Ep. 142 - ‘What Backlash Looks Like’

In the wake of the 2024 election, many are wondering how to make sense of the results—including how a capable, qualified woman could lose to a man like Donald Trump, an adjudicated rapist whose campaign regularly celebrated a version of masculinity that many find offensively misogynistic. 

On this episode, Commonweal editor-at-large Mollie Wilson O’Reilly and Natalia Imperatori Lee, professor of religious studies at Manhattan University, reflect on what just happened. They also parse what the second Trump administration might portend for Democrats, the Church, and especially women.

It’s long past time, they argue, not only for men to confront sexism and misogyny, but to work to articulate healthy versions of masculinity. Trump’s election may be a massive setback for feminism—but how the story ends depends on our response.

For further reading: 

• Mollie Wilson O’Reilly ponders Trump’s 2016 election
• Regina Munch on why we can’t disengage
• The editors on why the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh