Not All Anger is Created Equal, Says Feminist Author Rebecca Traister
*By Conor White*
Women on both sides of the aisle may be enraged, but that anger is still sharply divided. Women are running for office in record numbers this year ー yet the outcome hasn't been the same for Republicans and Democrats, said author and political columnist Rebecca Traister.
"Numbers of women running for Republican seats also went up ー\[but\] they didn't win their primaries at the rate that women and people of color on the Democratic side did," Traister said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"Anger is very combustible force, it can kick political and social movements off the ground, but it can also blow up between allies," she said.
Party aside, the numbers are still striking.
476 women ran in Democratic and Republican primaries for Congress, and there are still 323 races in which at least one woman is running.
To Traister, the numbers are "unprecedented," but women's impulse to change their government has a historical basis.
"Women are activated as door knockers, registering voters, volunteers with campaigns, and again as candidates in ways that are pretty unprecedented in recent decades," Traister said.
But, she added, social movements "often started with women who were angry about injustice at the beginning and wanted to change something."
Traister has called women's anger both "catalytic and "problematic," but she said it's "mostly potent from a political perspective" as the midterms loom.
In the last month, women on the right have raised the decibel on their political voices, especially during Brett Kavanaugh's divisive Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
Even in the face of Christine Blasey Ford's dramatic testimony, many Republican women believed the sexual assault allegations against the now-Justice were part of a political hit job ー and many among them expressed concerned that their husband or son could fall prey to similar and potentially unfounded claims.
"That was an instance of white conservative women's anger being used by the right to send a particular message to the electorate," Traister said of the conservative response to the hearings.
Traister, a National Magazine Award-winner, is the author of the new book "Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger," which examines progressive movements throughout history, from the abolition of slavery to women's suffrage, that started with women getting mad.
The upcoming elections, at whatever level of government, are no different.
"Many of those candidacies started in the anger of post-Trump," Traister said.
"Women were so angry at Trump's presidential win that they were like, 'I'm going to go run for office,'" she said.
"Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger" is on sale now.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-power-of-womens-anger).
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill held its first primetime hearing on Thursday. Cheddar News speaks with legal analyst Tracy Pearson, who breaks down the biggest takeaways.
Fuel and oil prices have risen almost 17 percent since May, making the national gas prices reach nearly $5 a gallon. Andrew Lipow from consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates joined Cheddar News to discuss the future of gas prices. "The biggest issue on the oil market is really events that are beyond our control, which is what is happening over in Europe," he said, regarding the ongoing Russia Ukraine war. Lipow also said he predicted gas prices to hit $5.05 and that he's focused on the Biden administration's overtures in repairing a relationship with Saudi Arabia.
March For Our Lives will be returning this weekend to Washington, DC, in the wake of the recent mass shooting seen throughout the country. Marchers include Yolanda Renee King, the only granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. She joined Cheddar News to discuss the importance of the march and activism in general. "I just think that it's so important to have these rallies because we need to demand to our leaders and politicians that they pass legislation and that and we actually need to see action," she said.
Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow, directors of 'The Big Payback,' join Cheddar News to discuss their new film, 'The Big Payback.' It premieres Saturday, June 11 at the Tribeca Festival.
President Biden proposed a new rule that would add 500,000 chargers for electric vehicles nationwide. The proposal comes amid the rapid shift to EVs with dozens of automakers announcing plans for all-electric fleets within the next decade. But with the new surge will the U.S. have the proper infrastructure to keep up? Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Autonomy.com joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss. "I really think the idea of standardization is a big deal. Standardization certainly makes it much better for everybody to be able to get a charge when they need one," he said.
The House select committee investigating the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill is opening its landmark series of public hearings. Cheddar News speaks with Mike Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who explains how to follow the hearings and what to expect.
Claudia Rosenbaum, freelance reporter for Vanity Fair, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the race for Los Angeles mayor.
Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, forced a runoff with the longtime Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who had been the favorite in the race until an ad blitz from Caruso leaning on the city's issues with crime and homelessness.
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
