If you're looking for a little sexist 2016 redux, tune into MSNBC when New York (m)ad man Donny Deutsch is holding forth on who can beat Donald Trump in 2020. Spoiler alert: women are doooomed!
Who does he like? Joe Biden, of course, because he's, well, manly. "I always break it down to [this]," Deutsch told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace in April, "put the guy on stage next Trump. And I love [Biden] on stage next to Trump. I love his height. I love that he threatened to get into a fist fight with Trump, and I love the gestalt—he is the ultimate anti-Trump."
Let's start our critique with, "the guy." Not the candidate, not the opponent, or god forbid, the gal. The comparison is clearly male to male. Yes, the MSNBC roundtable was discussing Biden's official entrance into the Democratic primary, but Deutsch was licking his chops at the idea of a 6-foot plus man staring down Trump with the threat of violence in his back pocket.
Anyone looked at the Democratic primary demographics lately? Oh hey, analysts expect female voters to account for 60% or more of the Democratic electorate. That's not to say that women will necessarily support female candidates. In fact, the most defining demographic feature so far this cycle across racial and gender lines is age, with many older voters (black and white) preferring Biden to other candidates. But what the high concentration of female voters does reveal is that perhaps most Democratic primary voters (i.e. women) won’t be critiquing candidates through Deutsch’s primal prism of who could take Trump out in barroom brawl. Speaking for myself personally, as a woman, there's very few things more unappealing to me than a general election dominated by two aging white men engaging in a series of testosterone-laden skirmishes.
But don't tell that to Deutsch. Like many privileged white men of a certain age, he's convinced of his rightness and he's happy to tell everyone else how it's going to go down.
Following Wednesday night's first Democratic debate, Deutsch dismissed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, along with every other candidate onstage, as unable to beat Trump. Apparently, he wasn't impressed enough by New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker's stature or the towering presence of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Sorry, fellas. But Warren drew particular concern from Deutsch.
"I also think that when you can label someone a socialist—57% of this country thinks that word is un-American," Deutsch explained, "When [Trump] can blanket Elizabeth Warren as a socialist, and he's on stage with her, the Democrats lose."
Ugh. Democrats doomed again! That Warren is really problematic—never mind the fact that she's a self-professed "capitalist to my core" with a coherent policy platform who can talk in full sentences. Deutsch just feels it in his gut. "I just don't think she has what it takes to beat this president the same way, at least an idealized version of Joe Biden is," he offered, adding, "It's just facts. We gotta get Trump out."
Facts? Fellow MSNBC pundit Lawrence O'Donnell took issue with Deutsch's overhyped assertion. "Let's just identify this for what it is—pure guesswork," O'Donnell noted. "It has—and Donny, I say this respectfully—zero value, as would any statement made by me in a similar way would have zero value."
Well, that really did it. "Don't tell me it has zero value," Deutsch retorted in a man-splaining huff. (PSA: Deutsch could have deescalated here and simply said something along the lines of, it's all guesswork at this point, that's just my best guess based on what we know now. But that would have been too conciliatory or, dare I say it—wussy!)
O'Donnell continued, "It's a wild guess, Donny."
Deutsch: "It's understanding human behavior, and I guarantee you, 90% of your audience agrees with me." (Note: Count me as part of the 10%.)
O'Donnell: "No, it's a wild guess, there's no science in it, there's nothing in it—you can put any name you want in the wild guess that you made and it doesn't make it true."
Deutsch (still not backing down): I am understanding what Donald Trump—the way he connects with this country and the strength he exudes—we need to exude a stronger strength."
Ah, there it is. Back to the manly stuff: strength, stature, fist fights, brawls, insults, jabs. KA-POW!
Personally, I've been thinking passion, vision, intelligence, drive, someone who can communicate circles around Trump, and yes, a little fight—but not in the sense of two overgrown teenage boys testing their manly mettle against each other mano a mano. Fight in the sense of someone who has enough values-driven conviction to go to mat for what they believe in. But what do I know? I’m just a woman.
Deutsch also assures us that any polling showing Warren has a chance against Trump in places like Texas and presumably, by extension, other potential battleground states, is bogus.
"When I see a poll that says Elizabeth Warren beating or even with Donald Trump in Texas, I say, 'No.'" You tell 'em, Deutsch—guesswork is golden and don't let anyone tell you different. "I love Elizabeth Warren, that’s just not true. You know it, I know it," he added, echoing eerily Trumpian syntax. "I think these polls are probably less accurate than any polls in the history of polling." I think, were probably the operative words there, in case you missed it.
Polls aren't perfect, true. But I'm going to need a little more than Deutsch's Don Draper-esque gut instincts about who's tall enough, brawny enough, and pugnacious enough to beat Trump in 2020. Let’s not get hung up on the fact that in 2018, non-incumbent female candidates widely outperformed non-incumbent male candidates, with Democratic women winning their primaries at twice the rate of their male counterparts. Forget the research showing that women of color, white women, and men of color get elected at basically the same rates as white men. Ignore the fact that in past elections, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were both deemed unelectable, or that Hillary Clinton is a singular data point in an anomalous election tainted by FBI bias and a massive Russian influence campaign. Forget about all that—thanks for injecting the worst of 2016’s anti-female punditry straight into 2020. What would the race be without a little good old-fashioned sexism?
Watch the O’Donnell-Deutsch fireworks below.