Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg blamed sexism for Hillary Clinton‘s loss to Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
In an interview with CBS’ Charlie Rose on Tuesday evening at the 92nd Street Y in New York, the octogenarian liberal Justice was asked whether sexism played a role in Trump’s narrow victory over the former secretary of state. She replied, “I have no doubt that it did.”
Rose then asked, “Do you think it was decisive? In other words, if Hillary Clinton had been a man, she would have won that election going away?” Ginsburg said: “There are so many things that might have been decisive. But that was a major, major factor.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, she repeatedly criticized then-candidate Donald Trump for his tendency to speak off the cuff, his policies, and his refusal to release his tax returns.
During a July 11 interview with CNN, she said, “[Trump] is a faker. He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego.”
Those comments prompted Trump to call her for retirement and were heavily criticized by other Republicans. She eventually apologized and said she regretted making the comments. Just one month into Trumps’s presidency, however, Ginsburg was back at it, saying, of Trump’s nascent administration, “We are not experiencing the best of times.”
The Justice is the frequent object of adulation in many liberal and progressive circles–and is frequently referred to by her fans using her initials alone. Some of RBG’s biggest boosters even wear t-shirts emblazoned with her image and a nod to rap legend Biggie Smalls.
During Tuesday’s interview, Rose also asked Ginsburg when she thought America would see a woman as president, to which she replied, “Well, we came pretty close.”
[image via screengrab]
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