past behavior who harshly judge women for having been victimized or even associated with such men. The day after Trump was elected, Dallas Pastor Jeffress said on NPR that "evangelicals" including women, forgive some powerful men their bad behavior because those men are powerful will protect our nation. Jeffress also said that Hillary Clinton should examine the part she played in Bill Clinton's affairs. The sad reality is that many women still don't like other women. Women judge one another harshly even when they are friends. I suppose this is because women have long been forced to compete with other women for the lifetime job of being a wife, mother and homemaker.
15
I thought this piece would be about Republican women voters, not politicians. So far if votes in the house are any indication, GOP women politicians are in lock step with the sexual harasser in chief.
GOP women voted for an increasingly bloated defense bill. They voted for the huge corporate give away called the trump Tax bill. And so far they have been supporting the president in all his foreign policy folly's that seem more designed to get hotel deals than to advance the nation's interests.
And GOP women voters supported Trump in 2016 despite his own admission of extramarital affairs and sexual harassment of at least a dozen women.
Many thought that a woman's perspective on the world and experience in being marginalized by men would result in different policies once in office. But GOP women for the most part remained silent as children were torn away from their mothers in immigration detention centers.
It's beginning to look like the real crisis for GOP women is that they behave exactly like their male counterparts.
28
If it weren't the contentious politics surrounding abortion the Republican party would likely have even less support from women. That other issues like immigration have become wound up in the debate is unfortunate but abortion opposition is at the heart of many things. I don't point this out because of my position on reproductive rights, only to highlight how single issue politics can distort other equally important conversations.
5
It’s worth remembering that the much-maligned Andrew Johnson tried to give women the vote. If he had been as wise and as skillful a politician as Lincoln, perhaps he would have succeeded.
1
Republican women are caught in an untenable position. How does a woman sell policies that hurt children and families to other women? Healthcare, guns, the environment, immigration, education, wages, criminal justice-there are no Republican policies that move these concerns ahead for the vast majority of women. Opposition to abortion, birth control, sex education and non heterosexual orientation also drive women away. Why should a Republican male vote for a woman when a Republican male, no matter how unqualified, is available.
Today's Republican Party is a caricature. A good old boy's club that tells their womenfolk what to believe while telling them that they are not worth a living wage.
2441
With all due respect, how do you know that there are Republican women, or any kind of woman, who are always supportive of their LGBTQ children? Or women who don’t abuse their children? Is it their very womanhood that exempts them from behaving badly or being racist or sexist or anti-Semitic? There is a kind of valorization, or idealization, of women in many comments here that I fear skims the surface.
41
@Maureen Steffek beautifully said. Thank you. This is exactly how I feel.
49
@Maureen Steffek I would argue that they've always been that way - it just seems more blatant now. I find many conservative ideas appealing, but I've rarely voted Republican mainly because they are anti-women. Most of the Republican women seem to be anti-women in one form or another even. I've never understood why any woman would ever vote Republican. Even if they hate abortion.
156
When I see women at Trump rallies cheering for his cruel and profane attacks on others, I just shake my head in wonder. These same women love their children, whether they are gay or straight, able bodied or disabled. They teach their children to love, to be respectful and law abiding. How they can cheer for a man who admits to abusing women, encourages violence, breaks the law in word and deed, and is so beneath
the dignity of his office boggles my mind. It’s truly a sad sight.
1650
@Shlyoness - "These same women...teach their children to love, to be respectful and law abiding." How do you know these things to be true? That a reasonable person would rightfully think otherwise is what is truly disturbing about the society these folks (women and men) are not only promoting but engendering.
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@Shlyoness Is it possible that they cheer a bully because this behavior is familiar to them? Bullies understand bullies, and they like that stuff. Take it from a retired teacher. We've taken a few trips around the playground...
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@Shlyoness
I disagree! Not all woman love their gay children. Not all woman teach their children to be respectful and to be loving towards ALL people. The woman at these rallies proof my point!
302
This is just one of the signs that the Republican Party is dying. It is trying to survive by fighting national demographic trends toward a more pluralistic society with women in positions of real power. As a result, it has become the refuge of some of the worst people in American politics. Nancy Pelosi may be 79 years old but she is a glimpse of the future of this country. It is really not an accident that the person who has been most successful at standing up to Trump is a woman. Misogyny is not a viable long-term political strategy.
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@JS
Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is packing Federal Judge positions with right wing "originalists" vetted by the Heritage Society.
The Legacy of these dark times, with Donald Trump, will continue with a Federal Court, and SCOTUS , standing by to block any Progressive legislation from Congress, and the American People.
226
@skier: Sadly very true and very depressing.
