2024 US Election: The Battle between an Angry Old Man and a Cat Lady

Published in UDN
(Taiwan) on 17 September 2024
by Yuang-Kuang Kao (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jennifer Sampson. Edited by Michelle Bisson.
On the eve of Sept. 11 in the U.S., presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had their first debate face to face.

Afterward, media outlets from various countries reported that Harris won since Trump not only became infuriated but also went on tangents Harris set out for him. This made him appear angry and also revealed the fatigue of age. The debate sculpted an image of a rageful old man.

In the past, Trump’s anger and vivid and insulting language was useful in debates against Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, because both of them were long-established in politics and had too many weaknesses that could be exploited. However, Harris’ political record is too short, and compared with Trump’s “angry old man” image, Harris seems honest and pure. Add Harris’ unexpected eloquence and steady manner and no wonder media outlets believed she won handily against Trump.

Actually, I think Harris was very successful in controlling the discussion topics. The ABC reporters began by immediately asking about the economy, believing that Harris’ economic policies were unclear; Trump thinks Harris hasn’t proposed any concrete economic policies at all. Harris’ answer was extremely successful because she only had two minutes in which to explain her position and could not get into details. She repeated what she said in her Democratic National Convention nomination speech, and what she has been explaining since the beginning: Her proposed “opportunity economy” will give every person the opportunity to succeed, and the rest is just details she skates over. Trump mistakenly thought this was an opportunity to be seized, and he chided her for having “no plan at all,” and then self-righteously labeled her “another Biden.” Harris skillfully deflected this by replying, “You’re debating me,” which was enough to make the viewers at home think Trump is an angry old man who talks nonsense, unfairly labels people and is an unfit candidate living in the past.

I think the most sensitive issue Harris about which needled Trump was abortion. Trump’s stance opposing abortion is very clear, even though he has amended it by saying people in each state can decide the issue at the ballot box. People may not understand the relationship between Trump and the Supreme Court’s decision to declare abortion unconstitutional. However, Harris asserted that abortion is a woman’s right, and women can decide whether they want children. If a pregnancy is unintended or due to incest or sexual assault, what are women supposed to do if they cannot get an abortion? In his retort, Trump spoke of Alabama’s vote on abortion, mentioned in vitro fertilization without elaborating, and was clearly evasive. However, in response to Harris’ and the Democrats’ support for abortion, he asserted that abortion at seven or eight months was “executing” life. His logic left people speechless because an abortion toward the end of a pregnancy means there is a grave problem with the mother and fetus. Only after careful communication and serious consideration by the pregnant woman and her doctor would surgery be performed. What is the difference between Trump’s harsh use of “execution” and Biden’s appearance of dementia?

On the topic of abortion, Harris has skillfully combined the freedom to choose with feminism, highlighting the surreptitious “male chauvinist” attitude with which Trump and people like him treat women. This has turned the election into a battle to “protect women” and “support gender equality.”

And sure enough, as soon as the debate ended, Taylor Swift — the singer who is believed to have revolutionized 21st century country, rock and pop music, whose music has spread worldwide and who has global influence — immediately posted support for Harris. She also purposely signed her post as a “cat lady” because three years ago Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance, criticized Harris as someone who didn’t understand the real situation because she doesn’t have children, and women like her only raise cats instead. Actually, “cat ladies,” or “childless cat ladies” is slang for “weird women.” This is essentially insulting sexism toward women. Swift, who also doesn’t have children, is a proponent of feminism and gender equality, so it’s no wonder she signed off as a “cat lady” after clearly stating her support for Harris. You must know that Swift is considered a genius in the music world, and in addition to winning countless awards, she has set records with her 200 million streams of her albums*. Younger Americans really like her, and she has influenced tens of thousands of fans.

