The day after Donald Trump was sworn into the office of the presidency, an event that was unthinkable by most just six months ago, hundreds of thousands of women (and some men) took to the streets to make their displeasure known. But, in the annals of mass protests, the sheer futility of the gesture is awe inspiring. To be sure they wish that Trump was not the president, but it is rather too late for that. And most of the protestors are obsessed about abortion, hence the blackballing of the pro-life anti-Trump women. But aside from that, what do these women want?
With past protests, the answer of what the intended goal was apparent. The 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King gave the “I have a dream speech” demanded civil rights for all people regardless of race. The massive anti-nuclear extravaganzas of the early 1980s demanded that there be a nuclear freeze between the United States and the Soviet Union. The massive tea party demonstrations of the early Obama years wanted the government to butt out of peoples’ lives and not spend so much money.
But it is very likely that no one of the women and their male friends attending the various marches have any idea of a particular agenda item that needs to be addressed, besides not restricting abortion of course.
They may mouth generalities about “respect” and “not be afraid” and so on. But they would not be able to name one piece of legislation, one executive decision by President Trump, that they would like to see happen.
The women seem to be taking to the streets because they find Donald Trump to be icky. This is an understandable sentiment, after the Access Hollywood tape.
Most of his supporters found that vulgar language to be off-putting as well. But they also likely are unhappy that Hillary Clinton (who must be wondering where all these women were when she needed them the most) is not the president. But how much more icky was her husband raping women and she helping to suppress his victims?
How much more icky was her trashing a 12-year-old rape victim named Kathy Shelton to get her attacker off? Would they be turning out into the streets had Clinton been sworn into office? Somehow one doubts it.
To close, one of the more charming aspects of the March is the group of women who have adopted Princess Leia as their spiritual leader. One suspects that the late Carrie Fisher would have approved. Her Highness, on the other hand, would have rolled her eyes. She was married to Han Solo, after all, a scamp who makes Trump seem tame by comparison.
On the other hand, Ashly Judd accusing Trump of wanting to commit incest upon his daughter Ivanka is even creepier than the Access Hollywood tape and just ruined whatever moral high ground these protestors claims to have had.
