Trump doesn’t hate strong women. To the contrary, he welcomes them and their valuable insight and input. However, Midler’s tweet didn’t portray her as a “strong woman,” nor did the president’s response reflect a “hatred” of such women. The panel’s conclusion reflects a profound misunderstanding of the qualities that define what it means to be a “strong” woman and completely misses the mark with respect to the president.
Understandably, the president forcefully responded to Midler’s false tweet and personal attacks. Based on this interaction, the panel concluded that Trump hates strong women.
The panel’s conclusion is illogical for several reasons. First, Trump’s reaction to Midler’s statements was based entirely on what she said, which was, in part, untrue.
Second, the panel fails to explain how the term “strong woman” is defined. Is the panel insinuating that Midler is a strong woman because she willingly tweeted out a false statement about the president and subsequently criticized the president despite knowing that the information was false? Perhaps the panel felt that Trump should have simply remained quiet, despite Midler’s unprovoked attack on his character?
The panel’s conclusion is further eroded by looking at the people whom he has hired to date. The president has a history of hiring strong, successful women to work in very high-level positions, and of working closely with them.
“At the beginning of the third year of his first term as president, Trump has seven female top advisers, as compared to five for Obama, three for Bush, and five for Clinton at that point. He had eight as of December 2018, when United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley departed the administration.
“The top advisers [were] White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, senior adviser Ivanka Trump, Director of Legislative Affairs Shahira Knight, and Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp.”
Nielsen resigned in April. Other female cabinet appointees include Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.
Trump has also nominated more women to powerful positions in recent months, including U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu for associate attorney general (though she withdrew herself from consideration) and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft for U.N. ambassador—and has announced he intends to nominate U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza as leader of the Small Business Administration, and businesswoman and diplomat Barbara Barrett as Air Force secretary.
The fact that Trump has and continues to hire top-notch women for various high-level positions reflects how much he values their personal accomplishments and trusts their abilities. He doesn’t fear or hate strong women. Rather, he welcomes them with open arms and treats them as equals.