12 Photos From 2017 That Will Fill You With Rage

From Cosmopolitan

1. When President Donald Trump went charging up the White House steps without waiting for his wife.

Even if you're of the belief that chivalry is a form of benevolent sexism, there's something pitiful about the way President Trump left first lady Melania behind when the couple arrived at the White House on Jan. 20 before the inauguration. The belittling gesture seemed to reinforce Trump's reputation for misogyny; only a man who cares and thinks so poorly of his wife would act this way during such an important moment.

The coldness continued as she made her way up the steps. "If you didn't know that they were married, you wouldn't know that they are married," body language expert Susan Constantine told Mic.

Trump's behavior toward his wife is even more unfortunate when compared with the way former President Barack Obama acted toward former first lady Michelle Obama when they arrived at the White House before his inauguration in 2009.

2. When Trump reinstated the global gag rule while surrounded by men.

On Monday, Trump signed three executive orders: one was to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), another was to establish a government hiring freeze, and the last was to reinstate and greatly expand the Mexico City Policy, or the global gag rule, which denies U.S. aid to foreign organizations that so much as make an abortion referral. Trump made these executive orders - the last of which would disproportionately and negatively impact women - surrounded by his senior staff, and was photographed with seven white men by his side, including Mike Pence, Reince Preibus, Peter Navarro, Jared Kushner, Steven Miller, and Steve Bannon.

Quartz later reported that deputy press secretary Stephanie Grisham, a woman, was there because she led the press into the room.

On Tuesday, when Trump signed more executive orders allowing construction to start again on both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, the Trump team had adjusted its optics, placing Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks in the center of the group standing behind the president.

3. When Trump spoke at the CIA and talked about his crowd size in front of a wall memorializing fallen members of the agency.

Many observers felt that Trump's speech at the CIA on Jan. 21 was a disrespectful display of narcissism that was made even more insulting by the fact that he was standing before the CIA Memorial Wall. Prominent former officials of the CIA have spoken out against the speech. In a statement, former director John Brennan said that he was "deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement," while former deputy director Philip Mudd said, "You almost want to cry. There's a sense of outrage, but there's also such a sense of sadness. Those aren't stars; those are people."

4. When Jason Chaffetz posted this anti-Hillary Instagram.

Rep. Chaffetz, Republican from Utah, was filmed shaking Hillary Clinton's hand at the inauguration ceremony Jan. 20. He not only took a picture of the moment during its airing on Fox News, but he posted that on Instagram (Bio: "I post myself, not done by staff. Blame me."). He captioned it, "So pleased she is not the President. I thanked her for her service and wished her luck. The investigation continues," alluding to the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. Clinton, meanwhile, attended the inauguration in honor of democracy and remained dignified throughout the proceedings.

5. When CNN had a panel discussing the Women's March but only invited one woman to speak.

After the Women's March, the network rounded up a group of nine people to talk about the demonstrations and only one of those nine was a woman. Of course! It makes perfect sense that a women-led protest demanding women's rights should be discussed almost entirely by men. The episode was almost male enough to end up on the Tumblr page "All Male Panels."

6. When lawmakers around the country said horribly sexist things about the Women's March.

Elected officials got a harsh lesson in social media etiquette after the Women's March when their posts got them into trouble for being offensive and inappropriate for people in their positions, from Indiana State Sen. Jack Sandlin, who shared the above fat-shaming meme on Facebook but claimed not to know how it had happened, to Nebraska State Sen. Bill Kintner, who retweeted a sexist post denigrating protesters at the Women's March, to North Carolina State Sen. Joyce Krawiec, who tweeted and deleted this: "Message to crazies @ Women's March-- If brains were lard, you couldn't grease a small skillet. You know who you are."

7. When someone sold these truly awful shirts at the inauguration.

There was truly no shortage of people jumping at the chance to sell stuff at the inauguration, including one vendor who appealed to the worst in every misogynist by selling T-shirts that read, "Hillary sucks, but not like Monica."

8. When Sen. Amy Klobuchar was identified merely as "a woman" when she was taking a selfie with her male colleagues.

Readers of SFGate.com spotted a caption originally written by the photo agency Getty Images identifying Sen. Amy Klobuchar as "a woman" taking a selfie with two other male senators who were recognized and named: John McCain and Bernie Sanders.

SFGate.com later added a note to the photo. "We apologize for publishing the original inappropriate caption, and have apologized to Sen. Klobuchar for using the original Getty caption in the first place."

9. When a Trump supporter wore this shirt to the inauguration.

It reads, "Blacks make racial slurs and commit hate crimes too!!" (Two exclamation points for emphasis.) Yes, this older white man wants you to know that in addition to white people, black people can be racist. Which is true. But a defensive statement shirt and false equivalence don't take away from the reality that America is a society that privileges and values white people over black people, who have been systematically oppressed, imprisoned, and killed in ways sanctioned by the state (hint: it's called white supremacy).

10. When Trump discussed the future of America's healthcare with a group of all-male, mostly-white CEOs.

Trump continued a theme of being surrounded by mostly-white men when he posted this picture of himself with leading U.S. health insurance CEOs.

Since the beginning of his presidency, Trump has said one of his main goals is to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. However, his administration has yet to produce a plan and Trump has now said "nobody knew health care could be so complicated."

11. When the Hollywood Reporter's cover about CNN's "battle for news dominance" featured only men.

The magazine features the cover line “CNN’s New War” and pictures CNN president Jeff Zucker along with other men from the network, including Jake Tapper and Anthony Bourdain.

CNN producer Josiah Daniel Ryan tweeted that the cover represented the "future of media" and said he was "proud to be part of this team." People were quick to jump on Ryan’s now-viral tweet, questioning why the future of media doesn’t include any women:

12. When a group of men met at the White House and discussed the future of women's healthcare with zero women present.

Before the Republicans pulled their Obamacare replacement bill Friday afternoon, a group of male lawmakers, including President Trump and Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus, met to decide whether the bill should repeal the 10 "essential health benefits" that insurers in the individual marketplace are required to cover. Those benefits include pregnancy, maternity and newborn care, according to Vox.

While repealing those benefits would have possibly taken away millions of women's coverage, there were zero women present at the meeting, as shown in Vice President Mike Pence's tweet. Organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, were quick to point out what was missing from the photo:

Follow Helin on Instagram.

Related Video:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

You Might Also Like