By Margarita Artoglou 

Although I have not witnessed many presidential campaigns, I am positive that the 2016 election is one of the nastiest in history, and the republican candidates — particularly Donald Trump, who has a history of making personal attacks against his opponents throughout his campaign — are to blame.

Most recently, in a series of classless moves, the wives of Trump and fellow republican candidate Senator Ted Cruz have been dragged into the brouhaha.
It all started when a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz posted sultry images of former model Melania Trump from a 2000 photoshoot on social media, along with captions that suggested one should vote for Cruz in order to prevent Melania from becoming the next First Lady.

It is interesting that this group (which, for the record, is an outside group that has no official ties to Cruz’s campaign) would choose to target Trump’s wife in the first place, as if there are not hundreds of things for which one could criticize the man himself. The fact that Melania used to model for a living has no bearing on her ability to be a good First Lady. She has her own set of skills and beliefs. A photo of a scantily-clad Melania from an old issue of GQ should not disqualify her for the position, because a woman’s worthiness as First Lady’s should not be solely based on her appearance.

Donald Trump (or Melania, for that matter) could have fired back with a response along those lines. Instead, Trump went after Cruz’s wife, Heidi, by threatening to “spill the beans” on her, claiming he had some sort of secret about Heidi Cruz that would harm her image.

He also retweeted a post featuring a beautiful headshot of his wife next to a picture of a frazzled-looking Heidi Cruz with the caption, “No need to ‘spill the beans.’ The images are worth a thousand words,” as if Melania’s model status is a reason that she would make a better First Lady, and that Heidi’s lack of an expert makeup team makes her the inferior candidate.
Keep in mind that this is the same man who shamed Fox News’ Megyn Kelly for posing in a short dress for GQ and retweeted a supporter who called her a “bimbo.”
Apparently Kelly’s appearance makes her unsuited to be a journalist — but Melania’s is what makes her the perfect woman for the job of First Lady. On top of being a misogynist, Trump is a hypocrite.
The role of First Lady is an important one, so it is not crazy for voters to consider what each candidate’s spouse brings to the table, nor is it completely unreasonable for candidates to mention their spouses’ skills and qualifications.
But this feud was not about Melania Trump’s business experience or Heidi Cruz’s MBA from Harvard. It was about each woman’s appearance.

And I do not think anyone is surprised. After all, Trump has attacked former candidate Carly Fiorina by insulting her face rather than her policy ideas and corporate experience. This is the same Trump who felt Megyn Kelly was an unfair debate moderator, and, like an immature middle schooler, insinuated that she was menstruating.

Despite Trump’s claims that he loves women, it is clear that he means he loves beautiful women who are nice to him and let him have his way. Even then he objectifies them, as he objectifies his own wife, who he consistently praises for her beauty but never mentions her accomplishments, such as the fact that she speaks five languages.

Of course, sexism is not a new complaint when it comes to the Republican Party. Remember Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” comment from the 2012 election?
But Trump has gone above and beyond with his blatant misogyny.

The GOP frontrunner is openly and actively judging and ridiculing women based on their appearances, and his supporters are egging him on: they cheer when he makes insulting remarks and they create the offensive posts that he loves to retweet.

The fact that Donald Trump, a man who is at best rude to women and at worst a total misogynist pig, could be the republican nominee is frightening and speaks volumes about the current state of this election.

One thing is for sure: if the general election comes down to Trump and Hillary Clinton, the nation must prepare itself for a never-ending personal tirade of Clinton’s face and, probably, her pantsuits.

Margarita Artoglou, FCRH’18, is a communication and media studies major from Queens. She currently serves as The Fordham Ram‘s Opinion Editor.