Jeb! Bush does not seem sure of what he disapproves of more: Donald Trump’s general habit of insulting people and insufficient “level of decorum,” or the fact that Trump’s insults give Hillary Clinton the chance to “enhance her victimology status.”
Bush was responding to Trump’s elegant turns of phrase that, in losing the Democratic primary in 2008, Clinton “got schlonged” and that Clinton’s late return to Saturday night’s debate from a bathroom break was “disgusting, I don't want to talk about it.” This gave Bush the chance to trot out his stock lines about Trump being “the chaos candidate” and “not serious.” But he also had thoughts about Clinton’s likely response, and while his is a different breed of sexism from Trump’s, it’s not not sexism:
“She’s great at being the victim. This will enhance her victimology status. This is what she loves doing. Trump is not going to be president because he says these things, it turns people off. For crying out loud, we’re two days before Christmas. Lighten up, man.”
Q: is saying someone was "schlonged" not victimizing language?
"I’m saying that she will use this in a way that won’t be helpful to our cause. I’m concurring with the question.”
Okay, yes, Bush characterized Trump’s language as inappropriate and lacking decorum. But boy was he eager to talk about how Clinton would “love” “being the victim” in response. Every woman loves to have headlines talking about how she “got schlonged” and about the length of her bathroom breaks. And that was Bush’s real takeaway: Trump’s gonna Trump and that is bad, but in this case it’s mostly bad because it allows Hillary Clinton to claim some kind of unearned victim status that will be bad for Republicans.
Pardon me for thinking that’s not the most inspiringly egalitarian reason to be annoyed by rank misogyny.