Reblog: “Hillary Clinton’s devastating loss spells heartbreak for women everywhere”

How did the most experienced and qualified presidential candidate in generations lose to a real estate magnate and reality television star whose understanding of policy seems marginal at best?

…Ever the salesman, Trump offered a simple rallying cry: Make America great again. To his supporters, the slogan acknowledged their anger and disappointment while still promising a better future, one in which jobs would return from overseas, the country’s borders would close to outsiders and good ol’ fashioned law and order would triumph.

To many ears, however, the slogan recalled an America of days gone by, days when women and minorities were subjected to systemic discrimination. The implicit racism and xenophobia in Trump’s message made a Clinton win that much more important to feminists and progressives determined to prevent a cultural backslide.

…Clinton’s stunning defeat is a catastrophic loss for women who were poised and ready to fight for a progressive agenda, one that Clinton promised to deliver. She proposed capping childcare costs, providing paid family and medical leave to care for a new child or a seriously ill family member, closing the wage gap and repealing the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding of abortion care for nearly all low-income women.

Those plans are all but lost now. It’s hard to imagine a Trump-Pence agenda that doesn’t amount to an all-out assault on the issues progressive women hold dear, especially with Republicans having maintained control of the House and Senate.

–Rebecca Ruiz, Hillary Clinton’s devastating loss spells heartbreak for women everywhere