‘Such a nasty woman’: Trump’s debate dig becomes a feminist rallying cry

What was meant to be an insult took less than a minute to become a battle cry.

As she explained parts of her tax plan during the third and final presidential debate Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton dinged opponent Donald Trump for his apparent failure to pay federal taxes in recent years. “Such a nasty woman,” Trump responded, as Clinton continued to speak.

And social media exploded.

In an election season where Trump’s trouble with women has taken center stage, it took just seconds for his dig to blossom into an empowering feminist slogan.

“RT if you’re a nasty woman and it’s made your life a freakin’ pleasure,” Lena Dunham wrote on Twitter; she was retweeted more 3,100 times.

“Guess I’m a bigly puppet and a lepo, but I want a nasty woman for president. #debatenight @HillaryClinton,” “Portalandia’s” Carrie Brownstein tweeted.

Trump’s predatory comments caught on the now infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, followed by almost daily allegations from women who claim he sexually assaulted them, set the stage for “nasty woman” to become the best accidental slogan of Clinton’s campaign so far.

If he’d just kept it to “nasty” — just one example of Trump’s strangely schoolmarmish vocabulary, “disgusting” and “rude” being other favorites — it might have gone unnoticed.

But as many post-debate commentators noted, the addition of “woman” sealed his fate. The phrase seemed to indicate that there is such a thing as a “nasty woman,” an identifiable subset, that should never be in the White House.

The term also quickly found a soundtrack in Janet Jackson’s song “Nasty.”

Fittingly enough, the 1986 hit was Jackson’s response to men who exhibited rude behavior toward women, and it came off the not-ironically titled album “Control.”

“No my first name ain’t baby,” sang Jackson. “It’s Janet. Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.”

According to Spotify, streams of Jackson’s hit went up 250% after the debate, and the music video decorated thousands of tweets.

There she was, dancing with her black-clad crew in a militaristic formation, years before Beyoncé stormed the Super Bowl. It was as if Jackson knew this moment were coming; she was simply preparing her troops.

1/5

“Hello, Donald.”

OK, so it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “Hello, Newman,” the greeting the fictional Jerry Seinfeld gave to his arch-nemesis, played by Wayne Knight, on the comedian’s popular sitcom. But Seinfeld’s verbal bout with Trump was unscripted -- and seemingly largely one-sided -- so imperfect phrasing can be forgiven.

Yet should one cross Trump, don’t expect a shrug and a handshake. Instead, Seinfeld received a rant after the comedian backed out of a charity benefit hosted by one of Trump’s sons, supposedly because of the birther issue. Seinfeld’s camp has been relatively quiet, but Trump was quoted as taking a swing at Seinfeld’s TV credits.

No, not the beloved “Seinfeld,” but instead the unscripted show “The Marriage Ref.” Said Trump, “What I do feel badly about is that I agreed to do, and did, your failed show, ‘The Marriage Ref,’ even though I thought it was absolutely terrible.”  (Getty Images / Los Angeles Times)

2/5

Trump started it at the Conservative Political Action Conference, boasting that he was “well acquainted with winning” and saying that Ron Paul has “zero chance of getting elected” president. Paul shot back that Trump’s “birther” battle showed the Donald was “desperate.”  (Getty Images / Associated Press)

3/5

The Donald doesn’t take failure well, and when, in 2006, “The Apprentice” showed signs of ratings weakness, he went after Martha Stewart. Her show, “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” was not highly rated, and Trump believed the spinoff dragged down his own show. He blamed her; she was upset and blamed him; then he wrote a scathing letter telling Stewart to take full responsibility for the failed show, talking about her ImClone fiasco, her daughter’s “one-word statements” and more. Later, in 2008, though the event seemed to have simmered down, Stewart said Trump’s actions were “unforgivable.”  (Getty Images / Los Angeles Times)

4/5

In 2007, Trump put his reputation -- and his hair -- on the line to start a fued with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. In a dramatized dust-up reported on by major media outlets, their storied “hair versus hair” match during Wrestlemania 23 had both men pick a pro-wrestling representative to fight for them in the ring. The loser had to shave his head. Obviously, we know who came out on top in that challenge. In addition to keeping his golden quaff, Trump made an appearance in the WWE match titled “Battle of the Billionaires” that garnered solid gold ratings.  (Getty Images / Associated Press)

5/5

In the Donald’s defense, Cher fired first. The openly Democratic “Turn Back Time” singer took to Twitter in November 2012 (on the heels of Trump hounding President Obama during his 2012 campaign) to bash clothing retailer Macy’s for carrying Trump’s line in its stores and take jabs at his famous ‘do.
“I’ll NEVER GO TO MACY’S AGAIN!” Cher tweeted. “I didn’t know they sold Donald Trump’s Line! If they don’t care that they sell products from a LOUDMOUTH.”
But Trump didn’t take the tirade sitting down, firing back about the singer’s surgical procedures.
“Cher-- I don’t wear a ‘rug’--it’s mine. And I promise not to talk about your massive plastic surgeries that didn’t work.”  (Getty Images / Los Angeles Times)

A multitude, including actress Jessica Chastain, fell in line. “’No my firt name ain’t baby, its Hillary, Madame President if youre nasty.’ #imwither @HillaryClinton,” the “Zero Dark Thirty” star tweeted.

Within hours, “Nasty Woman” T-shirts had popped up on retail sites such as Redbubble, and at least one site advertised that half the proceeds from the $25 shirts were going to Planned Parenthood (possibly in response to a heated exchange Trump and Clinton had during the debate over abortion.)

And for those who don’t want a shirt, “Make America Nasty Again” ball caps are now available on Etsy.

The comment that started it all came, strangely enough, while Clinton was laying out her stance on entitlements.

“I am on record as saying that we need to put more money into the Social Security trust fund,” Clinton said. “That is part of my commitment to raise taxes on the wealthy. My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald’s — assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it.”

That’s when Trump interjected: “Such a nasty woman.”

It’s too late to change “I’m With Her” to “Elect a Nasty Woman,” but for many women and girls, it doesn’t matter.

They’ve taken an insult and turned it into a badge of honor.

lorraine.ali@latimes.com

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