That Donald Trump is having a serious problem with the women’s vote should not be a surprise as he is an anachronism in his outlook towards the opposite sex.  While he has adapted to some degree, as he does employ women executives in his real estate development and marketing business, Trump is, as were many of his generation, a product of the male chauvinist mindset of the 1950’s and 60’s.

I am a few years older than Trump and during the 1960’s I was also steeped in the then-prevalent male outlook towards women.  The philosophical outlook of Playboy magazine and its founder Hugh Hefner, as well as the cultivated image of womanizing male stars in the entertainment media, was the guiding light for many of us.  Women, in general, were simply targets for conquest and notches on the belt.  They were sexual objects and thus viewed subconsciously as being inferior to men.

The feminist movement, together with the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960’s which was supposed to liberate women, exacerbated this male mindset.  Sexual conquests became routine as there was, in many cases, no thrill of the chase as far too many women were willingly seduced by the philosophy of free love.  A set of tenets was widely embraced, claiming that by flaunting their sexual freedom women would be able to shed any inhibitions and declare their independence from the oppressive hand of males.  In the end, all this accomplished, insofar as many men were concerned, was to further cement the male chauvinist mindset of women being primarily sexual objects.

Donald Trump and I began our corporate business careers at around the same time.  The primary difference being that while I began my climb up the corporate ladder on the bottom rung at the princely sum of $175 a week, Donald went to work for his father and became CEO of a $200+ million ($1.1 Billion today) real estate empire at the advanced age of 25.  The corporate business world in those days did not mirror society; rather, it was a male dominated world where chauvinism ran amok.  Within that world, the men had yet another arrow in their quiver to aid in their conquests and reinforce their outlook: positions of authority over women as virtually all women worked as either secretaries or clerks.  For those unfamiliar with those days, the closest example that comes to mind is the television series Mad Men.

During my 11 years in the corporate world, I never interfaced with women on an equal footing.  (However, I was fortunate to meet my wife of now 40 years during that period.)  I did not deal with women as equals until I established my own consulting company and started to work with various clients that were either led by female executives or were women that had begun their own businesses.  My inbred chauvinism gradually dissipated as I began to develop a genuine appreciation for the abilities, determination and outlook of all women not just those in the business world.

However, Donald Trump, as he has always been the guy at the top of the pyramid since he was in his early 20’s, has never dealt with women as equals.  Rather, thanks to his lifelong wealth as well as occupying a position of power and influence for his entire adult life, he has dwelled in a bubble essentially untouched by the changes in the world around him. 

Thus, in concert with his overweening narcissism, a part of Donald Trump may still be living in a 1960’s time warp insofar as his understanding of and relationship with women, in which women remain primarily objects of beauty and conquest.  Thus, he has boasted of how many women he has seduced, he marries a new supermodel every ten years, and he is able to talk unabashedly about women in vile and personal ways.  In his mind complimenting a woman on her physical appearance means to him not only treating her very well, but she will be so flattered that “the” Donald Trump spoke to her, so that she will be forever deferential to him in return.  If the object of the compliment is not sufficiently obsequious then the fault lies with her as an inferior and unappreciative human being.  As for women he finds unattractive, there can be no redemption for them. As with his hurtful remarks about the highly accomplished and intelligent Carly Fiorna, nothing is out of bounds that can be said about a woman who fails his criteria of desirability.  Thus his criticisms of women are often more demeaning than those directed at men.

Trump will be seventy in a few months, an age when one’s personal traits are irreversible and immutable.  There is no doubt that he is befuddled by the visceral reaction he has encountered, and the disapproval of the vast majority of the women in the country that polling reveals.  He has stepped out of his world and into a place alien to him and one he cannot control by threats, intimidation or money.  In fact during the course of this campaign he has continuously revealed not only his lack of empathy or understanding regarding women but also an abysmal knowledge of matters great and small.  The women of America see Donald Trump for who he is: inauthentic and unfit to be president of the United States.