Donald Trump is a “dangerous man” who will fan the flames of terrorism – but the country would be in even worse hands if true-believers Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz become president.
So said two icons of feminism — Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem – at Sunday night’s Women’s Equality and ERA Coalition’s “Night of Comedy” at Caroline’s on Broadway.
Two days before the crucial New Hampshire primary, which polls show Trump winning, Fonda, 78, accused the bloviating billionaire of “fanning the flames of people’s anxieties and racism.”
“It’s terrible and it’s dangerous,” she added. “Even if he doesn’t make it which I don’t think he will, the fact that he’s said the things he’s said about Muslims for example, the damage has been done. All those young Muslims now can say, ‘Yeah I guess they really are waging a war against us,’ and it will draw them closer to the terrorists. I think it’s really, really dangerous.”
Fonda said she is supporting Hillary Clinton for the White House, but spoke glowingly of the former First Lady’s rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“I think he’s great,” Fonda said. “He’s great at describing what one of the main problems is, which is wealth equality. She’s good at saying how we’re going to solve problems and she’s going to get it done.”
Fonda’s comments came just a few hours after another feminist icon, Gloria Steinem, was forced to apologize for an earlier comment that young women who back Sanders are just doing it to meet “boys.” Steinem was also at the comedy night, but steered clear of the Democratic Party kerfluffle, directing her ire on the GOP.
Steinem said only that Trump was “less scary” than his rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz “because he’s less likely to get elected and he seems to believe nothing.”
“He’ll say anything whereas the other two really do believe that women should not have reproductive rights,” she said.
Later in the evening, Fonda opened up about her feminist beliefs, admitting that she never fully understood her leanings until she was 62 and saw Eve Ensler perform “The Vagina Monologues.” Before that, she said, “I couldn’t be an embodied feminist in my blood and bones till I left behind my inauthentic relationships with men. My father, my husbands, my lovers. How can one be an embodied feminist if behind closed doors you’re leaving the authentic part of yourself behind in order to please, in order to be a good girl?”
Fonda is the daughter of Henry Fonda and was married to Roger Vadim, Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, whom she divorced in 2001.
Rosie O’Donnell, Cynthia Nixon and Judah Friedlander also attended the sold out event.
With Nicki Gostin
