NEW YORK – While celebrating sweeping victories in five primaries Tuesday night, Donald Trump mocked the qualifications of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and suggested she was playing “the women’s card” to her advantage in the presidential race.
“Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she’s got going is the women’s card,” Trump said during a news conference at Trump Tower. “And the beautiful thing is, women don’t like her.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, who was standing behind Trump, appeared to react negatively as he made the comments.
The episode is the latest in a long line of Trump remarks widely seen as sexist or offensive toward women, and it underscores the serious difficulties Trump will face in garnering support from female voters if he is the GOP nominee.
The Clinton campaign responded early Wednesday morning with an online video showing footage of Clinton dismissing Trump’s comments on her gender during a campaign rally.
“Mr. Trump accused me of playing the ‘woman card.’ Well if fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in.’
Although women’s issues have received relatively little attention in the Republican primary, Trump’s low favorability among women nationwide reveals what would be a crucial weakness for the billionaire if he secures the nomination.
Trump doubled down on his comments Wednesday during a series of morning television interviews, dismissing critics who called the remarks sexist and instead criticizing Clinton’s tone.
“It’s not sexist. It’s true. It’s just a very, very true statement. If she were a man, she’d get 5 percent. She’s a bad candidate. She’s a flawed candidate,” Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning. “She’s not going to do very well in the election, and I look forward to showing that.
“I haven’t quite recovered, it’s early in the morning, from her shouting that message,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And I know a lot of people would say you can’t say that about a woman because, of course, a woman doesn’t shout, but the way she shouted that message was not – ooh.”
“I guess I’ll have to get used to a lot of that over the next four or five months,” he added, also saying that he expects to do well with female voters.
The real estate mogul has won women voters on average by 10 percentage points over his rivals in Republican primary contests this year, and on Tuesday, he won by more than 20 points among female voters in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
