‘I’m not a feminist’: Donald Trump’s latest comments spark debate

“I’m for women, I'm for men, I’m for everyone.”

If you follow Piers Morgan on Twitter – and, for better or worse, over six million people do – you’ll know that he’s spent most of this week flagging an interview he conducted with Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The interview in full will air on ITV on Sunday night at 10pm and in advance of it, Morgan has been providing little titbits of the conversation that took place. Amongst the topics up for discussion were elephant hunting and Brexit, but the comments that have garnered most attention since Morgan plugged snippets of the interview on Saturday night regarded President’s Trump’s declaration that he would not consider himself a feminist. https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/957389820397084672 No shock there – this is a man who famously uttered the phrase “grab ‘em by the pussy” and has been publicly accused of harassment by several women, after all – but the detail of his comments, published in the Daily Mail, have provoked plenty of interest. Asked by Morgan what message he would have for women who consider him sexist in light of his previous behaviour to persuade them that he is for them and not part of the problem, Trump replied: “Well, I am for them, and I think a lot of them understand that.” Trump then diverted somewhat, preferring to focus on the perceived success of his presidency to date.

“You know, I won many categories of women and the women vote in the election, and people were shocked to see it,” he added. “I was running against a woman and I’m winning all of these categories. And I think I would do even better right now. Women have the best unemployment numbers that they’ve had in 17 years. “And they’re doing tremendously in business, they’re doing tremendously in so many ways. And people are starting to see that.”

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/957530086118486016 Prompted by Morgan to address some of the more disrespectful things he’s said about women in the past and to acknowledge that he has evolved since, Trump responded: “Well, I think we have to evolve. If we don’t evolve, there’s something missing.

"But I have tremendous respect for women. You see all of the women I have working around me and working with me. Tremendous respect for women."

Before they moved away from the topic, Morgan asked Trump if he would consider himself a feminist.

“No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist,” Trump replied. “I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone. I think people have to go out, they have to go out and really do it, and they have to win. “And women are doing great, and I’m happy about that.”