Donald Trump’s sexist comments prove misogyny is alive and well

To misquote Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this is not the person people know me to be.

Many people are somewhat taken aback when they find out that really I am an idealist, and an optimist about where we are heading.

Admittedly I can be incandescent with rage at lousy cable or utility service. I yell too quickly at my kids and co-workers (I am working on that always). And I do not respond well to what I perceive as willful incompetence. Others I am sure have a much longer list.

But I thought my degeneration (I am now in my 50’s) was going to be a turning point.

I thought we were the generation when overt sexism, racism and general intolerance would abate. The overt boorishness would be done.

Sure it would not go away. But not this.

Donald’s latest outburst sadly seems to capture the ugliness that has crept in. From the YouTube video of a protester calling a black cameraman the foulest of racial slurs (he lost his job after). Or the hyper-intolerance on campuses where political correctness has now swung to a form of inverse discrimination and intolerance.

But most of all what so distresses me is that my generation of men seem to not be able to get rid of the crudest approach to women.

Gents, please. Leave that to the old pariah’s like Trump. His aggressive apology clearly signals he fundamentally does not get it. He calls it a distraction.

I have two wonderful daughters whom I believe should have the same chance of success as my wonderful son. I am married to a woman who is far superior to me in every possible way. A generation ago my wife would be viewed as a path breaker.

Today, I hope she is just viewed as what she is – a brilliant lawyer and a wonderful mother.

Trump’s argument that this was a decade ago would mean he was in his late 50’s at the time. Not some youthful indiscretion. But it is Bully Bush who is equally as troubling.

He represents the garbage misogyny of an earlier time in our generation. He was caught and now the mea culpas. But Billy you are denying this as much as Trump is. It is an age I had hoped we had left behind. An age every male should feel ashamed thrives still, as we all know.

Please, are we really not better than this?

Gelb is the director of the Washington Media Institute. Follow the Institute on Twitter @WashMediaInst

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