When Donald Trump won reelection for a second White House term this past November, he did so thanks to a campaign predicated in no small part on articulating a new — or perhaps very old — realignment of gender roles in this country. He ran on "meeting men in alpha-male terms, often with crude and demeaning language," and deployed surrogates who "define American manliness as a vote for the former Republican president," The Associated Press said — a "paternalistic" tactic that was aimed not only at men, but at "suburban women who might hesitate supporting him."
"The notion that women need to be coddled and can’t be tough is a fake media narrative," said Trump spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez to The AP in the waning days of the election.
While Trump and his campaign may have worked to project an image of the candidate as a crusader for both men and women alike, his lifetime in the public eye offers a considerably different narrative. For decades, Trump has treated women as sexual objects who "let you do it" so long as you are powerful and wealthy, regarding them as both the reward for — and means of furthering — his reputation as a playboy mogul par excellence. Though Trump has attempted to temper that reputation when politically advantageous, it has nevertheless remained a through-line across much of his life in the spotlight.
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Below are dozens of things Trump has said publicly about women, offering a holistic sense of how the once and future president sees more than half the world's population.
On Vice President Kamala Harris
"Do you want to lose your life savings because we put a weak and foolish woman in the White House?" [November 2, 2024]
"She is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions." [October 13, 2024]
"Lyin' Kamala, who is being exposed as a 'dummy' every time she does a show." [October 8, 2024]
"Kamala is mentally impaired." [September 29, 2024]
"Retarded." [September 29, 2024]
"They put her in, and she somehow — a woman — somehow she's doing better than [President Joe Biden] did." [September 18, 2024]
"She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist." [September 10, 2024]
"I am much better looking than Kamala Harris." [August 17, 2024]
"She was a bum three weeks ago. She was a bum. A failed vice president in a failed administration." [July 27, 2024]
"She's so bad. She's so pathetic. She's so fu*king bad" [July 3, 2024]
"I see the same basic level of competence as [President Joe Biden]. I would define her in a very similar matter that I define him" [July 9, 2024]
"If [Biden] had picked someone even halfway competent they would have bounced him from office years ago, but they can't because she's gonna be their second choice" [July 9, 2024]
"This monster that was onstage with Mike Pence, who destroyed her last night, by the way. I thought that wasn't even a contest last night. She was terrible. I don't think you could get worse. And totally unlikeable" [Oct. 8, 2020]
"You know what, people don't like her. Nobody likes her. She could never be the first woman president. She could never be. That would be an insult to our country." [Sept. 8, 2020]
"Very, very nasty ... the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate." [Aug. 11, 2020]
On 2024 presidential candidate and GOP nomination rival Nikki Haley
"Nimbra doesn't have what it takes" [Jan. 19, 2024]
"Birdbrain doesn't have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job" [Sept. 29, 2023]
On former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
"[GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's] China loving wife, Coco Chao!" [Sept. 30, 2022]
On "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin
"That is one dumb woman. Sorry. I'm sorry, women, she's a dummy." [October 9, 2024]
On "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg
"She was so filthy, dirty, disgusting. She was so dirty. Every word was filthy, dirty. What a loser she is." [October 9, 2024]
On Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis
"She was out of her mind" [Jan. 9, 2024]
On Casey DeSantis, wife of 2024 presidential candidate and GOP nomination rival Ron DeSantis
"I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign" [Nov. 8, 2022]
On House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali)
"She's turned on him like a dog. She's as crazy as a bed bug" [July 20, 2024]
"We'll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco — how's her husband doing, anybody know?" [September 29, 2023]
On Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"This is not even a smart person, other than she's got a good line of stuff. I mean, she goes out and she yaps." [Aug. 14, 2020]
On Stormy Daniels
"Horseface" [Oct. 16, 2018]
"I never liked horseface. That wouldn't be the one. There is no one. We have a great First Lady." [March 25, 2023]
On the #MeToo movement
"It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. … Women are doing great." [Oct. 2, 2018]
"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. … You've got to be strong. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to push back hard. You've got to deny anything that's said about you. Never admit." [Via Bob Woodward's Fear: Trump in the White House]
On Omarosa Manigault Newman
"A crazed, crying lowlife" and a "dog." [Aug. 14, 2018]
On Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters
"An extraordinarily low IQ person." [June 25, 2018]
On Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
"[S]omeone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them)." [Dec. 12, 2017]
On French first lady Brigitte Macron
"You know, you're in such good shape. Beautiful." [July 13, 2017]
On Mika Brzezinski
"I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!" [June 29, 2017]
On Hillary Clinton
"Such a nasty woman." [Oct. 19, 2016]
"If she were a man, I don't think she'd get 5 percent of the vote." [April 26, 2016]
"If Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?" [April 16, 2015]
On Jessica Leeds (who accused Trump of assault in 1979)
"She would not have been the chosen one." [September 7, 2024]
On Carly Fiorina
"Look at that face. Would anybody vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" [Sept. 9, 2015]
On Heidi Klum
"Sadly, she's no longer a 10." [Aug. 15, 2015]
On Megyn Kelly
"She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." [Aug. 7, 2015]
"Bimbo." [Aug. 7, 2015]
On Kim Kardashian
Asked if her butt is big: "Well, absolutely. It's record-setting. In the old days, they'd say she has a bad body." [June 18, 2014]
"Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely." [Feb. 6, 2013]
On Halle Berry
"I love her … upper body." [February 2013]
On Beyoncé
"When Beyoncé was thrusting her hips forward in a very suggestive manner, if someone else would have done that it would have been a national scandal. I thought it was ridiculous ... I thought it was not appropriate." [February 2013]
