Washington: Former President Donald Trump, who is running for the presidency against a confident woman, is confronting a significant gender gap in the polls.

As he struggles to overcome a 21-point deficit, his efforts may be exacerbating the situation. Trump has resorted to using all-caps messages on social media, depicting a bleak present that he claims only he can rectify. At rallies, he appeals to “the great women of our country,” asserting that they are “more stressed, depressed, and unhappy … and less optimistic and confident in the future than they were four years ago.” He positions himself as their savior.

“I believe I will fix all of that quickly, and at long last, this … national nightmare will end. It will end. We need to end this national nightmare because I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I must be your protector,” he declared at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on Monday. “You will no longer feel abandoned, lonely, or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You will no longer have anxiety over the problems facing our country today. You will be protected, and I will be your protector.”

(Interestingly, Beyoncé has a song titled "Protector" on her acclaimed *Cowboy Carter* album, where she sings to her children, “I will be your protector, born to be your protector.”)

Notably, Trump does not promise high-paying jobs or career opportunities but instead focuses on lowering grocery prices, acknowledging who he believes handles grocery shopping in his vision of America.

It appears that Trump is positioning himself as the nation’s paternal figure and husband. Why rely on policy when you can invoke patriarchy?

Consequently, Trump, now slowed by age, is campaigning on sheer force, supported by a geriatric Hulk Hogan, an eager Elon Musk, and vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance, whose difficult upbringing seems to fuel his yearning for an idealized 1950s, despite his wife’s impressive academic achievements eclipsing his own. Trump’s appeal to women also serves as a direct appeal to men, whose fragile masculinity seems to depend on equally fragile women.

In a country where women outpace men in earning high school, college, and graduate degrees, Trump has expressed surprise that men allow their wives to travel and attend his rallies independently. He has remarked that world leaders will treat Kamala Harris, the current vice president and former senator and attorney general of California, “like a play toy.”