‘Fat pigs’ and ‘slobs’: Trump’s history of sexist outbursts

Donald Trump’s apology for the latest in a string of controversial comments about women came as no surprise to the political strategist and fellow Republican Ana Navarro.

“He is not fit to be the president, he is not fit to be the Republican nominee, he is not fit to be called a man,” Navarro said on CNN. “How many times does he get away with saying something misogynistic before we call him a misogynist? How many times does he get away with saying something sexist before we acknowledge that he is a sexist? It is time to condemn the man.”

Navarro was not the only one to point to Trump’s long history of seemingly misogynistic comments, and while the campaign tried to regain its footing this weekend, spectators revisited some of his most appalling outbursts: “fat pigs”, “slobs” and “disgusting animals”.

Having said in the 1990s that it did not matter what the media said about him “as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass”, Trump’s attitude appears to have remained unchanged during his bid for the Oval Office. Take, for instance, his attacks on the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who grilled him over previous accusations of sexism. Trump called her a “bimbo” who was incapable of objectivity when there was “blood coming out of her whatever” – widely interpreted as a reference to her menstrual cycle.

Skin deep

Trump has regularly targeted Arianna Huffington, the editor and co-founder of the Huffington Post, as being “unattractive both inside and out”.

When the New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote about rumours of his bankruptcy, Trump sent her a copy of her own article with her picture circled and "the face of a dog!" written across it.

He has also maintained a brutal verbal campaign against comedian Rosie O'Donnell. In 2006, during an appearance on Entertainment Tonight, Trump said O'Donnell "is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she's a slob. How does she even get on television? If I were running The View, I'd fire Rosie. I'd look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, 'Rosie, you're fired.' We're all a little chubby but Rosie's just worse than most of us."

Of Angelina Jolie, Trump said: “I do understand beauty, and she’s not.” Of the break-up of actor Anna Hathaway’s marriage to Rafaella Follierei following his financial and legal troubles, he said: “So when he had plenty of money, she liked him. But then after that, not as good, right?”

Nor have Trump’s fellow politicians and their spouses been spared from the line of fire. He questioned whether anyone would vote for Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard boss and his Republican candidate rival, stating: “Look at that face? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”

There was major fallout after he insulted the appearance of Heidi Cruz, a partner at Goldman Sachs bank and the wife of his leading opponent Ted, by re-posting to Twitter a supporter's split-screen image featuring an unflattering picture of Heidi next to a shot of Trump's wife, Melania, a former model, from a GQ magazine photoshoot in 2000. "A picture is worth a thousand words," the post said.

On policy issues, Trump was forced into a quick retreat after advocating “some form of punishment” for women who had abortions if the procedure became illegal.

While Trump previously supported the pro-choice lobby, he has since said he believes individual states should be granted the right to ban the practice, except in cases of rape, incest or when the woman’s life is at stake.

– (Guardian service)