Perhaps women have never really needed the protection of men to the extent that some of us, myself included, are willing to offer them.  Perhaps all along women have been more than capable of defending themselves against cads and scoundrels.

But, even in this day when women fly aircraft into combat, when they run major corporations and lead government agencies, I still instinctively want to rise in their defense when I see them beset upon by other men. Right or wrong, that is my nature. Women are to be cherished, loved and protected, at all costs.

That is the way I was raised by the woman who was the head of my family, the woman who saw me through college even though she was dying of cancer, even though the abusive alcoholic she married left her impoverished and alone in her final years.

Beyond Contempt

Men who belittle women, who physically and emotionally abuse them, who degrade them by using the language of misogyny, are beneath contempt, in my view. They are small, weak and cowardly, depraved and unnatural in their hatred of the “fairer sex”.

When I hear them speak, when I see the fear and contempt they show when speaking of women, I wonder what is wrong with those men? Why do they feel so threatened, so frightened by women that they have to lash out in such brutal, personal and visceral ways?

None of us are perfect, I accept that and am painfully aware of my failings as a man and a husband. My wife can catalog, no doubt, a long list of things I have said and done in our nearly 30 years of marriage that were unkind and ungentlemanly. But, unlike our president, I regret those things and wish I had been a better man than I was then.

Unfortunately, President Trump, a 71-year-old man, is content with his behavior towards women. He thinks it makes him look strong and powerful, a sentiment undoubtedly shared by many of those who voted for him.

But he is soundly wrong.

Cruel, Petty and Unhappy

Belittling Mika Brzezinski, attacking her personal appearance, lying about her face being covered in blood from a face lift, shows the world the real Donald Trump.  It, shows that he is a cruel, petty, unhappy man who can’t abide the idea of not being universally loved.

In this way, he is profoundly unstable, vulnerable to the manipulation of others who see his instability as the weakness it is and use it to their advantage against him.

Donald Trump is clearly his own worst enemy. In the end, he will be the one that destroys Donald Trump. I don’t believe for a minute that he will die penniless or imprisoned. I am not even convinced that he will be impeached or that he will lose in 2020.

But I am certain of this: when Donald Trump’s life is over, when he passes and is gone, very few people will care.