Donal Trump Calls Hillary Clinton a Crook

Nikki Haley/Reuters

Donald Trump, a leading Republican presidential candidate, is facing criticism due to his derogatory remarks about his rival, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, losing the women’s vote.

According to the U.S. political news outlet The Hill, after winning the New Hampshire primary on the 23rd (local time), Trump mocked Haley’s attire, saying she wore a “dress that probably wasn’t so fancy.” Trump also referred to Haley as a “birdbrain.”

In fact, Trump has a history of making remarks that could be considered derogatory towards women. During the 2016 election, he used the nickname “Crooked Hillary,” targeting his Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and said to Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and another election competitor, “Look at that face. Who would vote for that?”

In the 2015 Republican presidential candidate debate, he mocked a female moderator, saying, “Blood is coming out of her wherever,” making a derogatory reference to menstruation.

Experts suggest that Trump’s attack on Haley for being a woman could lead to a loss of women’s votes.

Juliana Bergeron, a member of the New Hampshire Republican National Committee, predicted that “he (Trump) will not win over female swing voters” and “his remarks could shake things up in a close election.” Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist and CNN political commentator assessed that “suburban women will feel disgusted by this (Trump’s remarks) and will never support him.”

Some argue that Trump’s difficulties in winning over female voters are not unrelated to this. According to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, President Joe Biden secured 54% of suburban female voters in the 2020 election. Moreover, The Hill reported that suburban female voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona expressed opposition to candidates endorsed by Trump in the 2022 midterm elections.

Debbie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, analyzed, “He (Trump) always plays the gender card” and “He uses it on both women and men like he tells men they are not manly enough.”