Maga-red may be the unofficial color of Donald Trump’s fans, but these Michigan supporters arrived at a recent suburban Detroit political event clad in bright pink.
About 65 women spent the first part of the gathering chatting and holding up new sweatshirts emblazoned with “Women for Trump” – the “u” replaced by lipstick imprints. They tried on bejeweled American flag hats and Trump shirts.
It was one of about a dozen Women for Trump meetings held so far in 2019, and those in attendance are enthusiastic, spirited and partly there to “make politics fun again”, they say.
“You’re here and eating and socializing and shopping – that’s what women love to do,” said Women for Trump co-founder Meshawn Maddock.
Women for Trump is a product of the Michigan Conservative Coalition and Michigan Trump Republicans, which began organizing gatherings that so far have ranged in attendance from 50 to about 180 people. Michigan Trump Republicans is also considering similar networking events for veterans and has started them for younger people. Some of the women recently traveled to host two events in Florida, and there’s discussion about launching them in Ohio.
There are also “Trumperware” parties, which are smaller, more personal events women host in their homes with “friends, colleagues, neighbors, some people that they know that like [Trump], some who are not sure if they like the president or not, but they have a more casual intimate setting to talk about his accomplishments”, co-founder Rosanne Ponkowski said..
Women who spoke with the Guardian echoed the organizers’ sentiment on the need to network. Barbara Freeborn, who was attending her first event, said women are “hesitant” to show support for the president “because of all the negative press and media biases” and a fear they will be “attacked”.
“We realized there are an awful lot of women listening to the fake news, and they think our president doesn’t have the support of women voters. We know that’s fake, right?” another co-founder, Mariane Sheridan, asked as she drew loud cheers and gestured toward the tables filled with women at a golf-themed restaurant called The Masters.
“You’re like-minded, and you look around and realize you’re an army. We are doing this because we love the president … and you just need to be able to show it,” said Maddock.
But Women for Trump is aiming for much more than camaraderie. It came together just after Democrat women swept statewide offices in Michigan’s 2018 elections, and about 20 Democrat women won in the state legislature. A similar scenario played out in Congress, in which a record 127 women are serving this legislative session, but only 21 are Republicans, down from 29 last session. Meanwhile, Democrats sent 36 new women to Congress.
At its core, Women for Trump is a grassroots, political organizing vehicle designed to counter Democratic women’s energy and electoral success last year. The point is to get Trump-supporting women to “run for something”, Ponkowski said.
“We want people to step up, get out of their comfort zone, run for the school board, run for [local office], because that’s how you build your bench and get people to come into those positions. Then they’re more comfortable to run for the state positions,” she said.
That may seem smart when one considers that this type of local-level political organizing was largely absent on the left following Barack Obama’s election. During his two terms, Democrats lost total control of a net 14 state legislatures, 816 state legislative seats and 13 governorships.
Republicans could face a similar scenario if they don’t act, and Women for Trump is taking that initiative.
Maddock highlighted the urgency in running for libraries and school boards.
“The left is taking over your children and indoctrinating them with leftist ideas, so we need women like you to step up and run for the school board and take our schools back,” Maddock told the group. Next she put out the call for volunteers to monitor vote counts on election day.
“We have to protect the vote – you all know that the left works very hard to steal our votes,” Maddock said.
Evidence suggests Trump’s weak spot in the electorate is women, and the vulgarity of comments such as “grab them by the pussy” and other disparaging remarks toward women is partly why.
But Maddock dismissed those issues, saying she didn’t “elect him to date my daughter or be my pastor – I elected him to turn the country around and right the ship”. She added that she believes society sometimes “emasculates men” and she prefers “strong men”.
“My husband is an alpha male, and sometimes I get irritated with him, but I wouldn’t want to be married to anything else,” she said.
Nationally, exit polls in 2016 showed 54% of women voted for Hillary Clinton compared with 42% for Trump. However, Trump won about 53% of white women.
But Trump and his party are doing poorly with college-educated women, with whom an ABC News poll that found that Democrats in 2018 held a staggering 47-point advantage. Ponkowski said Women for Trump is partly there to target that demographic.
“We knew that we had an issue with college-educated women, suburban women, and we felt that we needed to get the message out to them and explain what Mr Trump is doing that directly benefits them and their family,” she said.
What was noticeably absent from the Michigan gathering was women of color. Over 90% of black women voted for Clinton in 2016, and strong majorities of other minority women also backed Democrats in 2016 and 2018. However, the event was held in Oakland county, a generally wealthy area north of Detroit that’s nearly 80% white.
Maddock said she isn’t worried about race, as she “doesn’t like identity politics, and I don’t think Trump likes that either”. She added that Women for Trump exists to get more women involved regardless of their race.
As the women discussed 2020 over their meals, there was a general confidence among them that Trump will easily win Michigan – in which he edged Clinton by about 12,000 votes – and serve another four years.
“His chances are great in 2020 – I think the left has gone so far left that they’re becoming not credible,” said Marlene Hoeft, who was at her second meeting.
Anne Mutter, a Vietnam veteran who described herself as “an old-time conservative who believes in God and country”, said she was alarmed by the number of young people who find appeal in socialism, but thinks that works to Trump’s advantage.
“He stands for what most of us really feel, especially those of us in flyover country,” she said. “I hate to say I think he’s a shoo-in, but if the Democrats keep going the way they are now – I don’t think there’s any doubt.”
Many women at the meeting also voiced concern over immigration and abortion. Some claimed that Democrats want to or are executing babies, a false claim that Trump has repeatedly made.
While some think Trump toning it down could help achieve the group’s goals, Freeborn said his brash style is actually an asset.
“He talks the way people talk, he understands them, and he’s done a tremendous job,” she said.
Lenore Kurek, from Macomb county, said Trump is simply misunderstood because much of what does and says is “misrepresented by the media”. Women for Trump can clear that up, she said.
“The biggest questions I get are [about Trump’s tweeting] and the way he says things, and I tell them: ‘You don’t have to date him, you don’t have to marry him, you just have to want to get the country going in the right direction,’” Kurek said.