Some members of the media were working to cast Hillary Clinton as a victim of Donald Trump’s gender-based attacks in Monday night’s presidential debate.
During the debate, Trump ditched his usual label for Clinton — “Crooked Hillary” — and instead referred to her as “Secretary Clinton” or just “secretary.” He did interject during her answers several times and attempted to speak over her when she criticized him, though that is all common in political debate settings.
Still, the left-leaning news site Vox described the event as a match between opposing genders exploited by Trump.
“Gender dynamics were always going to be a big deal at Monday’s debate,” Vox said. “It wasn’t just America’s first major party presidential debate between a man and a woman; it was this particular man and woman — Donald Trump, who typically uses bullying, hypermasculine dominance as a weapon, and Hillary Clinton, who has spent decades weathering sexist attacks in the public eye.”
The day after the debate, Clinton answered questions from a few reporters aboard her campaign airplane, including questions about how gender played a role.
“What about the way he kept interrupting [you] and the way he answered the question about gender?” one female reporter asked.
On the outcome of the debate, a New York Times editorial said Clinton “pulled it off” in part by showing she was “able to stand up to bullying.”
And a Tuesday report in Politico openly wondered if Trump was sexist in the way he addressed Clinton.
“Trump has been aggressive and crude with male debate opponents, too, and he addressed the former Cabinet secretary by her proper title throughout the sparring,” the story said. “But, going up against the first woman to take to a debate stage as a major party nominee in American history, did Trump come across as sexist?”