On Jessica Chastain
"She's certainly not hot." [February 2013]
On Cher
"I promise not to talk about your massive plastic surgeries that didn't work." [Nov. 13, 2012]
On Bette Midler
"@BetteMidler talks about my hair but I'm not allowed to talk about her ugly face or body --- so I won't. Is this a double standard?" [Oct. 28, 2012]
Two minutes later: "While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct." [Oct. 28, 2012]
On Kristen Stewart
"Robert [Pattinson] I'm getting a lot of heat for saying you should dump Kristen — but I'm right. If you saw the Miss Universe girls, you would reconsider." [Oct. 18, 2012]
On Arianna Huffington
"Unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man — he made a good decision." [Aug. 28, 2012]
On Angelina Jolie
"Angelina Jolie is sort of amazing because everyone thinks she's like this great beauty. And I'm not saying she's an unattractive woman, but she's not beauty, by any stretch of the imagination." [October 2007]
"I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she's not — I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she's not." [October 2007]
"I remember at the Academy Awards a few years ago she was frenching her brother. She was giving her brother lip kisses like I never saw before in my life. And she had just said she made love to Billy Bob Thornton in the back of the limousine on the way over. And I wouldn't want to shake her hand, by the way." [October 2007]
On Rosie O'Donnell
"Can you imagine the parents of Kelli ... when she said, 'Mom, Dad, I just fell in love with a big, fat pig named Rosie?'" [Dec. 29, 2006]
"We're all a little chubby but Rosie's just worse than most of us. But it's not the chubbiness — Rosie is a very unattractive person, both inside and out." [2006]
"Rosie's a person who's very lucky to have her girlfriend and she better be careful or I'll send one of my friends over to pick up her girlfriend. Why would she stay with Rosie if she had another choice?" [2006]
"If I were running 'The View,' I'd fire Rosie O'Donnell. I mean, I'd look at her right in that fat, ugly face of hers, I'd say, 'Rosie, you're fired.'" [2006]
On Taylor Swift
"I hate Taylor Swift." [September 5, 2024]
"She's a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat. And she'll probably pay a price for it […] in the marketplace." [September 11, 2024]
On his daughter Ivanka Trump
When asked if Ivanka, then 24, had breast implants: "She's actually always been very voluptuous." [2006]
"She does have a very nice figure ... if [she] weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her." [June 4, 2004]
On his wife Melania Trump
When asked if he would stay with her if she was disfigured in a car crash: "How do the breasts look?" [April 11, 2005]
On Nancy O'Dell
"I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and f--k her. She was married." [2005]
On Lindsay Lohan
"What do you think of Lindsay Lohan? There's something there, right? But you have to like freckles. I've seen a close-up of her chest. And a lot of freckles. Are you into freckles? ... She's probably deeply troubled, and therefore great in bed. How come the deeply troubled women — deeply, deeply troubled — they're always the best in bed?" [2004]
On Steffi Graf
"You never get to the face because the body's so good." [Sept. 23, 2004]
On Paris Hilton
"Now, somebody who a lot of people don't give credit to but in actuality is really beautiful is Paris Hilton. I've known Paris Hilton from the time she's 12, her parents are friends of mine, and the first time I saw her she walked into the room and I said, 'Who the hell is that?'" [2003]
On Princess Diana
Three weeks after her death, Trump was asked if he could have "nailed" Princess Diana: "I think I could have." [1997]
On his daughter Tiffany Trump
"Well, I think that she's got a lot of Marla. She's a really beautiful baby, and she's got Marla's legs." Motioning to his chest, Trump added: "We don't know whether she's got this part yet, but time will tell." [1994]
On women of 'The Apprentice' in general
To a contestant on "The Apprentice:" "That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees." [2013]
"All of the women on 'The Apprentice' flirted with me — consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected." [2004]
"It's certainly not groundbreaking news that the early victories by the women on 'The Apprentice' were, to a very large extent, dependent on their sex appeal." [2004]
On women he's been in relationships with
"I'd have no problem" sleeping with 24-year-olds. (Trump was 60 at the time.) [2006]
"I don't want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds." [2006]
Asked whether he's had sex with a Black woman: "Well, it depends on what your definition of Black is." [2005]
"You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] writes as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass." [1991]
His thoughts on women in general
"I surround myself with the strongest of women. With the understanding that ALL women are great, whether strong or not strong." [November 1, 2024]
"I said, 'Well, I’m going to do it. Whether the women like it or not, I’m going to protect them.'" [October 30, 2024]
"I think women like me because I will be your protector. The women want protection. They don't want these people pouring in." [October 11, 2024]
"I saved your suburbs — women, suburban women, you're supposed to love Trump!" [Oct. 18, 2020]
To a female reporter: "We could say, politically correct, that look doesn't matter, but the look obviously matters. Like you wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful." [2014]
"26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military — only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?" [May 7, 2013]
"Look at her ass" (allegation by former administration Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham) [May 9, 2023]
"I've got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." [2005]
"I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I'm more honest and my women are more beautiful." [Nov. 17, 1999]
"There's nothing I love more than women, but they're really a lot different than portrayed. They are far worse than men, far more aggressive, and boy, can they be smart!" [1997]
"Women have one of the great acts of all time. The smart ones act very feminine and needy, but inside they are real killers. The person who came up with the expression 'the weaker sex' was either very naive or had to be kidding. I have seen women manipulate men with just a twitch of their eye — or perhaps another body part." [1997]
His thoughts on how he treats women
"Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody. Nobody has more respect." [Oct. 19, 2016]
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