-By Gary Krasner
This will not be a defense of Trump’s private comments about women. The ultimate point will be that it’s not dispositive of how he will govern.
Indeed, it merely reflects a personal attribute that was shared by other presidents, including JFK and Bill Clinton.
Is it a common attribute? Yes. Just watch the first episode of the first season of the comedy, Key and Peele on Comedy Central.
This hilarious sketch is located at the 2 min, 47 sec mark of this video:
It illustrates how men feel giddy recounting how dominant they supposedly are in their marriages.
But ironically, at the same time, it shows how terrified they are that their spouses might be able to overhear them talking like that. And the great lengths to undertake to prevent that.
The word they’re most afraid of uttering too loudly is “bi-ch.” But to place their vulgarity (and Trump’s) in proper context, is to understand why vulgarity is used.
While what Trump said isn’t universal, It’s true of many men that when they’re not in the company of women, there’s a lot of bragging about their sexual prowess.
This competition reveals a lot of suppressed resentment against women. And it surfaces, with the vulgar terms, because men are dependent on women for sex, and women can deny them sex.
Indeed, you heard Trump describe how he tried and failed to have sex with that TV host.
So the private trash talking of women is a sort of catarrhal release of male frustrations in their relationships with women, in addition to the competition to show they’re an alpha male.
And women have their own version of this, albeit for different reasons, but which can be equally denigrating towards men.
In the comedy sketch, you see examples that Key and Peele are very attentive to the needs of their wives, despite (or because of?) the fact that they’re kept on a short leash.
So this trash talking does no tangible harm to anyone, and in fact, may be a means to enhance their self esteem amid the daily compromises required in a marriage.
That’s not to say that what Trump said is laudatory. Far from it. He’s never portrayed himself as a sensitive gentleman or a heroic figure. Far from it.
But it WAS a private conversation in which he had a right to expect privacy. So we should ignore the handwringing among pols and media, who are slaves to political correctness and feminist ideology.
The problem with Trump isn’t his alpha male persona (unless you have a personal relationship with him). it’s his ignorance of law and public policy.
Here’s a video of Bill Clinton groping an aid before realizing he’s being recorded.
For 30 years, his wife threatened to destroy women who might come forward to harm his political career (and hers apparently).
Those who live in glass houses . . .