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Trump tweets "respect," but here's what he's done on women's rights

President Trump began International Women’s Day with a series of grammatically correct tweets: “I have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy,” read the message from Trump’s Twitter account early Wednesday.

The tweet, and a subsequent message asking his followers to join him in celebrating women around the world on International Women’s Day, were both sent from an iPhone, though by whom remains unclear. President Trump uses an Android to send his tweets, and these tweets were uncharacteristically free of grammar issues.

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That Trump’s administration even acknowledged International Women’s Day at all was significant, given past statements toward women, his infamous “grab ’em by the pussy” brag, and the multiple accusations of sexual assault still pending against him.

After the massive global turnout for the Women’s March protests that prompted nationwide protests the day after his iInauguration, Trump personally criticized the movement, tweeting from his Android, “Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.”

Trump’s predecessor, President Obama, made it a habit to observe the day: Last year he issued a statement touting his Let Girls Learn initiative. The year before, Obama acknowledged the notion that women are on an unequal playing field, calling the “gap between women’s inherent value and how many of them are treated every day” as “one of the great injustices of our time.”

And yet Trump’s acknowledgment seems incongruous in the context of the policies his administration has pursued so far. Aside from a bill supporting paid maternity leave, said to be influenced by daughter Ivanka, the Trump administration stands apart for taking things away from women, or excluding them from the process:

So far, Trump and his administration have:

And yet, the president does loves women. He said so himself in a media interview in October after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape came out: “I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. I’ve said things that, frankly, you hear these things I said. And I was embarrassed by it. But I have tremendous respect for women. And women have respect for me.”