In hopes of providing documented evidence in opposition to those who claim that the solution for a men’s rights movement is to simply “vote conservative” in hopes that the government will remove it’s heavy hand off the backs of men and stop funneling resources from men to women via taxation and safety nets that only women get to enjoy, I would like to catalogue an exchange in the most recent republican presidential debate, primarily between front runner Donald Trump, Jeb bush and Carly Fiorana. I will first document exactly what was said in the debate which I will post below and direct you to a timestamp of about 51:50.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8sEy7DJIZQ

The exchange starts with the moderator posing a question to Jeb bush, I will add commentary and emphasis where appropriate.

Moderator: Governor Bush you said while discussing planned parenthood;

“You’re not sure we need a half-billion dollars for women’s health issues”

Now, you’ve since said that you misspoke that you didn’t mean women’s health issues but Donald Trump said, that quote, that comment — which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately– will “haunt you the same way Mitt Romney’s 47% video will haunt him”. Tell Donald Trump why he’s wrong.

Bush answered the question as follows:



Bush: Well he’s (Trump) wrong on a lot of things but on this topic he’s wrong because I’m the most pro life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs, it’s part of who I am. Life is a gift from god and from the beginning to the end we need to respect it and err on the side of life, and so I defunded planned parenthood, we created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state monies, we were totally focused on this and we would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington D.C., so here’s solution to this, title ten of the HHS funding, there’s something that was called the Reagan rule, it was passed in 1988, and in that rule it was defined and the courts approved this, that a planned parenthood…you couldn’t separate the money between the actual abortion procedures and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor and planned parenthood did not get funding during that time until president clinton came in. When I’m elected president we will restore that interpretation of title ten and this deal will be finished.

A bit of background is appropriate here, what Bush is referencing is the 1988 Reagan rule that instituted an extended set of prohibitions regarding abortion funding stating that no organization which promoted abortion would receive any federal funding specifically with regard to Title X funds.



At this point after Jeb had finished his rebut to Trump the moderator then returned to Trump and asked him;

Moderator: The quote was; I’m not sure we need a half-billion dollars for women’s health issues… he said he misspoke, you said that that’s going to haunt him, why do you think that?

Trump responded by saying:

Trump: I think it’s a terrible statement, I think it’s going to haunt him absolutely, he came back later and he said he misspoke, there was no question because I heard when he said the statement I was watching and he said the statement and I said wow, I can’t believe it, I will take care of women, I respect women, I will take care of women, one thing I will say and..i would like to get back to the Iran question…

At this point Trump goes on a segue regarding Iran and North Korea, it is completely unrelated to the topic of republican gynocentrism so I will leave it out. But isn’t that interesting?, Trump, the front runner for the republican nomination, and by virtue of this, a potential president of the United States of America, is expressing shock and outrage that a contender would insinuate that we do not need exorbitant amounts of money to be earmarked for women’s health. He then went as far as to claim that he will “take care” of women, and that he “respects them”. It is the classic stance of the trad-con gynocentrist, that which affixes “respect” for women with “taking care” of them, because of course the belief is that they cannot and should not take care of themselves. Absent from the conversation of course is whether or not men need any taking care of, what with their higher suicide rates, and that pesky incidence of prostate cancer etc. In the utopian vision of the conservative right, men are expected to take care of themselves, and if they don’t the last thing they will get is respect from anyone…women, of course incur no such burden.

At this point bush responds.

Bush: There are 13,000 community based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country, I don’t believe that planned parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state, That’s the way you do this is you improve the conditions for people and Donald when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women, women’s income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor…

At this point trump interrupts bush numerous times and states

Trump: So why did you you say it?

Bush then states;

Bush: we increased child support for a broken system by 90%

Trump interrupted again saying:

Trump: You said you were going to cut funding for women’s health…

Over Trumps voice, Bush ended the exchange simply by insisting;

Bush: I have a proven record.

At this point candidate Scott Walker briefly inserts a small amount of commentary on the issue of defunding planned parenthood, after which the announcer chimes in and asks the only female candidate, Carly Fiorina about her reaction to Donald Trumps quotes about her appearance which are given below:

Trump: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”

Fiorina responded by stating the following;

Fiorina: “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,”

At this point the audience, and from what it sounded like, mostly women erupted in thunderous applause.

Trump meekly offered the following in response:

Trump “I think she’s got a beautiful face and she’s a beautiful woman.”

We are led to believe by many in the men’s rights community that women only practice identity politics via the left, but I think the thunderous applause she received is a harbinger of things to come. No political party, republicans and democrats alike can afford to alienate women, and I feel we are beginning to see the inklings of what will become an astounding amount of deference paid to women by conservative candidates and politicians. A few days after the debate trump spoke at a local Iowa high-school homecoming where he was quoted as saying that women are “far superior to men”