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@JS
The GOP won’t die. It’s true goal: elevate wealthy white men at everyone else’s expense is just getting clearer to its adherents.
63
You all down there in America ought to read more of our Canadian author Margret Atwood in order to see where your country is headed, as you are led by the Trump/McConnell coalition and they in turn by Putin.
How is it possible that the leader of your Senate, while appointing various Kananaughs to your judiciary and supporting your president unwavering, has an aluminium plant being built in the state from which he was (and will inevitably be) reelected, by a Russian oligarch aligned with Putin?
America appears, from a perhaps not safe enough distance, to be almost blindly self-referential and inward looking. Thus, your debates seem to have become difficult to understand from afar and to lead to lengthy discussions about who/what are sufficiently conservative, moderate or (heaven forbid) liberal let alone humane.
America's brilliant contributions to the world seem to be in an eclipse. In turn, the world hopes it is not total an that you will emerge.
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@Rob
Sadly, none of this matters. I would vote mcconnell out in a heartbeat but I don't get to vote for him at all. The best I can do is send his opponent money. But even that doesn't leave me feeling optimistic. mcconnell has one of the lowest approval ratings yet he's leading in the polls. I just can't begin to understand why a person would vote for someone he/she despises.
5
I speak with republicans often. Some are big time supporters of Trump. One thing that stands out among suburban women of any age (though mostly older, say, over 50) is that many republican women claim to "vote the way my husband tells me to vote". While shocking to many, including me, this refrain rings in my ears during every political conversation...are women so fragile they are not able to think for themselves? Are they so willing to give up hard fought wins over their own healthcare, freedom over their own bodies, food security for their children, rights for their kids "differences", etc. etc. by voting for this administration thru their husband's proxy? No wonder we still haven't eradicated racism...if half the population is willing to give up their voice to their "betters" where are we really? This is certainly the lasting impact republicans have on our society - silencing women.
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@Judi
Who you vote for is private information. If these women are really voting for candidates solely based on what their husbands say, then that's on those women, not the Republican party.
5
@Judi
Their husbands are afraid that their wive's vote will cancel their's so the need to control her's. Also when they control their wive's vote they get to vote twice - which they feel entitled to do.
15
@Judi
WOW
Your comment reminds me of an exchane on Downton Abbey. I just watch the series again. There was a comment made by youngest daughter Sybil about her having opinions. Grandmother Violet quickly told her women don't have opinions until they are married and then their husbands tell them what their opinions are.
Time frame: 1920.
Onr hundred years later but the spirit of a septugenarian lives on.
12
There is no place in the trump-owned GOP for independent and courageous women (or men), as recent groveling by Elise Stefanik and Nikki Haley has shown. No wonder the future of the GOP is so bleak as fewer young women participate in trump’s crude, misogynistic mobster reign.
47
If this country has any hope to remain a democratic country bound by the rule of law, Trump needs to be defeated. When he is, the Democrat elected president should declassify all the calls about 'favors' that Trump's staff classified. When it happens, I hope that whether women can stomach the corruption and hypocrisy of the GOP will be the least the party's problems.
21
GOP women are nearly identical to their male counterparts, just less vocal about the racism, climate change denial and hatred for the poor that binds their party together.
38
Just women? How can any empathetic and intelligent person remain a member of today’s GOP?
51
Republican women, flailing in the cauldron of misogyny that is the Republican Party, deserve what they get. There are still a huge majority of stand-by-your-man women who love the benefits of wealth that Republican policies provide.
41
@Grey
Women have been and always will be the greatest enablers of patriarchy. Without their enthusiastic support, it would have collapsed in this country decades ago.
10
As a woman and a former Republican, I am horrified by what has become of this party. I have similar feelings about Evangelical Christianity as well, since they have banded together mostly, in support of this amoral president. I am astounded by how easily Trump (with ALOT0 of help from the propagandists at FOX) has managed to destroy their collective moral compass. The hypocrisy of it all unveils how weak their convictions must have been in the first place. I am doing everything I can to elect democrats now. I cannot fathom how ANY woman can align herself with this backward, misogynist, hate spewing, gun loving , racist, anti-science, anti-immigrant, lie after lie accepting, cult of Trump.
72
@LiesaC I too, am a former Republican, all of my life until Bush II. Republicans have sold their collective souls, I’m sad it took me so long to realize what a bunch of crooks and misogynists they are!
6
@Liesa C.
Perhaps they never had a moral compass to begin with.
2
And then there is the wingnut wing of the Grand Old Patriarchy championed by people like Rep. Matthew Shea of Washington State. Can “Handmaid’s Tale” be far off?
