Speaking before a more than 150-person crowd including elected officials, conservative pundit Ann Coulter urged Missouri State University conservatives to focus on the issues of “crime, immigration, and wokeness” to win elections.
The Republican firebrand also doubled down Thursday night on her controversial view that women should not have the right to vote “because women see the government as their husbands.”
Coulter was invited by the MSU chapter of Turning Point USA, a nationwide college campus conservative advocacy group. The event was also organized by the Leadership Institute, which “identifies, trains, recruits and places conservatives in politics, government, and media,” according to their website.
While introducing Coulter, Missouri State TPUSA president Loren Rutherford said she was “incredibly grateful” that Coulter decided to “invest in our students today by bringing her thoughts and ideas to Missouri State.”
Rutherford also noted that college campuses are a place where controversial ideas should be heard.
“Many students on this campus made it clear that her ideas were dangerous and unwelcome here in this pivotal moment in our country — where wrong is right and two plus two is five. When you are threatened with violence for daring to think differently, Ann Coulter is a necessary voice to bring to the table.”
‘Women see the government as their husbands’
The first student-submitted question Coulter was asked referenced Coulter’s long-time belief that women should not have the right to vote.
“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine,” she said in a 2007 New York Observer interview.
Asked about this controversial statement Thursday, Coulter doubled down.
“Yeah, I’d give up my vote in a heartbeat as long as the rest of you stop voting…” she said. “Women see the government as their husbands. I mean when you look at the Democrats getting in there and spending $4 trillion… wherever women are given the vote in whatever state, in whatever country you see spending going through the roof.”
Her presentation was attended by Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller and State Senator Mike Moon, who is currently vying for the Republican nomination in southwest Missouri’s 7th Congressional District.
Schoeller told the News-Leader he attended the event after being invited by a student leader who organized it.
Though saying “as a conservative I enjoy the opportunity to attend events like this,” Schoeller clarified that he believes women should have the right to vote.
“The 19th amendment was absolutely the right thing to do when the American people added it to our U.S. Constitution in 1920 — giving women the right to vote. I firmly believe that and would never advocate or think otherwise,” he told the News-Leader.
‘Crime, immigration, and wokeness’
In her presentation, Coulter urged conservatives to focus on three issues in the upcoming midterm election: crime, immigration, and “wokeness.”
While saying there is “very little” the government can do to improve lives, it can reduce crime.
Coulter said “following the racial reckoning of 2020” precipitated by the death of George Floyd, the murder rate increased by 29 percent from 2019 to 2020, which she characterized as “the largest one-year-jump ever.”
Homicides did increase by 25 percent in 2020, but crime decreased overall. Violent crime increased by 3.3 percent, while property crime decreased by 7.9 percent.
“What is the smug, self-satisfied, head-up-their-butt liberal response to the burgeoning crime rate? It’s to, you know, say, ‘let’s put it in perspective,’” Coulter said.
“The point is when they dismiss concerns over crime, that’s when you know you’re on the target — they don’t take it seriously. They are scared about it. This is what conservatives should be talking about — talking their heads off on the crime rate that affects everyone.”
Coulter placed the blame of increased crime on the Black Lives Matter movement, saying they “don’t care about black lives, just black criminals.”
She added that crime disproportionally affects black and brown Americans, which is why Hispanic voters shifted four percentage points toward Trump in the 2020 election.
Coulter also argued that shift occurred because many Hispanic Americans do not want to see “mass immigration” displacing their jobs.
“Blacks and Hispanics are hurt by immigration most of all by low-wage workers taking their jobs,” she said.
Coulter argued that Republicans can bolster their anti-elite credentials by strongly opposing immigration.
“Who wants mass illegal immigration? Somebody wants it, or it wouldn’t keep happening. Of course, the rich want it. They want to drive their employees’ wages down. The rich are doing really well and they want some nannies and maids and chauffeurs. The Chamber of Commerce will tell us immigrants are doing the jobs Americans just won’t do, but… Americans have always done these jobs — the price for their labor just keeps being pushed down and down by the rich.”
Coulter made an equally anti-establishment argument on what she called “wokeness.”
“Wokeness is perfect for the upper class. They get to completely forget about income inequality, which has gone through the roof. But no, they don’t have to worry about that. They just make sure their kids get into Harvard and are preening about minorities. Somebody is going to get the short end of the stick, but that’s not going to be their kids. No, it’ll be the white working class, who they always kind-of hated anyway.”
Because of its ability to be co-opted by the rich elite, Coulter called anti-racism “the basis for all terrible ideas.”
What Ann Coulter said about President Donald Trump
Asked about whether former President Donald Trump should run for the office again in 2024, she said “by God I hope not” and claimed he would not win the nomination and could screw up the race for the rest of the party.
“What I’m looking for in the next Republican presidential candidate is Trumpism without Trump,” she said.
Coulter explained that Trump would likely run on his baseless allegations of voter fraud, which she said is not a good electoral strategy.
“Now he’s going around saying the most important issue is the ‘2020 election fraud.’ This never, ever, ever works. Remember he lost Georgia for you, he will do the same thing in the midterms, will do the same thing in the presidential election,” Coulter said. “When you lose an election, it never pays off to contest it — even if you have had an election openly stolen from you. Don’t complain about it. Don’t demand a recount. Accept your loss, and run again.”
https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2021/10/22/ann-coulter-says-women-shouldnt-have-right-vote-19th-amendment-missouri-state-university/8528256002/
