On Tuesday of this week, less than a month after the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment becoming part of the United States Constitution, data scientist Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight shared two graphics on Twitter that showed what the outcome of this year’s Presidential election would look like if the votes were separated between just men and just women. Not surprisingly, the graphic depicting just female voters showed Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide, with 458 electoral votes for Clinton and 80 electoral votes for Trump, whereas the graphic depicting only male voters indicated Trump would receive 350 electoral votes to Clinton’s 188. Minutes after Silver tweeted both graphics, Trump supporters lost their minds on social media by calling for a repeal of the 19th Amendment, otherwise known as women’s right to vote, with the hashtag #RepealThe19th. That’s right, it’s perfectly acceptable in their minds to take away a woman’s right to vote so long as the dang liberals don’t take their guns. The circus that is this election has just reached “freak show” status; so very wrong on so very many levels.
The most recent, all-inclusive election polls show Clinton leading Trump, but to his supporters, and Trump himself, that particular scientific data is nothing more than “typical liberal media slant” and doesn’t prove a thing. His camp does, however, believe Silver’s graph matters most because it’s his first favorable “poll” since news of Trump’s own assertions he has sexually assaulted numerous women over the years broke. A tape revealing some of his alleged behavior was released just days before the second presidential debate, in which Trump seemed to be having a rapidly escalating breakdown; he lurked, sniffed, averted, insulted, interrupted, complained, whined and lied for 90 minutes before claiming the debate was rigged (again) and declaring himself the winner.
In response to Silver’s graph, Trump’s son Eric sent a fundraising email that included the male-only chart and wrote, “But the mainstream media are doing everything they can to prop up Crooked Hillary and downplay the incredible Donald Trump surge happening across the nation. We need your help to continue funding our aggressive ad blitzes and our campaign’s get-out-the-vote operation. We’re making huge gains against Crooked Hillary that you can see for yourself. We’re not just winning national polls like L.A. Times/USC and Rasmussen, we’re beating back the increasingly desperate Dems in the battleground states, too.” No, Eric, you’re not because, you see, women are allowed (encouraged even!) to VOTE, and you are simply (and I mean very, very simply) referencing a male-only poll.
The sheer hypocrisy in the hashtag itself is almost too much to take. Especially considering the fact it hasn’t even been 100 years since us women folk were given access to one of our most important and fundamental human rights. Even more unbelievable is the idea certain members of the conservative right find it fitting, acceptable even, to strip women of their rights, as long as no one encroaches on any of theirs like, you know, their right to own guns, say what they want under the guise of free speech, et al. (Though again, hate speech isn’t the same as free speech and is NOT protected by the First Amendment, just so we’re clear.) Quite frankly, I’m actually a bit surprised Trump supporters even know there are more than just two Amendments to the Constitution, but that’s a post for another time.
Following are just a few of the #RepealThe19th tweets in all their misogynistic glory:
- “men and women are exactly the same. women just whine and complain 10x more than men do. #repealthe19th” – Martin Ditchdigger (@aburbeconditax)
- “Women are not fit for politics. #RepealThe19th” – Reichsführer Pepe (@smugpepe1488)
- “Give out nice enough handbags and most broads would gladly trade their voting rights for one. #repealthe19th” – Michael Maier (@mmaier2112)
- “This is why we need to repeal and not replace the 19th amendment. #RepealThe19th” – David McCall (@WoodrowMelkin)
- “men should never have given women the right to vote. #RepealThe19th” – Haunted Holly (@HollyAnswers) *And yes, this was written by a woman.
*It’s only fair to provide the names and handles of these users, as they’ve deemed it appropriate to make their views public.
Though the ridiculous hashtag has gained some steam on Twitter, the number of users who find it as absurd as it is have managed to outnumber these hateful nitwits, with millions of tweets being shared in support of equality, civil rights and a society that no longer degrades and disgraces women. It doesn’t make this any less sad, though. The idea that we are living in a free country and THIS is what it’s seemingly come to is just plain shameful. How about all the men who so vehemently hate women leave the country and start their own ‘Lord of the Flies’ community elsewhere instead, maybe see how that works out? I mean, isn’t that always the go-to line? “If you don’t like it here, leave?” This country doesn’t belong to men (it never has!) It belongs to ALL of us free individuals. Every last one of us.
Deal with it.
Sources:
Trump Supporters Want To Take Away Women’s Right To Vote
Trump Fans Are Now Saying They Want To Stop Women From Voting With #RepealThe19th
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