Time to Toughen Up, Ladies

American women need to do some serious soul-searching before they discount Donald Trump.

Trump is Trump, and he “never said he was a perfect person” — his words. He’s apologized for his crude remarks about women made 11 years ago, and his wife, Melania, while angry at first, has forgiven him. As appalled as I was when I first heard the news, I’ve moved on, too. It’s our country and our people that matter — not words Trump said 11 years ago during what he believed was a private conversation.

I’ve got kids. It’s not all about me. It hasn’t been for some time.

As a wife and mother, I have decided, as a general policy, to bemoan Trump’s occasional verbal slip-ups from my safe home, surrounded by my happy and protected children, while those I care about enjoy growing paychecks and increased employment opportunities as Americans — all situations Trump defends and will work even harder to improve and develop for new generations.

If words are all that matters, Bill Clinton should not have the right to appear ever again on a public stage. If words are all that matters, the woman who said, “What difference does it make?” about the Americans who died in Benghazi has definitively proven she doesn’t have the credentials to run for commander-in-chief.

As a woman, I choose a safer and stronger country and a promising future for all women — and I am not willing to give my future away over crude comments made so long ago. I truly don’t believe those words capture the man who has been working on ways to fix this country — someone who has created scores of jobs over the years and didn’t have to leave his private life to help save the nation.

You see, I’ve got kids. It’s not all about me. It hasn’t been for some time.

Being offended by Donald Trump’s language enough to discount the chance he offers to change the nation’s current disastrous course flies in the face of true feminism, in my book. It’s an authentic, passionate brand of feminism many women display every day.

Look at the definition of feminism: the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Nothing about language there.

Related: What About Hillary’s Decades of Humiliating Women?

If you really want to be offended, ladies, watch highlight reels of Bill Clinton’s rise to power. If talk is what matters, he talked a beautiful game. Back at the Oval Office, however, he was taking advantage of a 22-year-old intern.

Is this not horrifying to feminists? Isn’t this what we should show our daughters deserves our outrage?

In his climb to the top, Bill Clinton groped women. One woman says he raped her. And Hillary said nothing — not only that, she went out of her way to shame and demean these women. Is true feminism now so diluted, so mangled, that as long as the right things are said, nothing else matters?

If Amelia Earhart had only talked about flying, would that have made her great? If Mother Theresa had only wished she could care for the poor, would that have made her a woman who became a saint?

Related: The Hillary Clinton Smear Machine

Ask a real woman working an oil rig if Trump’s talk is enough to make her vote for Hillary. Ask a woman seeking the front lines of battle how she will make her choice for the presidency. Ask a WWE female wrestler if she will judge Trump by his words or his actions.

His actions, almost certainly. These women live in the real word, where actions trump words.

If feminists really want to be offended, they should watch highlight reels of Bill Clinton’s rise to power.

LGBT women are now fighting to use male bathrooms — they want to use bathrooms with urinals when it suits them. This is to be deemed acceptable without any argument whatsoever, while a private conversation years ago should wipe out a candidate’s chance of leading the nation? If so, our standards of propriety are becoming dangerously lop-sided.

Feminism isn’t feminism if it’s pulled out as a handy card only when it suits a purpose. Any woman offended by Trump’s words enough to disqualify him surely can’t serve on a front line, wrestle criminals to the ground and cuff them as a police officer, or enter a WWE cage to fight.

They just wouldn’t be tough enough to ignore words and rely on action.

I don’t like what I heard on these tapes. I shake my head over his words. But as a true feminist, I am tough enough to not disqualify him because of it. As a true feminist, I want a better future — not better language.

Related: Parents Find Reassurance, Calm, in GOP Ticket

It’s time to put on the big-girl pants, women. Let’s get good things done in America by electing the only candidate who will lead America into a promising future for all women. And it isn’t “she.”