The Attacks On Congresswoman Elise Stefanik Emphasize The Left’s Double Standard With Women

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik had her feminist moment — and the left missed it.

Not only did they miss it. They were among those crying out against it.

Stefanik made headlines this week for her firm and unwavering performance at the public impeachment hearings. On Friday’s hearing, Stefanik stood out for her strong condemnation of Chairman Adam Schiff’s execution of the impeachment inquiry process — including his repeated attempts to quiet her. Though her words were received with much praise from the right, Democrats found issue with them and made their displeasure abundantly clear.

However, their political criticism of Stefanik quickly devolved to misogyny.

On Wednesday, Matthew Dowd, chief political analyst for ABC, posted in a now-deleted tweet: “Elise Stefanik is a perfect example of why just electing someone because they are a woman or a millennial doesn’t necessarily get you the leaders we need.”

Stefanik is currently serving her third term in Congress and was recently named to the TIME Next 100 list. She started a PAC to encourage and assist more women in the Republican Party running for political office (a pursuit that earned her sharp criticism from members of her own party, to which she responded, “I wasn’t asking for permission.”)

Stefanik, contrary to Dowd’s suggestion, is not relying on her gender to win her seat. Rather, she is working — and, shown by her three terms in Congress, she is doing so successfully.

Dowd apologized for the tweet, but the attacks continued.

On Friday, Stefanik was repeatedly silenced by Chairman Adam Schiff. On one occasion, Schiff quieted Stefanik, who asked, “What is the interruption for this time?”

Schiff would not permit her to speak, despite the fact that her Republican counterparts yielded to her when in control of time, which Congressman Devin Nunes noted is a “customary” practice.

Still, Schiff shut her down.

The exchange resembles a situation that occurred in the Senate in February 2017, though with one glaring distinction.

Instead of a Republican woman, it was a Democratic woman — Senator Elizabeth Warren.

And the difference in party seems to have changed the entire experience.

When Warren was quieted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for speaking out of turn, McConnell explained, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

The words became a battle cry for feminists. Women adopted the line “nevertheless, she persisted” as their own and praised Warren for her strength. As The New York Times summarized the situation:

A broader theme — that women are too commonly shushed or ignored — emerged on social media. And #LetLizSpeak began trending. Women and men drew examples from the historical likes of Rosa Parks and the suffrage movement.

Was Stefanik not worthy of that kind of defense became she is a Republican woman rather than a Democratic woman? Where was the #LetEliseSpeak outcry from the feminists on the left? Where was the apology from Schiff, who tweeted in support of Warren during the “nevertheless, she persisted” debacle? Yes, Congressman Schiff, we have receipts. 

But there was little outcry from Democrats for the silencing of Elise Stefanik. Instead, there was far more trash-talking.

Quite literally.

On Saturday, Attorney George Conway, whose criticism of the President has been inflated and promoted by media outlets simply because he is the husband to White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted that Stefanik is “lying trash.”

Despite backlash for his words, Conway doubled down. When Stefanik replied that she had never been called “trash” before, he quote tweeted her saying, “Well now you have.”

Conway also circulated a doctored picture of Stefanik flipping the middle finger at a camera during the impeachment hearings.

Feminists did not seem to feel the same passion for the mistreatment of Stefanik that they did for Warren back in 2017. As Republican women know well, this is not a new concept.

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley summarized the situation well in a tweet on Saturday: “Liberals are pro women until we say or think something they don’t like then the name calling begins. @RepStefanik, keep up the great fight. We have your back.”