Kimberly Guilfoyle sure can hold a grudge
Donald Trump has hired “tremendous numbers of women” in his time. Tremendous numbers! We know this not from looking at the actual data, which somewhat contradicts these claims, but because he has told us so himself.
To be fair, the former president does seem to be a champion of certain working women. Trump’s wife and his female relatives have been getting paid extraordinary amounts of money for “work” relating to his campaign. According to a recent financial disclosure form, for example, Melania Trump was paid $237,500 for an April “speaking engagement” by the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ+ group. A CNN report this week, however, notes that the president of the Log Cabin Republicans has said they didn’t actually put up the money for Melania Trump to speak, so it’s unclear who exactly the source of the payment was. In other words: it’s exactly the sort of opaque and ethically dubious situation you’d expect to find the Trumps in.
Melania Trump isn’t the only member of the clan getting paid eyebrow-raising amounts of money to share her words of wisdom. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former prosecutor and television presenter who is now engaged to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, was paid $60,000 for introducing her fiance at a “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 January 2021, just before the Capitol riots. Which seems rather generous considering her speech was less than three minutes long.
It’s not clear whether Guilfoyle is still getting paid $20,000 a minute to shout talking points on Trump’s behalf. However, she has been a prominent part of Trump’s campaign recently and certainly isn’t shy in airing her distaste for Kamala Harris. During a recent fundraiser in Florida, for example, Guilfoyle gave a 15-minute speech where she told the crowd: “I have known [Harris] for 25 years. And let me tell you something: do whatever it takes to keep her out of the White House.”
What exactly is Guilfoyle’s problem with Harris? Well, on Monday the New York Times did a deep dive into what it termed “the long, strange saga of Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle”, who were rising legal stars in San Francisco around the same time. The source of all the animosity seems to be an incident in 2000 when Harris, then an assistant district attorney in the city, called up Guilfoyle and reportedly told her there wasn’t a job in the office for her.
“She pretended to be a member of the hiring committee, which didn’t exist,” Guilfoyle told the Times.
Guilfoyle got a job there anyway and has clearly held a grudge ever since. Harris, for her part, has said she was only calling Guilfoyle to offer help. Whatever happened, Guilfoyle can’t seem to let it go and has accused Harris of not being “supportive about lifting women up”.
The fact that Guilfoyle has a personal interest in tearing Harris down right now is certainly very convenient for Trump. He’s been repeatedly warned by his allies to focus on policy and lay off his repeated personal attacks on the vice-president. Vanity Fair has even suggested that Guilfoyle might be a “Trojan horse” for Trump – a useful woman to sneakily channel his sexist attacks through. That may be giving everyone involved far too much credit, however. After all, Trump has made it very clear that he’s going to be as sexist as he wants and has said he is “entitled to personal attacks” against Harris. And if this was some sort of grand plan it hasn’t been very successful. Guilfoyle’s Florida speech got such a lacklustre reception that at one point she begged the crowd for a reaction: “You can clap for that,” she said.
I’ll tell you one thing: in around five weeks this election will finally be over and, if Trump loses he’s promised he won’t run for president again. I’ll certainly clap for that.
Brontë sisters’ names finally corrected at Westminster Abbey
The memorial was installed in 1939 without the diaereses (two dots) that the Brontës used. Reader, it has been fixed.
Taliban to be taken to international court over gender discrimination
This is the first time the international court of justice has been used by one country to take another to court over gender discrimination.
Rape is being weaponized in Sudan’s war
It has been 17 months of hell in Sudan. With no end to the violence in sight, there have been horrific reports of sexual violence being weaponized against marginalized ethnic groups.
The inimitable Maggie Smith has died at 89
“Women like us fall into two categories: dragons and fools,” says Smith in the role of the Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey. “You must make sure they think of you as a dragon.”
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda wins news Emmy despite disgusting smear campaign
It is wonderful to see Owda recognized for her essential and incredibly courageous reporting from Gaza despite several attempts to silence her. Her voice is all the more important because Israel is blocking foreign journalists from Gaza and has made it deadly for anyone on the ground to report what’s happening. At least 130 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October There should be far more outrage about this from journalists in the west than there is.
Florida officials want to stop schools teaching about birth control and consent
The campaign to Make America Ignorant Again continues apace.
Following the Mark Robinson scandal, why do men comment on porn sites anyway?
If you were hoping for a deep dive into this question, the Cut has you covered.
Women whose periods stop early at higher risk of autoimmune conditions
A new study has found that premature ovarian insufficiency, which affects 1% of women globally, are twice to three times as likely to develop severe autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes and lupus.
Author Jhumpa Lahiri declines integrity award over New York museum’s keffiyeh ban
Good for Lahiri. Now, if you’re looking for something to read this weekend why not try Roman Stories?
Judge says Australian women-only art exhibit is legal
The judge ruled that Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania can continue to bar men from entry from the installation because it’s “providing women with a rare glimpse of what it is like to be advantaged rather than disadvantaged”.
The week in pawtriarchy
“They’re eating the cats,” will go down in history as one of the most unhinged things to ever be said during a US presidential debate. Now Trump’s immortal line is being sampled in a viral parody song by the Kiffness. And all the earnings are reportedly going to help pets and stray cats and dogs in Springfield. All of which sounds very much like a Simpsons episode.
