Sarah Sanders may no longer be White House press secretary, but she’s still got a lot to say.
Sanders, who retired from the White House in late June, talked about a variety of topics during an interview on Fox News last Friday where she started her role as a political contributor for the network.
A few things she said, in particular, caught my attention after she was asked if she still took “any heat” from the public stemming from her former role in President Trump’s administration.
Sanders replied that she had not been thrown out of any more restaurants as had happened in the infamous Red Hen incident from summer 2018 where the co-owner asked her to leave the eatery because Sanders’ presence as a representative of the Trump administration made employees feel uncomfortable.
But reaction to her differs from place to place, she said. In her conservative home state of Arkansas, she has few problems. But in more liberal parts of the country like New York, the reaction is mixed. And instead of responding in kind to people who do confront her, she smartly nods and smiles and moves on instead of giving agitators what they want.
She also noted that even though she was the first mother to be a White House spokesperson and only the third woman, the vast majority of criticism she received and still receives is from other women.
“What I find interesting is 99 percent of the people that come over to say something negative, and to attack you, are women,” Sanders stated. “I find that very startling from a group of people that claim to be the champions of women empowerment.
“Women attack me relentlessly, instead of being proud that we have more women doing those types of jobs,” she concluded.
Liberal commentators reacted to Sanders’ remarks by saying, in so many words, that the reason these women confront her is because she worked for Trump, who they view as “anti-woman.” They look at Sanders, in turn, as a betrayer of women.
But the reality of it is that Sanders would be attacked no matter what Republican president she worked for.
Republicans believe differently than Democrats on a number of women’s issues. Republicans generally are pro-life. They understand that demands for an “equal pay” bill are not based on reliable data. They also reject the victimhood mentality that is so prevalent in feminist circles, where movement leaders shamefully pretend that things are worse now for women than they were 100 years ago.
Believing differently on these issues does not make a person anti-woman. It certainly doesn’t make a woman anti-woman. But in the fever swamps of the left, unless you march in lockstep with liberal women 100% on all issues you are a misogynist (if you’re a man).
If you’re a woman who disagrees, you’re an inauthentic woman, subservient to the patriarchy and a willing accomplice to “setting women back decades.”
There is no room for disagreement. You are either with feminist Democrats or you are the enemy.
Back in 2016 when Hillary Clinton was running for president, President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on the campaign trail “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” Albright was none-too-subtly trying to shame Sen. Bernie Sanders’ female voters into switching their votes to Hillary Clinton during the primary season.
But that same “special place in hell” script doesn’t apply when the party labels are reversed, as any Republican woman who has ever run for office knows very well. Because for Democrats, female empowerment is a wonderful thing unless the empowered female is a Republican.
Sarah Sanders will be reminded of this all over again if she decides to run for governor of Arkansas in 2022.
Stacey Matthews is a veteran blogger who has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah. She’s a regular contributor to Red State and Legal Insurrection.
