New Trump Video Is Very Classy, Features Hillary Barking Like A Dog

by Laurel Raymond Mar 16, 2016 3:55 pm

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump describes how he was ready to punch a person who rushed the stage during an election rally earlier in the day, as he speaks to a crowd in Kansas City, Mo.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a new video that purports to attack Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy credentials. But instead of criticizing the Democratic presidential candidate’s policy proposals, her talking points, or her record as first lady, senator, or secretary of state, the video tries to make her a joke by showing her out of context, barking like a dog.

The video, posted on Trump’s Instagram, begins with a martial drumbeat and a video of Vladimir Putin wrestling. It cuts to a jihadi, and then to a clip of Hillary Clinton barking. It follows that with a clip of Putin chuckling. “We don’t need to be a punchline!” it concludes.

The ad may seem like a joke, but it also plays on the barrage of sexist commentary focusing on Clinton’s voice. Just last night, during Clinton’s victory speech, male pundits responded by tweeting that she was “shouting angrily” and just needed to “smile.”

That wasn’t the first time Clinton’s been faced with gender-coded language about her voice — far from it. In February, a Morning Joe segment gave an example of almost every sexist trope applied to Clinton, saying that Clinton struggled to overcome her opponent in the Democratic primary Bernie Sanders because she “shouts” too much, because she was “screaming,” acting “unnatural,” and being “feisty.” In the 2008 campaign, Clinton was called “shrill” and compared to a “nagging wife” because of her voice.

The sexism in the 2008 campaign coverage was so bad that the Women’s Media Center drew up a guide for gender neutral coverage of female politicians for reporters. Where women are called “shrill” or “nagging,” the guide lays out, men are called “determined.” Feisty is another alarm-bell, because it is “normally reserved for individuals and animals that are not inherently potent or powerful.” Even coverage of the appearance of female candidates is suspect — because while describing what a female candidate is wearing has become a journalistic trope (such as the extensive commentary on Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits), for men, it’s not usually mentioned. This has real consequences: Research has shown that even a neutral description of a female candidate’s appearance hurts her chances.

Although Trump’s new ad doesn’t say any of these things outright, it builds on a well-laid groundwork of coded language and sexist criticism of his political opponent. Kicking off the video with the extreme masculine symbolism of Putin’s bare-chested wrestling just ups the ante.

The actual clip comes from a rally in Nevada, where Clinton referenced a political ad on the radio from her days in Arkansas.

As we keep seeing this woman parading around, this woman is a little too much – she should retire with her billions and make more billions with her comedy routine barking like a dog.  She probably would be a lot  more successful than she has been by pushing that red button in Moscow with Russia or saying that a video caused Benghazi.  Time to close the curtain on the Clinton and Bush act  called, distribution of America’s wealth – One World Order.

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