Opinion | Trump: Protector of Women — or Predators?

Donald Trump proclaimed that he would be the protector of women.

That seems to involve anointing creeps from whom women need protection.

If you want to see women flying high, dominating the landscape and unmasking a fake wizard, see “Wicked.”

In Oz, women are defying gravity. In America, many have been grounded, under the thumb of a wicked wizard.

Trump set his restoration’s macho tone in a return to Madison Square Garden for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event. As The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo said on CNN, “This is sort of the conquering Republican Caesar who’s going into the Colosseum and everyone’s cheering, and he’s got his political gladiators with him.”

Trump took his seat by the fighters’ cage to “American Bad Ass” by Kid Rock, with his bro posse, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan, and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, tagging along like the nerdy little brother. Dana White, the U.F.C. chief executive, introduced Trump at the Republican convention as “the toughest, most resilient human being that I’ve ever met.”

Women’s optimism over striking achievements — the #MeToo movement, the anti-Trump marches; perhaps the most effective modern House speaker, Nancy Pelosi; the women elected to Congress in response to Trump; the creditable presidential campaigns of two women, Nikki Haley and Kamala Harris — is melting faster than a water-soaked wicked witch.