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At this point, it’s hard to find a group of people that former reality TV star and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump hasn’t offended. One of those many, many groups is women. Trump has said that “putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing,” spoken out against maternity leave and, when reporter Megyn Kelly asked Trump a question that he didn’t like, accused Kelly of being on her period. According to the Washington Post, only 38% of American women support Trump.
So, it’s no surprise that at the Republican National Convention’s “Women Vote Trump” panel on Monday, July 18, only 17 women showed up- most of whom were reporters who were only there to cover the event.
This photo, posted by British freelance journalist Laurie Penny, shows just how many chairs remained empty. Keep in mind, this was taken after the event had officially started:
Turnout for Women For Trump event. The people in this picture are journalists and one media intern. #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/Xb1UNySw6J
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) July 18, 2016
“I knew I was going to take a beating and a lashing for supporting Donald Trump,” Amy Kremer, the co-founder of Women for Trump, told the practically empty room. “From other conservatives! But who are you to judge me?”
The Q&A portion of the event is where things really got awkward. With such few people in attendance, the scheduled speakers were forced to ask and answer questions amongst themselves.
“He has a track record with women that is amazing,” Ann Stone, another of the event’s co-founders, said. “He has always paid women what they’re worth and paid them comparably.” It should probably be noted that Stone’s husband, Roger Stone, was fired from CNN earlier this year after posting a series of racist and sexist statements to Twitter.
"I like a man you can judge by his actions," Ann Stone at Women Vote Trump event (attended by 17 people) #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/Ddpnuf4VP3
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
Unsurprisingly, over 1,800 women showed up to an anti-Trump rally that had been held in Cleveland the day before.
