Donald Trump — let’s quickly revisit his record with women

There’s no more defending Donald Trump. The would-be leader of the Free World has cemented his status as a swamp-dwelling grub.

Being a woman and speaking out in defence of Donald Trump can be a very lonely combination. Trust me, I should know.

I’ve previously used these pages to chastise Trump protesters for their undemocratic behaviour — the egg-throwing and straight-up violence towards his supporters at rallies.

I’ve tried to justify his immense popularity by highlighting his directedness on immigration and terrorism — issues that deeply concern not just Americans but everyday Australians, too.

I’ve waxed on about how much I loathed rival Hillary Clinton’s Gillardesque play of the gender card in appealing for votes.

“There’s a special place in hell when it comes to women who don’t help each other,” former secretary of state Madeleine Albright thundered when introducing Clinton in the primaries. Cue massive eye roll all the way to a desk in Sydney.

It was never about whether I thought Trump should actually be POTUS, but rather a determination to push back against the elitism that saw the Left look down their noses at someone who’d garnered the support of Middle America.

To my mind, it was the same sneering snobbery as the hysterical reaction to the Brexit vote and, closer to home, the ridicule of a re-elected Pauline Hanson.

But after the weekend’s revelations, I’m done arguing his merits.

The would-be leader of the Free World has now cemented his status as a swamp-dwelling grub of colossal proportions after being caught out on a leaked 2005 tape boasting about forcing himself on women.

As much as I detest the extreme political correctness which arguably created this monster in the first place, I can’t conscionably stand by as he talks about trying to “f. k” a married woman, kissing beautiful women without their consent and how, as a famous man, he gets away with “grab[bing] them by the pussy”.

All this while then new wife Melania was pregnant with their first child.

And his pathetic response has only compounded the situation.

He repeatedly brushes off his remarks as “locker room talk” — maintaining that line during yesterday’s second presidential debate — and in doing so, tars all men with the same misogynistic brush.

He indulges in that classic non-apology, saying sorry “if anyone was offended”, a masterful way of shifting the onus onto the person who’s taken offence.

During the second presidential debate on Monday, he swiftly deflected questions about the tape with endless repetition of the words “ISIS”, “borders” and “Hillary deleted emails” like they were going out of fashion.

Predictably, he finished off by using his scandal to launch into an attack on the Clintons.

Hours before the debate, he held an extraordinary press conference wheeling out three women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and rape, and a fourth who — as a 12-year-old sexual assault victim — had her perpetrator represented by then public defender Mrs Clinton.

But whatever you think of Hillary Clinton’s handling of those allegations over the years — and truthfully, it does make her seizing on Trump’s latest scandal more than a little rich — Bill is not the one running for president now.

The leaked tape is, of course, not the first time Trump has publicly paraded his sexism, but it is his worst display.

He wouldn’t be the first politician caught on a hot mic using vulgar language (hello, Kevin Rudd), but the most astonishing aspect is his sense of entitlement towards women, as well as his casual attitude to sexual assault and infidelity.

Indeed, senior Republican figures — seeing immediately the catastrophic effect the latest scandal will have — are withdrawing their endorsements faster than they can utter the famous Trump catchphrase, “You’re fired”.

But in case anyone out there is still prepared to rationalise the incident as somehow out of character (hello, Melania), or claim it’s overblown, or call it a distraction from the “important” issues (again, hi Melania) — because joking about assault and objectifying some 50 per cent of the population is somehow unimportant — let’s quickly revisit his record with women.

There were the creepy comments about how Trump would date his daughter, Ivanka, if he were not her father, and the constant fixation on her beauty.

The 1996 winner of his Miss Universe pageant (and let’s not even get started on that outdated dross), Alicia Machado, who revealed he’d mocked her mercilessly for gaining weight, invited media outlets to watch her work out and called her “Miss Piggy”.

The schoolyard attacks on party rivals, like Carly Fiorina, of whom he said, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” and Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi, of whom he tweeted an unflattering picture next to a glamour shot of his model wife.

Or the time he claimed Fox News host Megyn Kelly was on her period when she challenged him about past comments he’d made calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals”.

Days before the leak, there were more disclosures about Trump’s treatment of women on the set of his reality show The Apprentice, former staff members telling how he would rate women on the size of their breasts and openly discuss which ones he wanted to sleep with.

And since the tape was released, there have been yet further revelations.

CNN’s KFile conducted a review of 17 years of appearances by Trump on US shock jock Howard Stern’s radio show, revealing graphic conversations about “banging” 24-year-olds, dumping women when they reach the ancient age of 35, threesomes, cheating on his now ex-wife Ivana and bedding more Miss Universe contestants than letters in the alphabet.

So no more defending.

Today, I join those sneering snobs and state for the record: a pig like Trump isn’t fit to lead.

Caroline Marcus is a journalist with A Current Affair

Twitter @carolinemarcus9

Originally published as Donald Trump — let’s quickly revisit his record with women