It’s no longer shocking when Donald Trump says gross things, and smiles as he does so, so I am not sure why people are shocked that he gleefully repeated to 5,000 people, what one of his fans shouted at a rally yesterday — that Ted Cruz is a pussy. Actually, I don’t think people really are shocked as many folks say they are, but playing that up allows them to feel good about covering the story, ironically making those covering the story much like Trump who also feigned horror and surprise when he repeated the claim.
So if it’s not surprising, and I think most people understand what’s really going on here, why write about this? Because I think that something else — something far uglier — is going on here and it’s important to notice, especially if like me, you don’t often think about it.
I am not a big proponent of the generalized claim of an ongoing “war on women” being waged by Republicans, but this is one of those moments when I wonder about a deep, if not fully conscious, hostility to whatever one deems feminine, on the part of far more people than is often appreciated. I get that my admission will mark me a knuckle-dragging misogynist to some, and my concern about this issue today will mark me as a hyper-sensitive Trump basher to others. I don’t think I am either of those, and the fact my take may rile up folks on either end of cultural-political spectrum, makes me pretty sure that I am onto something which demands all of out attention.
Of course, I could explain how this is simply one more chapter in a long story of Donald Trump’s expressing hostility and contempt for women and symbols of womanhood. Calling women pigs, the “blood from her wherever” line directed at Fox News’ Megan Kelley, etc. There is nothing new here, and yet there is something larger here. It’s not only about Trump. It’s about all of us.
Calling someone a pussy is not offensive because it’s considered by some to be a sexually charged “dirty” word. In fact, one can imagine settings, presumably more intimate, in which the same word can beautiful. It’s offensive because it turns a powerful symbol of female anatomy into an insult and a curse. And in this case, an act of self-loathing as well, as it was a woman who used the phrase. Frankly, I am not sure which is more dangerous — men using the word or women using it — but either way, this is one of those moment when regardless of politics, we need to raise our voices.
I don’t expect Trump to apologize — he’s not big on apologizing, for anything. Nor do hope that other candidates use the moment to attack Trump. Frankly, expressions of outrage only strengthen him and his supporters, who can best be understood as the “anger and outrage vote”. The more outrageous he is, the more they like it.
I would hope however that every other person running for the nomination, from whatever party, would seize the moment as one around which all people — regardless of their positions on choice/life, equal pay laws, or any other issues which focus on woman even as they effect us all — would speak up about human dignity, women’s dignity, and about how the words we use, shape how we see and how we treat our daughters, wives, mothers and sisters.
This is not a Republican-Democrat thing, this is woman thing and this is a human thing. Let’s see if anyone covers it that way. Oh wait, The Wisdom Daily just did!

Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”