Former US labor secretary Robert Reich says the Trump administration is fueling a culture of misogynistic impunity, linking it to a lawsuit against Cornell University and a surge in online sexist abuse.
Cornell lawsuit and the climate of sexism
Last month, a young woman sued Cornell University, alleging that two years ago the university failed to protect her from being raped by seven men at a fraternity house near campus. She also sued the fraternity. The lawsuit has plunged the university into a crisis and invited criticism of district attorney Matthew Van Houten, who decided there wasn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges.
Reich writes that we can only guess why neither Cornell nor Van Houten did more, but there's little question that we're living through a time when men feel some impunity when it comes to attacking women. He notes that violence against women is hardly new, nor is the impunity some men feel, but the man now occupying the White House has contributed to a lower and more dangerous standard.
Trump's record and the manosphere
Reich points to Trump being found in civil court to have sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll, his insults toward female journalists and politicians, and his caught-on-microphone boasts about groping women. When women have spoken out, he has resorted to smear campaigns, as with Carroll, Stormy Daniels, and Hillary Clinton, and has exploded in anger against Megyn Kelly, Rosie O'Donnell, Kamala Harris, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Reich describes the administration as the most belligerently misogynistic of any in memory, citing equating testosterone with strength, a cage match on the White House lawn, firing senior female officials, and accusing Democrats of being run by "a bunch of childless cat ladies." He also notes that Trump, JD Vance, and Elon Musk inhabit the "manosphere," where the main events are dominance and submission.
Surge in online abuse and cronies' records
An implicit promise of the 2024 Trump campaign was to restore patriarchy, Reich says, noting that 54% of men supported Trump. After his re-election, sexist and abusive attacks such as "your body, my choice" surged across social media, according to an analysis from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
Reich highlights that many of Trump's cronies have been accused of sexual misconduct. Dana White, who introduced Trump at the Republican convention, was caught on tape slapping his wife. Pete Hegseth paid off a woman accusing him of sexual assault and has championed "high-T" men. SpaceX reportedly paid $250,000 to a flight attendant who said Musk exposed himself to her. Mark Zuckerberg called for more "masculine energy" in the corporate world.
Extradited Tates and the authoritarian hierarchy
The Trump regime smoothed the way for Andrew and Tristan Tate to be extradited from Romania to the US. The Tates had been accused of luring women to Romania and forcing them to work as pornographic webcam performers; Britain is also investigating them for rape and human trafficking. They have denied all charges. Tate has said, "I'm a Trump fan because I'm a man."
Reich argues that Trump's authoritarian manosphere is organized around a hierarchy topped by heroic male warriors, with women relegated to subservient roles. Anything challenging traditional male roles is seen as a threat, leading to Trump's executive order limiting recognition of sex to that assigned at birth and potentially withholding federal funding from programs acknowledging transgender people.
Reich cautions against oversimplifying, noting that male domination is hardly the only characteristic uniting Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Kennedy Jr, Musk, and the tech bros, and that misogyny is not unique to authoritarian men. He does not presume to know what happened at the Cornell fraternity house, but sees it as related to a climate of distrust bordering on hate fostered by Trump and his administration against people who seem weak or feminine.