25
No surprise that as the Republican Party has become more reactionary over the past ten years, their ability to field and support female candidates has declined. Combine that with a president who’s a misogynist and serial adulterer and who bragged about committing sexual assault in the “Access Hollywood” tape, and it makes perfect sense that women are leaving the Republican Party in droves.
20
It’s no different here: Australia’s ruling conservative party has few women in its ranks, and the few that are tolerated are far-right hacks, who survive only because they’re more ‘manly’ than their pre-selection rivals. Manly in the sense that they’re belligerent ideologues.
But who cares really? Gender or sex means naught: these people are universally awful, willing to see a country, a planet burn for a few dollars in the bank and vindication of long-held resentment and shame.
31
The Republican Party has declared war on women so I and millions of other women are fighting back. See you in November.
43
@Kate: Right on, Sister! I'm looking forward to it!
2
“Look out, Washington, because there’s a whole stampede of pink elephants crossing the line,”
“The first casualties of Ms. Palin’s pro-woman campaign were some of the G.O.P.’s most influential and respected female leaders.”
A larger question remains: can Donald see Russia from his house?*
*that house being being the White House or Trump Tower.
7
Until the Republican party stops treating women as brood mares with no right to reproductive freedom, nothing will change.
27
It was Republican Todd Akin--remember him?-- who said " If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Aside from allowing Claire McCaskill six more years in the Senate, it showed women--and the rest of us--what the Republican Party thought of science. We are alas, still paying for that today in lost time to deal with climate change.
29
Keep moving, keep moving. Nothing to see here folks. Just a group of distinguished looking elderly white men doing their jobs of keeping everyone else down.
25
THEY are the Problem.
They Have Been part of the problem for decades.
It Well Predates Trump. He had been the Criminal type of Fascist-In-Waiting.
If it's not fascism it's another autocracy with fascist elements coming on full blast and increasingly in control of PLUTOCRATS & OLIGARCHS.
9
When a political party promotes, supports, and encourages only Evangelical, white men, what would one expect?
18
Look at the GOP behavior in re ent hearings. What woman would want to be part of this group of retro nuts?
21
All one needs to do is look at the hate rallies the bigot holds to boost his ego. Look around at all those women wearing make America hate hats.
Then think about any republican women in congress and how they have stood in lock step with their leader despite his self proclaiming and bragging misogynistic behaviour.
There is your answer.
As the rest of us watch women power rising and their voices being heard why would anyone want to be a republican woman?
21
Interesting that if you look at the many progressive community and labor social action organizations now you will find women, and mostly women of color, leading those movements. They lead with a clear understanding of the connections between race, class, and gender and they apply that understanding to real world problems like wages, and gentrification, climate change, and mass incarceration. It is in stark contrast to what you depict here. (By the way, I love the ability to go to the data by clicking into the article. Great job NYT!)
19
I wonder what Republicans will do next, to maintain minority control? They lost Congressional voting majorities in places like North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. So they gerry-mandered districts so that 45% of the vote won 65% of the Congressional seats. They lost the minority vote so they closed polling stations in minority neighborhoods, and purged minorities from voter rolls. They’ve lost young voters, so in places like my state they’re instituting residency requirements aimed at keeping college students from voting. Now women? Will there soon be a Y chromosome rule, denying a ballot to any voter who lacks one? I’m sure there will be a catchy marketing slogan, like “Don’t ask Y you can’t vote”.
35
My sister is a devout Christian and evangelical. She is totally against abortion; you are pro-murder if you are pro-choice. In addition, she also believes in the religious hierarchy put forth by the church which goes like this: JESUS>HUSBAND>WIFE. In the hierarchy it states that the woman is to be a helper to her husband, raise godly children, and submit to her husband's authority. It is no surprise that evangelical Republican women do not support Republican women leaders because they are overstepping their authority in the chain of command.
34
This is really helpful information. Thank you for providing this insight into a perspective that is so different from my own.
6
Sort of like battered wives who can never bring themselves to break free.
2
Today’s GOP has morphed into a party that supports the denigration of women, so it’s no surprise that female candidates have little success in a party that believes in the superiority of the male brain. The mostly male Republican Party seems to believe that women do not have the brain power to make their own medical decisions. Those same males support the NRA and gun rights over the safety of their children. The GOP males support white supremacy and cutting safety net programs that benefit the poor in favor of giving tax cuts to the ultra wealthy. Republican women who care about the future of their country have a tough choice in 2020: four more years of Trump chaos and hatred or a Democrat who will address the real issues facing the country. No choice in my mind, but to each her own.
