Oct. 31 (UPI) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris told reporters in Wisconsin on Thursday that Donald Trump’s remark that he will protect women — whether they “like it or not” — is offensive to everyone because it disrespects the right and ability of women to make their own life decisions, including about their own bodies.
Harris, speaking to reporters in Madison, Wis., said Trump’s remark at a Wednesday campaign rally is just the latest example of him revealing how he thinks about women.
“This is just the latest in a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women and their agency,” Harris said. “Whether he says, as he has, that women should be punished for their choices, whether he has talked about his pride in taking away a fundamental right from women, or whether it be he has actually created a situation in America where one in three women in America live in a Trump abortion ban state and has legal restrictions on the rights she rightly should have to make decisions about her own body.”
Trump, who was found liable in court for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her, said Wednesday at a Green Bay rally he would supposedly “protect” women, “whether the women like it or not.”
Trump’s recent comments, critics contend, reflect a pattern of disrespecting women.
For example, they say, it was in October of 2016 when the Access Hollywood tape went public — just before that year’s election — in which he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals whenever he wanted.
That tape was recorded in 2005. In it, Trump said, “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
Trump apologized for that vulgarity in a 2016 social media video, saying, “these words don’t reflect who I am.” He added, “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”
On Thursday, though, Harris and her campaign said they believe the former president’s actions and comments about women reveal exactly who he is.
Recently, Trump already was facing criticism from former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and other in the GOP for offending women with “overly masculine” comments during his campaign.
Trump said his advisers even had cautioned him against the line he used at the Green Bay rally.
Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer posted on X, “Defining line of this campaign? Trump: ‘I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not.'”
