It has become a commonplace of the analysis of the Trump phenomenon to say that he throws away the dog whistles of previous Republican campaigns with his direct racism and xenophobia. The pundits say that GOP leaders frightened by the rise of Trump have nobody to blame but themselves. I think this is unarguably true. Politicians of both parties have raised the specter of "terrorism" to distract the voters' attention from real threats to our safety, like gun violence. Trump just says he will bar an entire religion from this country! Politicians of both parties use the coded phrase "border security." Trump just says that Mexicans are rapists.
Besides his open white supremacy and hatred of foreigners, Trump's other vulgar verbal habit is the disgusting misogyny that his fans applaud as "telling it like it is." He called candidate Carly Florina ugly: "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that face? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?"
He refused to participate in a debate because of the presence of FOX-TV anchor Megan Kelly and argued that she questioned him sharply because she was menstruating: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever!"
He has a long history of calling women "fat slobs" and "pigs", accusing them of gold-digging and manipulation, and bragging about his sexual conquests. In short, his conversation about women is characteristic of a junior high school boy who is scared stiff of the girls, who are taller and more mature than he. Trump has never matured emotionally. If his rally attendees who applaud his oafish comments on race are closeted (or open) Klansmen, then those who love his attacks on women are Gamer-gate boys bringing their fears into the national political arena.
All this begs a question. What, then, were the dog whistles that Republicans used to disguise their hatred of women before Orange Hitler came along?
I think the answer is the so-called "right to life." The Trump phenomenon has made it utterly transparent that the self-described "religious right" is not religious in any way, not even Christian according to their own definitions. Donald Trump has repeatedly revealed himself to be profoundly ignorant of Christian belief and practice. These "religious" folk are now supporting a candidate who freely and casually uses obscenity, vulgarity and blasphemy in his own speech, who brags relentlessly about his sexual adventures, who has divorced twice, and whose current wife poses nude for publication. The double standard of people who speak of a "right to life" while opposing gun control and supporting capital punishment has long been obvious. But Trump doesn't even oppose abortion!
So why did those "Christians" (now exposed as worshippers of a very different sort of God) oppose abortion? Again, their opponents understood this all along. It was always all about controlling women, especially controlling their frightening sexuality. When off-message elected officials claim that women can't get pregnant from rape they show that same magical terror of women's bodies, along with the patriarchal need to get them under control.
We have generously allowed them their religious conservatism, arguing that they shouldn't impose it on others, but trusting that they themselves were authentic in their beliefs. It should be clear to everyone now that there was never any political conservatism in the Republican "base", there was just white supremacy and opposition to the rights of people of color. There was never any economic conservatism. A social safety net was a good thing as long as it wasn't extended beyond white people. The support of Donald Trump by people who laughably call themselves "evangelical" should show once and for all that they are not religious conservatives: they are just terrified of women.
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