Kirsten Gillibrand, The Senate's unapologetic feminist, is leading the resistance against Trump
Even as Kirsten Gillibrand has charted a meteoric political rise, she has maintained the ability to fly ever so slightly under the radar, exploiting opponents' consistent failure to recognize her as a lethal political threat. Since Trump's inauguration, the junior senator from New York has earned the distinction of being, statistically, the chamber's most anti-Trump member (voting against the president's position 93.7 percent of the time), and her steadfast opposition to Trump's Cabinet picks won her legions of new admirers. Yet she still managed to get Trump, whose proposed budget slashes everything from the State Department to food stamps, to agree to spend $2 million on a commission commemorating the centennial of women's suffrage. Gillibrand, noting the funding was tucked into a must-pass appropriations bill, says with a slight smile, "Trump didn't necessarily know it was there."
It makes sense, of course, that Congress' most unapologetic feminist would be best positioned to channel the white-hot rage that drove millions of women to take to the streets in protest of Trump's inauguration. "We are at a very intense moment," she says. "If you're not fighting, you're going to lose." But in certain ways, the Age of Trump has also helped propel a number of Gillibrand's most closely held causes.
She's long argued that until women are equally represented in Congress, the issues that matter to them won't get the attention or resources they deserve. Six years ago, she started Off the Sidelines, a PAC that supports women seeking public office. This year, she says, "a far greater number" of women than ever have reached out – overall, Trump's election has spurred at least 16,000 women and counting to consider a run for office. "The silver lining of the Trump presidency is it is an era of activism, and one where women really want to be heard," Gillibrand says. "They are stepping up and owning their ambition and being willing to take risks – they know that the things they love are at risk."
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/how-kirsten-gillibrand-is-outsmarting-donald-trump-w501354
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