Photo: The 2017 Women’s March in Washington DC.
Reportedly, various women have, over the years, found Donald Trump to be attractive.
It’s hard to tell what exactly these women found appealing. Could have been his charming personality. Or his vast wealth.
Or something else.
Along the same vein, it’s hard to say exactly what my ex-wife Darlene found appealing about me, many years ago. It would not have been my vast wealth. Maybe my sense of humor? Or something else?
Not being a woman, I truly have very little insight into how or why a woman makes partner choices. Or political choices.
But I’m tempted to believe that women are more attracted to other women than they are to men. Whenever I see a group of women together, they typically seem to be having a grand old time, laughing and complementing each other on their choice of nail polish, or their new haircut.
No one has ever complemented me on a new haircut. Especially, not a male friend. That would be too weird.
I mentioned Donald Trump’s attractiveness for the simple reason that he’s presumably trying to appear attractive to the nation’s voters. Most of whom are women. Back in the day (1964 to be exact) men were more prone to vote than women were, by a difference of 72% vs 67%. But the odds switched in 1980, when a movie actor named Ronald Reagan ran for the Presidency, and ever since then, women have showed up at the polls in greater numbers than men. In 2020, for example, 63% of women voted compared to less than 60% of men. Plus, we have more women than men. And lately, the women are better educated.
From the League of Women Voters website:
We pulled data from the US Census and KFF to illustrate the power of women voters in 2022. The numbers indicate that women showed up to vote in overwhelming numbers. Notably, this was the year that the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion care.
American men in general don’t always vote in overwhelming numbers, because we’re often stuck choosing between the lesser of two evils.
According to a map published by the League of Women Voters, American women seem to have no problem voting for the lesser of two evils.
The turnout by women, in 2022, was particularly high in Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin; in these states, women voters participated at rates of roughly 58% to71%.
Notably, six of the twelve female governors in the U.S. were in these states. And Colorado re-elected a gay governor, which is not quite the same thing, but it’s in the ballpark.
The fact that women are willing to choose between the lesser of two evils probably helps explain why marriage even exists.
I haven’t been following the Democratic National Convention too closely, but I hear the Dems might nominate a woman as their Presidential candidate. That approach didn’t work out real well for them in 2016…
…But as my dad used to say, if at first you don’t succeed… let your wife have a go at it.
When I looked at a list of opening-night speakers for the Dem’s convention, they had a bunch of women on the roster. Maybe half of the presenters? You can easily get the impression the Democrats are looking to win the female vote in November.
But they threw us male voters a bone by including Steve Kerr, coach of the Golden State Warriors, a team that has won a bunch of NBA championships. Kerr also led the U.S. to a gold medal earlier this month at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
I don’t recall the Republicans having any basketball coaches speak at their convention.
Reportedly, the final speaker on Monday night was President Joe Biden, who stepped aside in July to let his Vice President jockey for the Democratic nomination. He stepped up to the podium following speeches by his wife, Jill, and his daughter, Ashley.
He called his daughter incredible, and said his wife Jill still leaves him speechless.
I tell you what, to my dearest daughter Ashley. God, love you. You’re incredible. Thank you for the introduction and for being my courageous heart, along with Hunter and our entire family, and especially our rock, Jill. It was those of you who know us, she still leaves me both breathless and speechless. Everybody knows her, I love her more than she loves me. She walks down the stairs, and I still get that going boom, boom, boom. You all who know me, know I’m not kidding.
Joe didn’t mention coach Steve Kerr, but I think the coach is also incredible. And pretty darn handsome.
I bet women would find him appealing, as a Presidential candidate.
Just saying.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.