17
Interesting article, but among the very few times I've heard even a tacit criticism of the president. The "handful of congresswomen" haven't been very vocal about any disagreements they have with him. Maybe they are just as scared of him as their cowardly male counterparts or maybe they are just happy supporting their man like good Republican wives. Waiting to see what happens to Trump doesn't demonstrate any sort of leadership, they need to have the courage to go against the establishment if they want any chance of changing things. They might lose their congressional seat; what would they really be losing?
11
A few years ago I landed in Atlanta, rented a car, and drove south to my destination of Charleston, SC, passing through Bamberg, SC, Nikki Haley’s home town. I had to drive very gingerly around the potholes in the Main Street that Governor Haley failed to have fixed during her term in office.
While respecting Ambassador Haley’s erudition, international diplomatic representation and poise, I severely criticize any governor, Republican or Democrat, who can’t maintain the infrastructure of their own state roads. That state function is a basis for our federal governing system.
3
When Republican voting-age males have the attitude that God decrees women should be in the home in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant what do you expect. And yes, the Republican party is the political party of misogyny. All you have to do is to look and see who is sitting in the White House to know that is a fact. Any female in a position of authority are a threat to male Republican hegemony. Not to mention Republican male's assault on women's reproductive rights. The better question is how did America come to this. There's a topic for a doctoral dissertation and a book.My heart aches for those women trying to cope in those red states like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, the Dakotas and throughout the deep South. How do they stand it?
17
@Jean W. Griffith - Education begets empowered women. Thus Republican zeal to stamp it out especially in red states.
8
@Zydeco Girl how astute you are. AGREED. It is no coincidence the Taliban in Afghanistan forbids young women to be educated. Women are better communicators and more reasonable, hence the tendency for compromise. Are Republican men of the same mindset? You can draw your own conclusion.
2
Any reasonable observer, female or male, can plainly see that Republicans have tethered themselves to a bloated boulder at the edge of a cliff. Some believe this makes them safer while others are fretting that their view is blocked by the giant stone. Undeterred by facts or logic millions simply run around or over it before plunging over the cliff. This is today’s Republican party. The females I have known in my life are too smart for the GOP.
14
"Other studies suggest that G.O.P. voters perceive women to be more moderate than men and are therefore less likely to vote for women." Ah, the vitriol of the Republican Party! "Moderate is a term of derision. It is also a word that can easily be seen as a substitute for someone who still has a tinge of conscience. And how can anyone still have a tinge of conscience and be a Republican?
The Republican endgame is in full swing: their goal is to have a US population of worker bees (drones who get paid next to nothing), a sycophantic beauracracy that drools in eagerness to catch the crumbs off the table of the third pillar of the Republican new society: the aristocracy. Republicans, in effect, are installing a king. What they still don't understand is that Traitor Trump is hellbent on becoming Emperor--not just another dictator or another king. In all of this, democracy is the sacrificial lamb.
18
No surprise there, everything the GOP stands for goes against the grain of democracy: equal rights, tolerance, diversity,immigration, education, health access, voting rights to name a few. Those values and priorities are not in their playbook. Their goal is to stuff the rich with tax cuts, stuff the courts with conservative old men who don't give a fig about women's rights or people's rights. Republican women have no sway in the political process. They have been subdued and even squashed when they do dare speak up against the Republican machine and their Dear Leader. Where is now the timid voice of Senator Murkowski we heard a few days ago? Gone into oblivion.
Here in Maine, when Senator Collins speaks out and attempts to play the middle of the road, she gets squashed from both sides. As you can see on many car plates here in Maine, we say:
"Bye bye, Susan". If Republican women want to survive and leave their mark, they should join the Democrats ( or create their own party) and fight for women, not for the dinosaurs of the GOP and their puppet president.
16
It is my sincerest hope that Senator Collins loses her reelection bid and gets to sit at home to watch her "I won't dismantle Roe v. Wade" Supreme Court Justice Brett Cavanaugh dismantle Roe v. Wade.
30
@democritic: Yeah...don't get me started on Susan Collins.
1
Women in the United States are in a crisis no matter if they are Republican or not because of Trump Party policy decisions from reproductive freedom, equal pay, support for child care, inadequate or no health insurance. clean air and water to name just a few.
It is time for all women to recognize the Trump party for what it is and kill the snake by cutting off its head by voting Trump out this November.
22
It puzzles me that the dearth of women GOP candidates is a mystery to anyone paying attention. It is obvious that Trump's party is the party of straight white men; the misogyny, just like the racism and bigotry, is not a bug to them, it's a feature. Anyone other than straight white men who still supports the party of Trump is apparently fine with being a 2nd or 3rd class citizen ruled by an authoritarian patriarchy. The self-loathing misogyny is sad but not surprising. "Downplaying social conservatism" by GOP candidates does not fool persons of clue.
19