Actually, after Vance became Trump’s vice presidential pick, “cat ladies” began circulating online. In July, Jennifer Aniston, the well-known Hollywood actor and star of the famous show “Friends” and “The Morning Show,” made a rare criticism of Vance. On her Instagram account, she posted about Vance’s interview, writing, “I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.” [https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Family/jennifer-aniston-slams-jd-vances-comments-childless-cat/story?id=112268268][mb]

The issue of abortion may affect as many as 25 million American women, and approximately 950,000 abortions are performed every year. If women all vote for one side, it could have a huge impact on the election results. “Cat lady” Swift’s announcement seems to have had a domino effect, and now WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark has encouraged people all over the country to register to vote. When asked whether she supports Harris, Clark said she agrees with Swift’s approach. Clark is a Swift fan and has 2.9 million Instagram followers of her own and almost 500,000 followers on X. Her influence is quite large, and now she is urging people to register to have the right to vote. Her support for Harris, while unspoken, is clear.

During the debate, Harris specifically mentioned the Republican Party’s Project 2025, in which it says that if Trump returns to the White House, pregnant women will be monitored to prevent abortion. Project 2025 is the masterpiece of the Heritage Foundation, a Republican think tank, and is not a policy plan Trump proposed. Trump himself has continually denied having anything to do with it. However, it is undeniable that it was written by many people from his administration, and most policy plans Republicans adopt are proposed by the Heritage Foundation. Polls conducted by the media show that many respondents believe Project 2025 is related to Trump.

The U.S. election unexpectedly has become a battle between feminism and male chauvinism. And especially since the debate, it has become a fight between an angry old man and a cat lady. Even before the results are determined, this fierce and serious election has given us some interesting and attention-grabbing topics to discuss.


*Editor's note: In fact, streams of Taylor Swift's albums have passed the 300 million mark.


【專家之眼】2024美國大選:咆哮老男與養貓女之戰

美國時間9月11日晚上,總統候選人川普和賀錦麗進行了兩人這一生第一次,面對面的辯論。

辯論後的各國媒體報導都說賀錦麗贏得這場辯論,因為川普不僅被激怒,而且一直跟著賀錦麗所設定的議題,使川普的爭辯顯現出「惱怒」,而且露出年紀大了的疲態,一副「咆哮老男」的形象被雕塑出來。

川普的暴怒加上生動的侮辱性語言,在過去大選辯論中,對付柯林頓希拉蕊和拜登是有用的,因為後兩者都是政壇老手,有太多「軟肋」式的弱點,很容易被川普攻擊而獲得共和黨人堅定的支持。但賀錦麗政治資歷太少,對比川普的「老怒男」形象,反而凸顯了賀倒像是隻純潔的「小白兔」;加上賀出乎意料之外的好口條、穩健台風,難怪媒體一面倒,認為賀在辯論上「大贏」川普。

其實,筆者認為賀在掌控議題的策略上是很成功的,ABC的記者一開始就先問經濟問題,一般認為賀的經濟政策不明確,川普也認為賀根本沒有提出什麼具體經濟政策;但賀的論述十分成功,因為只有短短2分鐘的闡釋,其實無法進入細節,賀就是重覆她在民主黨提名她的全國代表大會上所講的,而且開宗明義就解釋,她提出的「機會經濟」就是讓每一個人都有成功的機會,其他的都一筆帶過;這讓川普以為逮住機會,痛駡賀「根本沒有計畫」,而自以為是的把賀打成「另一個拜登」,賀用四兩撥千金的方式回擊川普「現在和你辯論的是我」,更足以讓電視機前的觀眾,覺得咆哮的老怒男川普,根本是個不講道理、只會扣帽子、還活在過去的不適任的候選人。

