How Trump's America Is Normalizing Violence Against Women (trigger warning)

How Trump’s America Is Normalizing Violence Against Women (trigger warning)
PUBLISHED 4/28/2025 by Rita Smith

Trump’s presidency has turned the fight against violence toward women into a political battleground—protecting abusers, punishing survivors and dismantling decades of progress.


A protester holds a homemade sign that says, "Trump is Not America" An attendee of a protest against Donald Trump’s 74th birthday outside Trump International Tower in Manhattan on June 14, 2020. (Ira L. Black / Corbis via Getty Images)

Under Trump’s America, violence against women isn’t just ignored—it’s become a deliberate political strategy. Powerful men accused of abuse are actively protected and celebrated by the Trump administration, while survivors and those who stand up for them are punished and silenced. (Just look at the attacks and public shaming Christine Blasey Ford had to endure after courageously coming forward with her sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.) From legal interventions and judicial appointments to funding cuts, Trump has systematically dismantled protections for women and emboldened those who harm them. For years, the fight to protect survivors wasn’t a political issue—it was about basic safety and justice. It was bipartisan common sense. I’ve worked with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to pass and reauthorize critical survivor protections like the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act and the Violence Against Women Act because the right to safety should never be a partisan issue. But today, that consensus is being dismantled.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration pressured Romania to release Andrew and Tristan Tate, despite their human trafficking and rape charges. The brothers are notorious promoters of rape culture, and Andrew Tate has been banned from almost every social media platform for his extremist misogynistic rhetoric, including blaming women for their own sexual assaults and claiming that women become their husbands’ property after marriage. (Initially, Andrew Tate was banned multiple times from Twitter, but Elon Musk reinstated his account when he took over Twitter, now X, in 2022.) Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—no stranger to hard-right politics—publicly denounced their return. Yet Trump brought them back to the U.S. as symbols of his alignment with male grievance politics.
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But why normalize violence against women? Because just as MAGA wants you to believe that all immigrants are dangerous criminals, they also need to frame white men as the real victims of gendered violence. But MAGA’s white male victimhood narrative collapses under the weight of reality. A recent national study found that 90 percent of women disclosed experiencing multiple instances of sexual assault, and 60 percent reported assaults that met the FBI definition of rape. Research also reveals that one in four women experience rape or sexual assault during their college years. With about 94 percent of perpetrators being male, the long-neglected epidemic of violence against women implicates men directly, something MAGA cannot accept. When powerful men accused of abuse are protected, it signals that survivors do not matter. When convicted domestic abusers are given their guns back, it emboldens those who seek to harm women. When domestic violence programs are dismantled, it leaves survivors with nowhere to turn. These are not isolated incidents—they are part of a calculated effort to erode protections for women and normalize violence.

This is not new. During his first term, Trump rolled back Title IX protections for sexual assault survivors, appointed judges hostile to women’s rights, and excused or defended men accused of sexual violence, including himself—by callously dismissing without evidence accusations as “hoaxes.” Trump’s return to power has only escalated this pattern, turning what was once a dog whistle into a governing philosophy.This is not normal. This is a crisis. We are becoming a nation where it is even harder for a woman to escape violence. A nation that shields abusers poses a threat to everyone—not just women and girls. Whether you’re an advocate, a survivor or simply someone who values basic safety, your voice is needed now more than ever. Silence is not neutrality; it’s complicity. We must speak out, organize, and fight back today because women’s lives depend on it.

https://msmagazine.com/2025/04/28/trump-violence-against-women-pete-hegseth-politics/