Trump wanted to build an anti-#MeToo Cabinet — but it’s backfiring badly

While this was never explicitly stated, one of Donald Trump’s most obvious campaign promises to his mostly-male fan base was that he could bring American women to heel. From threats to “protect” women “whether the women like it or not” to his tour of “manosphere” podcasts to bemoaning the supposed victimization of convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, the message of Trump ’24 was simple: In his presidency, women will shut up and make you a sandwich. Like most Trump promises, whether spoken out loud or just implied, it was a lie. But as soon as he won the election, Trump tried to create the appearance of a new era of misogynist triumph by nominating Cabinet members credibly accused of rape and other forms of sexual misconduct. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz was nominated as attorney general, despite a federal investigation into allegations of sex trafficking. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is still up to lead Health and Human Services, despite evidence that he once sexually assaulted a babysitter. Billionaire donor Elon Musk got a presidential advisory committee, despite multiple accusations of sexual harassment. Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon was picked for education secretary, despite accusations that she ignored the sexual abuse of minors who worked as “ring boys” at WWE events. 

The case that’s currently dominating the news cycle, however, is that of Pete Hegseth. Trump, in maximum-troll mode, selected this Fox News pretty boy to run the Defense Department, the nation’s largest employer, with nearly 3.5 million enlisted and civilian personnel. It was swiftly revealed that Hegseth had settled out of court with a woman who accused him of rape in 2017. In recent days, we’ve learned about repeated adulteries, sexual harassment at his veterans’ organization, and a 2018 letter from his mother accusing him of being an “abuser of women.”  As I reported on Monday, Hegseth, who is now on his third marriage, belongs to a Christian nationalist church that preaches an extreme form of female submission. 

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As Leigh Gilmore, the author of “The #MeToo Effect: What Happens When We Believe Women,” told the New York Times, this kind of backstory is “appealing” to Trump, because “it normalizes his own behavior.” Trump has been accused of sexual abuse or harassment by more than two dozen women, and was found liable for sexual assault in a civil trial last year. He almost certainly thinks that nominating someone like Hegseth is a winner with much of his base, especially the loud online contingent of men who constantly gripe about feminism. But this pro-creep agenda has already begun to backfire on Trump, weakening him politically weeks before he’s even sworn into office. 

Gaetz’s nomination barely lasted a week before he was forced to withdraw. Although his swift resignation from Congress gave Republicans an excuse not to release a House ethics report on the sex trafficking allegations, details leaked out, including multiple eyewitness accounts that Gaetz allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old during an orgy. As I write this, Hegseth is still up for the Pentagon job, but reports are swirling that Senate Republicans are putting pressure on Trump not to make them vote on his confirmation. The Washington Post reports that Trump is interviewing potential replacements, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It’s grown so dire for Hegseth that his team trotted his mother out on Fox News for a humiliating display, in which she claimed she didn’t mean all those things she said in 2018, even though her accusations appear to be corroborated by numerous other sources. 

The pushback from Senate Republicans is growing louder, though most of them are still giant cowards who funnel their concerns through Democrats. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Wednesday that five to 10 Republicans are holding out and said, “I’d be surprised if we’re still talking about Pete Hegseth on Monday.” That is definitely not pleasing to Trump, who prefers it when Republicans are loudly slobbering on his boots and swearing eternal devotion. Trump wants to rule by fear but understands that approach has limits, as he demonstrated by dumping Gaetz barely a week after nominating him.

Some Trump opponents have worried that Gaetz was a “sacrificial lamb” and that Senate Republicans wouldn’t press their luck by challenging other nominees. But the clamor over Hegseth on Capitol Hill suggests the opposite: Republicans know that Trump is deeply afraid of being seen as a loser, which means he can be manipulated: The best way to save face and avoid public humiliation is to withdraw these patently terrible nominees before they face a confirmation hearing. 

Hegseth certainly seems to believe his nomination is on the rocks, and not in a “10th whiskey at a Louisiana strip club” way. He went on Megyn Kelly’s hyper-MAGA show Wednesday to plead his case, insisting that he’s being “Kavanaughed,” a reference to the contentious 2018 confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of an attempted rape decades earlier: 

Pete Hegseth tells Megyn Kelly that he’s being “Kavanaughed” and says the allegations against him are “made up” (is he talking about the rape allegation he paid a settlement to hush up, or the email his mom wrote calling him out for his abusing behavior, or … )

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 4, 2024 at 1:07 PM

That’s likely smart politics from Hegseth, because Trump clearly believes that pushing Kavanaugh onto the court, despite the fact that most Americans believed the allegation, was one of his greatest political triumphs. But Hegseth also talked out of both sides of his mouth, claiming, on one hand, that the poorly defined allegations against him are “made up” while also admitting to “kernels of truth.” That gets at the heart of why the Kavanaugh hearings have become heroic mythology in the MAGA world. The Trumpist anger isn’t over “false” accusations — it’s anger that women have any right to make accusations, regardless of the truth. To complain about being “Kavanaughed” is to express outrage that women are allowed to speak up at all. 

That message no doubt resonates with Trump, who has played similar games around his own levels of guilt. For instance, he has denied that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll but then blamed her for the attack, saying, “What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you’re playing hanky-panky in a dressing room?” During both his deposition for the Carroll trial and a later CNN interview, he said that men have “fortunately” been entitled to assault women for all of history. Of course, he famously bragged about sexual assault on the “Access Hollywood” tape, saying he grabs women by the genitals and being a celebrity means they “let you do it.” 

But Trump’s affection for men who’ve been similarly accused directly conflicts with his desire to seem like an all-powerful leader presiding over the adoring, obedient Republican masses. Nominating a cast of unqualified clowns to the Cabinet and other serious positions was no doubt meant as a flex, showing that no matter how much manure he dishes out, Republicans will swallow it. Instead it’s backfiring, creating media spectacles of Senate resistance that make him look weak and sowing discord and animosity — yes, even within his subservient party — before he enters office. As the recently failed military coup in South Korea shows, authoritarians want to believe that shock-and-awe tactics work best, but they can be risky endeavors that blow up in the leader’s face.  

Trump may have thought that nominating so many people with #MeToo problems would successfully squash a movement that led to him losing a dramatic court case to one of his accusers. Instead, he demonstrated why #MeToo still has power. In the abstract, it’s easy to recite mindless clichés about the “woke mob” and feminists who go “too far.” But when the actual details come out, they tend to have a sobering effect. It’s almost never about some oversensitive brat misreading a man’s innocent flirting. Instead, it may be police reports of bruises on a woman’s legs, witnesses who report a girl was only 17 or Carroll telling a jury she was so traumatized by Trump’s assault that she gave up dating permanently. In trying to dominate women into silence, Trump is reminding everyone that their voices still have power.