How Gender Became the Elections Crucial Fault Line

In an alternate universe, Nikki Haley is running for president against Kamala Harris in the true Year of the Woman.In our world, Haley is on the sidelines wishing Republicans would stop alienating a large swath of voters.

“Donald Trump and JD Vance need to change the way they speak about women,” Haley said on “Fox & Friends” in September, when she was asked why Trump and Vance were trailing by 14 points among female voters.“When you call even a Democrat woman dumb, Republican women get their backs up, too.”Trump didn’t take her advice, if he heard it.

The next day, while debating Vice President Harris on national television, Trump said Harris’s actions were “stupid” as he falsely accused her of failing to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine.(In fact, Harris did not negotiate with these countries.) Trump also gave muddled answers on abortion — Republicans’ biggest weakness, especially among women — twice resorting to the false claim that Democrats have said it’s acceptable to execute babies.In the moments after the debate, Taylor Swift made Trump’s bad night with women worse.

She endorsed Harris in an Instagram post that she signed “Childless Cat Lady,” taking ownership of a phrase Vance had used as an insult and aligning herself with the many women who had posted photos of themselves with their cats as a retort.The night was one indication among many that gender is the deepest fault line in this year’s presidential campaign.But this isn’t because Harris is running on her claim to becoming the country’s first female president.

She has largely avoided declarations about breaking barriers.It’s Trump and Vance who have made the election all about gender.Rather than taking what seems like the safe path — treating Harris with respect, affirming some basic support for equality, and steering toward a clear middle path on abortion — they’ve produced some of the campaign’s most memorable moments by firing the k...