As far as political bait goes, it was the tastiest: A cheeky ad by Vote Common Goodand voiced by Julia Robertsreminds women that if they vote for Vice President, they don’t have to tell their husbands Kamala Harris.

It followed a Lincoln Project ad based on the same premise, albeit with a more somber tone.

Whatever the intent behind these ads, they set off a massive tantrum in the GOP that confirmed feminists were right all along: The MAGA movement is about controlling women. Fox News host Jesse Watters A person who cheats on his first wife with his current wife, Compared to a spouse who refused to vote for Donald Trump having a relationship. Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrichwho is married to his third wife after cheating on his second wife, called the ad “sick” and evidence of moral “decay”. Charlie Kirk from Turning Point USA was obsessed with this. Claiming that Harris can only win “The greatest spousal lying conspiracy in political history” and Recommendations from spouses who voted for Harris “stealing money.” Trump himself, of course. I’m caught up in the MAGA rage about wives those who exercise their own judgment.

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Inside An election that could have the largest gender gap in historyThese ads could not have made a better point than attracting this reaction. Trump talks about how he’ll ‘protect’ women outside “whether women like it or not” makes the threat underlying his cavalier demeanor even more undeniable. Now all these MAGA experts are saying the quiet parts out loud, the goal is to dominate women, even control women’s votes. The MAGA tantrum may well backfire and make women more determined. Vote for Harris and prove their independence. Unsurprisingly, then, progressives widely share stories about angry MAGA men yelling about disobedient spouses, amused by misogynistic spouses giving away the vote.

But like so many of the stupid things we hear from MAGA leaders, things that are incredibly funny can also be dangerous. This is especially true of conflict where wives vote against their husbands’ wishes. These Republican leaders are sending an unmistakable final message to men: Women have no right to think for themselves. By acting as if it were a given that women should vote the way their husbands tell them, these leaders are normalizing attitudes that lead to domestic violence.

Decades of research show there is a direct link Beliefs in male dominance on women and domestic violence. Common sense tells us why: When men feel they have the right to control their wives or girlfriends, they also tend to think it’s okay to use violence to maintain their power over women. The National Domestic Violence Hotline’s list of red flags Abuse literally involves “(p)inhibiting you from making your own decisions.”

But even if a man doesn’t resort to hitting a woman, bullying a wife or girlfriend into voting for Trump is a form of emotional abuse. This is a way to deprive a woman of all her human rights and relegate her to second-class status. When has this been amply exemplified? One Trump voter said on Twitter: “That’s why I’m having my wife vote by mail, so I can be sure she’s going to vote for Trump, I can be sure she’s not going to vote behind my back.” As many people have pointed out community notes suppressing his tweet“This is called voter intimidation” and can be a crime.

It’s terrible under any circumstances, but especially forcing a woman to vote for Trump, a man whose violence against women has been well-documented, including his own bragging on the “Access Hollywood” tape. Last year, Civilian jury in New York finds Trump responsible for sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll. Later in court documents The decision was written by federal Judge Lewis Kaplan.“Trump ‘raped’ her, most people understand the word ‘rape’ loosely.” Forcing women to support a man in this way reinforces the ugly message that women do not count as human beings and that it is acceptable to abuse women to maintain male dominance. .

Whether Trump wins or loses, it is alarming that the nearly decade-old presidential race has unleashed an army of male windbags who openly promote the idea that women should be dominated by men. Media Matters reported on Mondayfor example, Royce White — the Republican opponent of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. — he told listeners in a podcast. Marrying a college-educated woman “probably wouldn’t be a good idea.” Podcast host Jesse Lee Peterson opposes women having the right to vote and said during the interview that “educated women cannot be good wives and mothers.”

White falsely claimed that educated women were more likely to divorce their husbands. In fact, college-educated women are less likely to divorce than women without a college degree. However, it is also true that it is easier for women to escape unhappy marriages if they have financial independence. White’s comment shows how the MAGA movement has become more open about its view that marriage is about control, not love and companionship. As Tatyana Tandanpolie wrote for Salon on MondayTalk of ending no-fault divorce laws is growing within the MAGA movement. His goal is to trap women in marriages, often with controlling and abusive men, Joanna Grossman, a family law professor at SMU Dedman School of Law in Texas, told Salon.

The ads that started this MAGA hysteria about voting spouses may have had a playful tone, but as the Guardian’s Rebecca Solnit writesFrom another perspective, it feels like a “hostage video.” This is because it stems from a broader and growing right-wing discourse that explicitly treats women as men’s property rather than human beings. This is a threat to women’s safety on many levels. Men hear signals that bullying and harassing their wives is normal, even expected behavior. And it is used to justify policy moves that make it harder for women to leave dangerous relationships. At stake in this election is not just the abstract concept of democracy. This is also about women’s fundamental right to self-determination, inside and outside the voting booth.