Ahead of Trump’s speech formally accepting his nomination at the Republican National Convention, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked Manafort how the campaign will handle the gender dynamic in attacks on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Manafort responded that many women may respond to Trump because they are worried about their husbands’ paychecks supporting their lifestyles.
“Many women feel they can’t afford their lives, their husbands can’t afford to be paying for the family bills,” Manafort said. “Hillary Clinton is guilty of being part of the establishment that created that problem. They will hear the message. As they hear the message, that’s how we will appeal to them.”
Matthews, who became renowned during the 2008 campaign for his own sexist commentary on Clinton, seemed appalled. “Is that 21st century talking? Wives are concerned about how their husbands are doing at work?”
“Because they can’t afford their lives anymore. That’s the point. For some people, it’s about jobs,” Manafort said. He also noted that he could “speak personally” to the issue of wives being upset at their husbands’ income.
Manafort may not realize it, but women make up about half the labor force, and have contributed millions in GDP since they began entering the workforce. In fact, in about 38 percent of heterosexual marriages, women make more than their husbands. Yet working women still make significantly less than men overall, and that gap has grown in recent years.
Manafort made another sexist blunder after Melania Trump’s plagiarized campaign speech. Rather than admit the speech had been plagiarized, the campaign manager argued that the only reason the story was spreading was because Hillary Clinton felt “threatened” by another woman and wanted to “take her down.”
Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org/
Author: Aviva Shen
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