筆者認為賀錦麗戳中川普最痛的地方是關於「墮胎」議題;川普反對墮胎的立場是很明確的,儘管他現在修正為可以讓各州民眾投票來決定。民眾也許不了解墮胎政策被大法官宣布違憲的過程,以及和川普的關係。但賀錦麗主張墮胎是女性的自由權,她們可以決定要不要孩子;再加上意外懷孕或被亂倫、性侵的懷孕,不能墮胎怎麼辦?川普在反駁時提到阿拉巴馬州對於墮胎的投票,以及他對於「體外受精」語焉不詳,顯得有些支吾以對;但對賀及民主黨人贊成墮胎,川普辯說懷孕七、八個月的墮胎是對生命的「處死」(execute),邏輯上則令人無言,因為懷孕到末期的墮胎一定是母親和胎兒出了嚴重的問題,醫生和孕婦經過審慎溝通及嚴謹的考量之後,才會動手術。川普用「處死」這樣重的話,和拜登的老人痴呆又有什麼不同?

賀在墮胎問題上是巧妙地把選擇的自由權利和女性主義結合起來,凸顯川普這些人對女性,暗中可能有「男性沙文主義豬」的傾向,把這場選戰引入成為「保護女性」、「支持性別平等」的一場戰役。

果不其然,電視辯論一結束,被認為是21世紀對於鄉村音樂、搖滾樂及流行音樂做出改革,而且其音樂已經跨出美國,可以影響到全球的女歌手泰勒絲(Taylor Alison Swift),立即在她的平台上支持賀錦麗,而且故意署名「養貓的女人」(cat lady)。這是因為在女性問題上,川普的副手范斯(Vance)三年前曾經批評賀不了解實際狀況,是因為賀沒有生養孩子,她們都只會是養隻貓而已,其實「養貓女人」,英文是childless cat ladies,cat lady也是俚語指「古怪女」。某種程度本質上是侮辱女性的性別歧視;泰勒絲也沒有小孩,她又是主張女性主義及性別平等的擁護者,難怪泰勒絲在明白表示支持賀時,要署名「養貓女人」;要知道泰勒絲在音樂界被認為是奇才,除得獎無數外,曾有作品創下2億多張唱片的銷售紀錄,美國年輕人極其喜歡她,影響的粉絲絕對數以萬計。

其實「養貓女人」在Vance 成為川普的副總統候選人後,在網路開始流傳。今年7月時,好萊塢的知名女星珍妮佛安妮斯頓(Jennifer Aniston)罕見發聲狠批Vance。安妮斯頓是知名美劇《六人行》(Friends)、《晨間直播室》(The Morning Show)的女主角。她在IG限時動態貼出Vance的訪談影片表示:「我真的不敢相信這些話來自可能成為美國副總統的人」。

墮胎問題影響美國女性可能高達2500萬人,每年墮胎人數約95萬,婦女票如果一面倒向賀,對選舉結果可能影響至鉅。現在「養貓女人」泰勒絲的骨牌效應似正在顯現,美國WNBA超人氣新人Caitlin Clark也鼓勵全國各地的人們登記投票。她在被問及是否支持賀時,表示她認同泰勒絲的做法;Clark是泰勒絲的粉絲,在Instagram 上她擁有 290 萬粉絲,同時在 X 上也有近 50 萬的粉絲,影響力不小。如今她呼籲選民踴躍登記以擁有投票權,她支持賀可謂不言而喻。

其實在賀川電視辯論上,賀故意提到共和黨的「25計畫」,該計畫提到若川普重回白宮執政,為了反墮胎將監控所有懷孕婦女。儘管「25計畫」是親共和黨智庫「傳統基金會」的傑作,並非川普本人提出來的施政計畫,川普也不斷否認他和「25計畫」的關係。但不可否認撰寫「25計畫」的多數人曾在川普政府任職,而共和黨施政大都採納傳統基金會提出的施政計畫。媒體曾做過民調,結果相當多的受訪者相信「25計畫」和川普有關。

美國總統大選未曾被人意料到,成為一場女性主義與男性沙文的戰爭;尤其是在電視辯論會後,更形象化成為「咆哮老男」對上「養貓女人」的戰爭。在選舉結果未出來前,也為激烈而嚴肅的選戰,帶來一個引人關注且有趣的話題。
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