The GOP’s latest punchline: If a woman voices her opinion, intimate partner violence is a hilarious solution.
Tony Hinchcliffe’s categorically unfunny appearance at Donald Trump’s weekend rally in Madison Square Garden leaves me wishing that whoever discovered him left him sleeping in his car behind The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. (It’s how he opens the 12-minute set.)
Most of the ensuing backlash targeted Hinchcliffe’s infantile reliance on racism as humor. But another underreported moment that caught my attention was Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce becoming “the next O.J. Simpson,” referencing Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder, widely believed to be the responsibility of her known abuser. “Feels good in here,” Hinchcliffe grinned after his quip about spousal homicide.
The joke hinges on the idea that Kelce might murder his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Hinchcliffe referenced Swift’s political endorsement of Kamala Harris immediately after this joke. His punchline: If a woman voices her opinion, intimate partner violence is a hilarious solution.
It’s an interesting stance for the so-called pro-life party to broadcast publicly. (No wonder they’re struggling with women voters.)
While Trump’s campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s clownery, JD Vance downplayed the joke: “We have to stop getting offended at every little thing. … I’m just so over it.” Vance implies that words are trivial: A joke about domestic violence is not, after all, violence.
But the collective experience of countless women—including me—who have experienced intimate partner abuse shows: We often cannot divorce words from actions. Sometimes, words are not “just words”: Verbal, emotional and psychological abuse are common precursors to physical violence. Violence against women never occurs in a vacuum and invariably stems from deeply held misogynistic attitudes—reflected in Hinchcliffe’s comedy, in “locker room talk,” in Harrison Butker demeaning women’s professional aspirations, in so many male-dominated spaces.
When we fail to condemn these attitudes, we legitimize them as a valid perspective, an “alternative point of view”—as is happening in our current sociopolitical landscape. We even codify them into law.
Vance implies that words are trivial: A joke about domestic violence is not, after all, violence.
The Trump campaign would have women believe Hinchcliffe’s comedy does not reflect its values. The facts about Trump and the modern GOP tell a different story:
- A New York jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump was later forced to pay $83.3 million to Carroll for defaming her as he lied about assaulting her.
- Despite clear evidence that firearm access by male perpetrators of domestic abuse raises the odds of femicide over 1000 percent, the right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that disarming perpetrators is a Second Amendment violation, prioritizing men’s access to lethal weapons over women’s lives. (Fortunately, the Supreme Court disagreed.)
- Republican lawmakers have opposed paid family leave, even likening it to “a summer break for adults,” despite their “pro-family” stance and the fact that their platform’s policies limiting reproductive healthcare access has led to an increase in the number of pregnancies and the need for paid leave. Lack of paid leave after childbirth disproportionately affects women, from increasing risk for serious health complications to pushing women out of the workforce.
- Republican politicians have stymied legislation to curb child marriage. Nearly 300,000 minors, 86 percent of them girls, were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018. Most were girls married to adult men. This practice exposes girls to the risk of domestic abuse; minors cannot file for divorce even if a marriage becomes abusive or enter shelters on their own, and are often financially dependent.
- Trump takes credit for the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Over 65,000 pregnancies from rape resulted in states with the strictest abortion bans after the Dobbs decision overturned federal protections for abortion access, research has determined.
- Senseless and draconian GOP policies that are not informed by nuance or medical evidence have resulted in women being criminally investigated for pregnancy loss, denied medical care for severe health complications, legal threats, even when they meet criteria for a medically necessary abortion, and death.
- Infant mortality rose nationwide post-Dobbs, research finds.
Hinchcliffe’s comedy could not reflect the current GOP’s attitude towards women and “value system” more clearly.
I’m not laughing. I’m not “so over it.” Are you?
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