Why Outspoken Women Scare Trump
In CNN’s tumultuous town hall last week with Donald Trump, the most jarring moment was the most revealing.
For many viewers, an especially discordant exchange came when some of the New Hampshire Republicans in the studio audience laughed and cheered as the former president disparaged E. Jean Carroll, the woman who, just a day earlier, had won a $5 million civil jury verdict against him for sexual abuse and defamation.
[E. Jean Carroll interviews: ‘I moved on her very heavily’]
In part, the laughter demonstrated the strength of Trump’s grip on his supporters. But the reaction also displayed something discussed much less often: how much of the GOP coalition is resistant to more assertive roles in society for women, which has produced, among other things, more frequent and visible accusations of sexual impropriety against men.
The stunning laughter when Trump belittled Carroll underlined how for many Republican voters, skepticism about women’s claims of
