Toward the end of the third and final US presidential debate of 2016, moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News asked Hillary Clinton a pointed question: “Will you as president entertain—will you consider a grand bargain, a deal that includes both tax increases and benefit cuts to try to save both programs?”
In response, Clinton said the country would have to put more money into the Social Security Trust Fund. Then she said it would raise taxes on the wealthy, including herself and, of course Trump—assuming, she added, “he can’t figure out how to get out of it.”
Trump immediately broke in, interrupting Clinton to call her a “nasty woman.”
Predictably, Twitter went crazy.
Less predictably, by the end of the night, the website www.nastywomengetshitdone.com had been purchased by someone, presumably a Clinton supporter, and redirected to www.hillaryclinton.com.
Although Clinton’s campaign says they’re not behind this maneuver, the team has been relatively internet-savvy, using the waybackmachine to compare what she’s accomplished in the last 30 years to Trump’s past three decades (a topic that came up again in the third debate), and launching a pretty decent app to register new voters and keep them informed on the issues.
At this point, Trump’s attitudes and behaviors toward women have become one of the primary narratives of the 2016 presidential campaign. Over half a dozen women have spoken out to accuse Trump of groping or assaulting them; Trump has denied all the allegations.
After his “nasty woman” comment about Clinton, some women reclaimed the phrase as a compliment for the type of strong, smart, focused, and driven woman they believe Clinton—and themselves—to be:
Clinton’s team also tweeted about the comment, of course.
Update, Oct. 20: This story has been amended with a response from the Clinton campaign.