What specific misogynistic remarks has Donald Trump made about women over the years?
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Executive summary
Donald Trump has repeatedly made vulgar, demeaning and sexualized comments about women over many years — from the 2005 “grab them by the pussy” remark reported on the Access Hollywood tape [1] to recent public insults calling female reporters “piggy” and labeling journalists “ugly, both inside and out” [2] [3]. Media retrospectives and lists catalog scores of such statements — including calling Rosie O’Donnell “fat” and a “pig,” mocking women’s appearances, and reposting crude sexual jokes about opponents like Kamala Harris — documenting a long pattern of misogynistic language [4] [5].
1. A long, documented pattern: repeated insults, sexual boasts and appearance attacks
Reporting and compilations across outlets show a consistent pattern: Trump has demeaned women by insulting appearance (“fat,” “ugly”), making crude sexual boasts (the Access Hollywood “grab them by the pussy” tape), and attacking individual women — e.g., Rosie O’Donnell — with terms such as “fat little Rosie” and “pig” [1] [4]. Outlets like Time and lists in magazines chronicle dozens of such remarks over decades, framing them not as isolated incidents but as recurring behavior [1] [4].
2. Targeting female journalists: public humiliation as a tactic
In late 2024 and early 2025 coverage, multiple instances show Trump directing slurs at female reporters: on Air Force One telling Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to be “quiet, piggy,” berating ABC’s Mary Bruce as a “terrible” reporter, and calling New York Times journalist Katie Rodgers “a third rate reporter” and “ugly, both inside and out” on social platforms [2] [3]. News outlets interpret these acts as deliberate public humiliations that both silence and delegitimize female journalists [2] [3].
3. Political opponents and sexualized smear campaigns
Reporting shows Trump has used misogynistic tropes against female political rivals. He has employed crude sexual innuendo aimed at Vice President Kamala Harris — at times amplifying material that suggested she “spent her whole damn life down on her knees” — and used gendered slurs about figures such as Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton [5] [6]. Foreign Policy and opinion outlets describe these as both personal attacks and a campaign strategy to portray women as unfit or morally compromised [6] [5].
4. How mainstream outlets and critics frame these remarks
Major outlets and commentators place the comments in a historical and cultural frame: Time calls the Access Hollywood tape a defining example of Trump’s objectification of women and argues his language amplified broader misogynist norms [1]. The BBC and others note the pattern stretches back before his presidency and that his gendered language is often used to diminish women’s authority [7].
5. Supporters’ and defenders’ responses — an alternative viewpoint
Some pro-Trump voices and women in his coalition argue his quips are political banter or irrelevant to policy and that critics over-emphasize rhetoric at the expense of governance issues (available sources do not mention specific pro-Trump quotes defending every listed remark). The BBC reported some conservative women saying there are “more important issues than the president’s remarks,” indicating public disagreement about the significance of the insults [7].
6. Potential impacts and expert concerns cited by reporters
Coverage warns of social consequences: commentators and experts quoted in Newsweek and opinion pieces say high-profile misogynistic speech can normalize aggressive language toward women and potentially embolden similar behavior across society [3]. Critics argue that repeated public demeaning of women by a leader has downstream effects beyond the targeted individuals [3] [1].
7. Limitations and sourcing note
This summary draws only on the provided reporting: lists of quotes and incidents (Cosmopolitan, SELF), retrospective analyses (Time, BBC), contemporaneous news stories about recent insults (The Independent, Newsweek), and commentary on campaign attacks (Foreign Policy, MSNBC opinion). Exact wording and context of many statements are preserved in those pieces; for quotes or incidents not cited above, available sources do not mention them and are therefore not asserted here [4] [1] [2] [3] [7] [6] [5].
If you want, I can compile verbatim quotes and dates from these sources into a chronological list with direct citations to each item.