A Leopard Misogynist Can't Change His Spots

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Last night, during his rambling victory speech/stream of consciousness monologue/press conference/shitshow, Donald Trump again accused Hillary Clinton of having nothing but the "woman card" going for her. He bellowed: "If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she'd get 5% of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card. And the beautiful thing is, women don't like her!"

Except for how lots and lots of women do, in fact, like her (she won female voters in Pennsylvania and Maryland last night, and probably some of the other states, though I haven't seen the numbers on those yet), and how even more women don't like him.

But Trump is certain that the misogyny angle is going to work against her, so, despite those promises to pivot and become more "presidential," he's doubling down on the misogyny, starting the day today by telling CNN that he "was running against seventeen very very capable people...and a woman," and telling MSNBC, in response to a clip of her saying "deal me in," that he's still "recovering" from her "shouting."

"I know a lot of people would say you can't say that about a woman, because of course a woman doesn't shout," Trump said. "The way she shouted that message was not—that's the way she said it, and I guess I'll have to get used to a lot of that over the next four or five months."

The reason people say that isn't because "of course a woman doesn't shout," but because women are routinely accused of shouting when they are using the same tone of voice as, say, a braggart billionaire who thinks his dick size is appropriate fodder for a presidential debate.

Trump has promised to come hard for Hillary for, basically, even acknowledging that she's a woman. It's a losing strategy, but he can't help himself, because he is an inveterate misogynist who hates and fears women.

He's going to keep accusing her of playing "the woman card," but, given that his entire campaign is an explicit appeal to white men, if there's anyone playing a gender card in this election, it's him.