Maybe it’s the fact that Ben Domenech married Meghan McCain, who, as a former co-host of “The View,” knew how to relate to single women. Or maybe it’s simply that he knows politics is a game of getting more votes than the other party, and to do that, you should be careful who you alienate. In any case, Domenech explains the insanity of Republican messaging vis-à-vis single women.

In recent years, Republican candidates and media figures have become increasingly critical of one portion of the population. At the same time, this same demographic has turned against them at the ballot box. As the GOP became the party of men — married or unmarried — they drove away the single women, who voted against them en masse in the 2022 midterms.

It’s not hard to see why. Setting aside any of the ideological positioning involved — Republicans being opposed to the government programs that benefit many single women, as well as the woke pro-abortion agenda many espouse — it’s been clear for many years now that conservatives view single women as a blight on humanity, a form of hyperfeminist perversion of the natural state that would lead them toward marriage and family formation.

Why not instead speak to the concerns of single women? After all, “they have many of the same concerns as other Americans, particularly when it comes to rising crime, the cost of living and the lie at the center of anti-feminist hypersexualized app-driven dating.” He argues, “A conservative message about safe streets, stronger values and lower costs ought to have some purchase in an environment of single women disappointed in the Pajama Boys of the day.”

Instead, Republicans in media and politics have chosen to demonize these same individuals. …

Their repeated denunciations of single women as sad homebound “cat ladies” send a clear message: your life choices are bad, and you should feel bad. Don’t vote for us or our candidates, under any circumstances. It’s honestly a bizarre approach to people who purportedly want to be successful at politics.

Domenech points to the Bible’s calls for how to treat women — maybe especially single women — with dignity and respect. He then concludes:

Of course many Americans desire more than just a home life bounded by cats. But the utter rejection of unmarried women by the Republican Party is foolish and shortsighted — made all the worse by the fact that it is at odds with the very Christian charity to which so many of their spokesmen pretend to subscribe. The single woman, the widow, the nun are all to be put on pedestals in the Christian tradition. It makes no sense to attack them. Instead … these male critics ought to be focused on building men up to better spouses and fathers, whether they earn that or not.

Spectator subscribers can read the whole thing here.