Gloria Steinem was a fierce Trump critic: What she said about the president

PoliticsFeminist Gloria Steinem was a fierce critic of President Donald Trump(AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)AP Photo/Kathy WillensBy Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.comTo put it mildly, Gloria Steinem was not a fan of Donald Trump.The feminist icon, who died Wednesday at 92, had a lot to say about the president, starting when Trump first ran for the White House in 2016.Steinem, who co-founded Ms. Magazine, supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.She made an inaccurate prediction about Trump while insulting him that year.“He’s not going to be president of the United States, if that’s any comfort to you,” she said while being interviewed by The Globe and Mail of Toronto.“If [Trump] didn’t exist, and I made him up in a novel, they would kill me. They would say, ‘oh, you’re so hostile to men. That couldn’t possibly be,” she said with a laugh. Reflecting on Trump’s appeal at the time, Steinem said, “it’s partly that people think that if you’re rich, you’re smart. And, I’m afraid, it is partly that there are haters, you know, who hate immigrants, who hate ... and he expresses that.“It is a disgrace, it is absolutely a disgrace, she said, ”but he is not going to be president of the United States."Also in 2016, Steinem hurled a string of insults at Trump while speaking at the West Cork Literary Festival in Ireland.“He is a ridiculously small, insecure man with ... cotton candy hair and his coat swings open and you see this gelatinous mass,” Steinem said to laughs. “I don’t know where he went wrong in his childhood; I can’t address that.“It is unforgivable that we have in my country raised him to the level of a presidential candidate,” she said. “In real life, he should not be elected, he should be hospitalized.”Steinem was one of the most prominent figures at the Women’s March in 2017, held the day after Trump’s inauguration to protest the president.“Remember, the Constitution doesn’t begin with, ‘I, the president.’ It begins with, ‘We, the people,’” she said in her speech.Later that year, Steinem credited Trump with fostering new activists.“Trump is a disaster and a danger,” she said, according to People. “But he’s also a big-time consciousness-raiser.”Against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, Steinem referred to Trump as the “harasser in chief” when she addressed a women’s conference in Boston in 2017.In June, The New York Times published a piece ahead of Trump’s 80th birthday featuring advice from prominent figures who had reached that milestone.Steinem was among those interviewed, and her advice to Trump was curt.“Resign,” she said.Trump administration slammed for releasing ‘bigoted’ video games where players deport immigrants 20-plus research facilities to close to get ‘costs under control’ Trump insults Ken Paxton while urging Texans to vote for him: ‘That’s an endorsement?’Trump sends shocking message to his ‘obese’ friend: ‘He’s got a serious weight problem’Hollywood actor uses obscure 12-letter word to insult Trump’s presidency: ‘We’ll get through it’Howard Koplowitz is AL.com's Breaking & Trending Reporter for afternoons and nights. He has been with AL.com since 2015 and has served in a variety of roles, ranging from coverage of Donald Trump's first...