New Trump Campaign Team: Anti-Women, Sexist and Misogynistic

Paul Manafort is out, but sexism and misogyny are still in. Donald Trump’s new campaign team is proof positive that he is doubling down on his war on women. First, he brought Roger Ailes on board as debate coach and behind-the-scenes strategist. This is the same Roger Ailes who:

  • According to former Fox host Gretchen Carlson, told her, “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.”
  • In the words of former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn, “psychologically tortured” her for 20 years after she accepted his quid pro quo offer of career advancement in exchange for sex. Luhn told New York Magazine that she was expected to hire attractive staffers and send them to Ailes, or “find me whores,” as she said Ailes put it.
  • Sabotaged a major RNC contract for Kellie Boyle, a former Republican National Committee RNC field adviser, after she balked at his admonition that “you know if you want to play with the big boys, you have to lay with the big boys,” and that “you might have to give a blow job every once in awhile.”

At least 20 other women have contacted Gretchen Carlson’s attorneys after Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes. But Donald Trump said as recently as July 24 that Ailes is a “very, very good person” and that “a lot of people are thinking he’s going to run my campaign.”

Stephen Bannon, the new campaign CEO, has used his own media platform to demean women and attack those who would defend their rights. Stephen Bannon ran stories on the Breitbart News website titled:

  • “There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women In Tech, They Just Suck At Interviews”
  • “Sympathy for the Devils: The Plot Against Roger Ailes — and America”
  • “Big Trans Hate Machine Targets Pitching Great Curt Schilling”
  • “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, defends Bannon as “a brilliant tactician” who is “what Donald Trump needs.”

What Donald Trump really needs is to stop waging war on women and attacking any woman who annoys him by reporting what he’s actually said. Women know the truth about him — Donald Trump is an insecure, sexist bully who rewards misogyny and surrounds himself with fellow racists and haters.

Memo to Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell — how much longer can you defend a candidate whose actions and language are so indefensible?

Contact: M.E. Ficarra, press@now.org, 951-547-1241