MAULDIN, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Hillary Clinton. Nancy Pelosi. Kamala Harris. Liz Cheney. Carly Fiorina. And for now, Nikki Haley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former South Carolina governor is the latest in a long line of women \u2014 historically some of Republican Donald Trump\u2019s most stubborn challengers \u2014 for whom the former president saves a special playbook. It\u2019s centered around intimidation, combined with a now-familiar brand of vulgarity, nicknames and other insults he deploys for men, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But where he tries to emasculate his male opponents, Trump works in put-downs about the appearance of women, their emotional balance and their intelligence.\u00a0He mispronounces their names. He seemed to\u00a0confuse two politicians who are women. And he questions their right to challenge him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s nickname for Haley, a Republican who served as his own ambassador to the United Nations, is \u201cBirdbrain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho the hell was the impostor?\u201d Trump railed after the New Hampshire primary against Haley, who acknowledged his victory but has refused to drop out of the GOP presidential nomination fight. \u201cWhen I watched her in the fancy dress that probably wasn\u2019t so fancy, I said, \u2018What\u2019s she doing? We won.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley, who lost in Iowa and New Hampshire but has vowed to stay in the race through her home state\u2019s\u00a0first-in-the-South GOP primary Feb. 24, shot back that\u00a0Trump threw a \u201ctantrum\u201d\u00a0because he feels threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just that he\u2019s running against Nikki Haley,\u201d said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. \u201cIt\u2019s because she\u2019s even deigning to challenge him … He goes after women for their appearance, for their gender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, Trump has bragged about dominating women, an assumption challenged when one refuses to step aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can do anything\u201d to women when you\u2019re famous, Trump said on the\u00a0\u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape\u00a0that threatened his 2016 campaign. And yet Trump defeated Clinton with 39% of women voters casting their ballots for him. Trump\u2019s share of women voters increased in 2020 to 44%, even as he lost to President Joe Biden \u2014 in part because Biden gained support among men, according to a Pew Research Center survey of people confirmed to have voted in those elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley, for her part, has mostly taken Trump\u2019s sexism in stride. She told CNN on Sunday that he was respectful to her when she served as his ambassador to the United Nations, but now is \u201cflawed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley has carefully calibrated her candidacy as a woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She frequently references her high heels. She recalls defeating older, more powerful men on her way to the South Carolina governor\u2019s office. And she talks about the need to raise \u201cstrong girls\u201d into \u201cstrong women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That tack allows Haley to deflect Trump\u2019s aggression, hitting back with a smile and letting her supporters draw their own conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura Schroder, a 39-year-old mother of three, brought her children to see Haley recently at a Mauldin, South Carolina, rally. \u201cHe\u2019s very immature,\u201c she said of Trump, \u201dand so clearly scared to lose to powerful woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley herself makes a similar argument, such as one jab to chide Trump for refusing to debate her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan up, Donald,\u201d she says, \u201cI know you can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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