“Whether Women Like It or Not”: Trump’s Promise Turns Ominous Threat

Former President Donald Trump took his promise to protect women to a creepy new level Wednesday evening, claiming he’d do so “whether the women like it or not.”

Wearing an orange garbage collector vest from a failed photo-op earlier in the day, Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, complained about his advisers telling him to stop saying he would “protect women.”

“They said, ‘We think it’s very inappropriate for you to say. I said, ‘Why? I’m president.’ I want to protect the women of our country.... Well, I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not. I’m gonna protect them. I’m gonna protect them from migrants coming in, I’m gonna protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things.” The crowd erupted with cheers.

“Are there any women who want to be protected by the president?”

Trump: "I want to protect the women of our country ... I'm gonna do it whether the women like it or not" pic.twitter.com/mfMEpaWEAX

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 31, 2024

The backlash has been swift. “Donald Trump thinks he should get to make decisions about what you do with your body. Whether you like it or not,” Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted. “Alex, I’ll take things rapists say for $300,” said Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts. Others pointed out that Trump was accused of sexual assault by yet another woman just last week.

These words ring hollow from a man with more than 20 sexual assault allegations. They also contradict all of his positions on women and their agency. Trump boasts about overturning Roe, is OK with criminalizing doctors, and wants to leave abortion completely up to the states, making large swaths of the country much more dangerous for women who need access to abortion to stay alive. What kind of protection is that?