On a recent episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers—along with comedian, writer and Late Night correspondent, Amber Ruffin—discussed a recent Trump tweet regarding the 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which officially secured women’s right to vote.
In the tweet, Trump exclaims he has “done more for WOMEN than just about any President in HISTORY.”
In response, Meyers phoned Ruffin, via Zoom video call (Late Night continues to do new shows from home due to the coronavirus) to discuss one question: Has Trump really done more for women than “any American president in history”?
According to Ruffin: Yes. Trump is “correct.” She takes Trump’s words and, over a catchy soundtrack, lists all the things Trump has done for women.
When questioned by Meyers during the piece, she said:
“He didn’t say he’s done good things for women. He just said ‘no president has done more.’ And he’s right. No president has done more for women—to make our lives worse!”
The following is a word-for-word listing of all the things Trump, as well as his administration, has done for women, as presented by Amber Ruffin:
- “Cut funding for women’s health“
- “Undermined equal pay laws“
- “Eliminated child care for military families“
- “Undermined civil rights laws“
- “Blocked Planned Parenthood funding“
- “Weirdly obsessed with being mean to Rosie O’Donnell“
- “Reversed college campus sexual assault guidelines“
- “Cheated on [all three of] his wives“
- Said (in the infamous Access Hollywood tape):
- “I don’t even wait”
- “When you’re a star, they let you do it”
- “You can do anything”
- “Grab em by the p****”
- Call particular woman:
- Called his daughter “HOT“
- “Disbanded the White House Council on Women and Girls.”
- Ruffin jokes, “I mean, that is bad but, if you think about it, I would rather there not be a room full of women and girls in the White House when he’s there. Nothing good can come of that.”
- “Worked with a foreign government to undermine America’s first female presidential candidate”
- “Spread rumors that a female VP candidate isn’t eligible to run (She super is!)”
- “Did his best to destroy the USPS so she won’t get elected”
Ruffin capped off the segment with one last thing Trump has done “for women,” which she described like the end credits of a very sad movie over her dancing and drinking a glass of (presumably) tequila:
“Trump reversed a 2014 law that forced federal contractors to comply with Labor and Civil Rights Laws. Without the law, women who complain of sexual harassment or discrimination can be forced into arbitration. That means they can’t take their complaints to a public forum. Like the courts.
“And S#@! like this really took some years off my life. He truly hates women in an incredible way. To willingly take away a lot of our physical and social and legal safety like this only means one thing:
“THIS MAN IS A TOTAL SEXIST”
The video ends with Ruffin pointing to the screen and singing “That’s what he did!”
Amber Ruffin Could Be On To Something
While Ruffin has always spoke of her distaste for Trump and his administration (like Trump’s lynching comments, or his claim that ingesting bleach can “cure the coronavirus”), support for Trump among women voters has taken a huge dip over the last three years.
The feminist factor—the proportion of voters who self-identify as feminists—is stronger than at any time in the past and is driving the gender gap to become a gulf, and some analysts say, a canyon.
And according to recent CNN exit poll data, “white women both with and without a college degree shifted 13 points in the Democratic direction from 2016-2018.”
For the entirety of his career as a businessman, an entertainer and as a politician, Trump has consistently showed his lack of care for women and their rights, safety, abilities and overall humanity.
If voting rates and turnout among women go beyond the last presidential election and are the highest ever reported—in 2008 as 65.5 percent—then the gender gap and feminist factor’s impact on the outcome of the 2020 elections will likely be even larger than in 2018 or past presidential elections.
