The Double Standard in America Rears its Ugly Head by Maria Grant

As I watch this second Trump administration unfold, I can’t help but notice how different the optics are between men and women.

Elon Musk stands in the Oval Office with his four-year-old son on his shoulders. Then the son stands next to the Resolute Desk and tells President Trump to “hush” while his dad is talking. Can you imagine the comments that would surface if a woman had done the same thing with her young child in the Oval Office? Editorials galore would be written about her lack of professionalism. 

Vice President Vance brought his whole family to Germany for the Munich Security Conference. Photographers captured several photos of his wife and three children exiting the plane. Not sure why the whole family was on this “business trip.” 

Let’s just say Kamala Harris had won the Presidency and decided to attend the Super Bowl. It is estimated that Trump’s little jaunt cost taxpayers between $15 to $20 million, which included Secret Service protection, Air Force One travel at a cost of about $3,000 per minute, a motorcade, stadium security upgrades, local law enforcement overtime and personnel. Had Harris decided to make such a boondoggle, the uproar would have been through the rafters. Oh, and by the way, Trump left at half-time. (I decided not to add up the cost of Trump’s truncated-because-of-rain trip to the Daytona 500 on Sunday which included an Air Force One fly-over and a pace lap around the track in the presidential limo.) 

And what if Harris had tried to profit from her election? The Wall Street Journal has estimated that since Trump won this election, he and his family have made more than $80 million. This includes donations to his library, a $10 million settlement with Elon Musk’s X, and millions from “meme coin” cryptocurrency ventures. In addition, the Trump Store launched 168 new products between Election Day and Inauguration Day, some of that money eventually going directly into Trump’s pocket. Such grift is unprecedented. No other president in the history of this country has done anything close, and for whatever reason, no agency seems to be reining in this profiteering. 

During his campaign, Trump frequently stated that he wanted to be a “protector of women whether they like it or not.” (Perhaps he would have profited from DEI training.)

 When you examine the demographics of voters who voted for Trump, the dynamics are interesting. Trump frequently alluded to the fact that men needed to take back control and assert dominance over their women. So disempowered men voted for Trump so that they would feel more powerful. 

Many women who manage the budgets in their households voted for Trump because of the rising cost of groceries, even though many of these same women also voted for protecting a woman’s right to choose. 

Project 2025 specifically states its desire to roll back feminist gains and replace them with “conservative Christian family values.” Hence, the J.D. Vance “childless cat ladies” and “helping raise children is the whole purpose of the post-menopausal women” comments. (Tabulations are currently being run on how many pregnant Federal workers were fired last week during the Trump/Musk purge of Federal employees.)

During the campaign, Trump frequently said that Harris would not be able to hold her own against “world leaders.” He claimed they would make mincemeat of her. So, what do we have instead? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Berlin telling leaders that Ukraine should not expect to reclaim its pre-war borders or become a member of NATO—essentially giving away the store before negotiations begin. And Vice President J.D. Vance scolding European leaders, telling them that they are the real concern—not China or Russia. After his remarks, Vance met with far-right Alternative for Germany Party Leader Alice Weidel. 

Trump has awarded several men accused of sexual assault with powerful posts—Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK, Jr. And then, of course, there is his own sordid past. In short, he doesn’t seem to have a problem with men asserting control over women. Couple that with his whole gender ideology stance which makes it much more difficult to uncover inequities in politics, the labor market, and society in general. 

So, I guess we’re lucky to have such strong sophisticated talented white men at the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine—men like Trump, Hegseth, and Vance. And we are saved from Harris, as Trump said during the campaign, “They look at her and they say we can’t believe we got so lucky. They’re going to walk all over her.” 

Yes indeed, we have master negotiators doing “the art of the deal” who are caving to Vladimir Putin’s demands, and, as Hamilton might say, President Zelensky wasn’t even “in the room where it happened.”  

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.