President-elect Donald Trump is rumored to be considering fast food CEO Andy Puzder to be his secretary of labor. Like most of Trump’s Cabinet picks so far, Puzder would probably dismantle or oppose key Obama priorities, like expanding overtime pay and raising the minimum wage.
But what makes Puzder a particularly Trumpian pick is his attitude toward women. Like Trump, Puzder is very open about how much he enjoys objectifying women, and how he likes to use that objectification as a business strategy.
Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. For the last decade or so, Carl’s Jr. has been known for running controversial TV ads featuring models eating hamburgers in various gross, oversexed ways.
Like this infamous 2005 ad, where Paris Hilton briefly pauses the porniest car wash ever to chomp on an inexplicably suds-free burger:
Or this one from 2012, where Kate Upton basically uses hamburger juice as lube:
“I like our ads. I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it's very American,” Puzder told Entrepreneur in 2015. “I used to hear, brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality.”
Puzder says the ads are aimed at “young hungry guys” — and that if the ads aren’t offending people, he’s doing something wrong. If advocates don’t complain, Puzder said, “I go to the head of marketing and say, 'What's wrong with our ads?' Those complaints aren't necessarily bad for us. What you look at is, you look at sales. And, our sales go up.”
It’s the same blasé, boys-will-be-boys, “screw political correctness” attitude toward women and gender that Trump has shown for years, both on the campaign trail and throughout his life.
Trump talks about his admiration for “beautiful” women so often, it’s almost a verbal tic. He demonstrated his own fondness for women in bikinis (outside of beach settings) when he bought the Miss Universe pageant — and when he, by his own admission, barged into the contestants’ dressing room to ogle them while they were changing.
Trump has also been accused of sexual assault by a total of 15 women over the years, most of whom only came forward recently.
It was revealed Thursday evening that Puzder has been accused of more than just objectifying. Puzder was accused of domestic abuse by his first wife in the 1980s, the Riverfront Times reports, and police were called to their house twice.
In a statement, Puzder’s ex-wife Lisa Fierstein (formerly Henning) said: “Andy is one of the finest men I have ever known. Many years ago I impulsively filed for divorce and was counseled to file allegations that I regretted and subsequently withdrew over thirty years ago. Andy is a wonderful father, a great person, and was a good husband.” Puzder also denied allegations of abuse to both the Riverfront Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1989.
Decades later, Puzder — after five women had newly accused Trump of assault, and while Trump was facing criticism on the campaign trail for bragging on tape about forcing himself on women — was one of 100 business leaders to sign a letter supporting Trump and urging Americans to focus on his economic policies instead.
Powerful men often stick up for other powerful men who are accused of sexual impropriety. Indeed, Trump has often sought advice from other men who have been accused of abusing women — notably his friend Roger Ailes (who resigned as CEO of Fox News over multiple charges of sexual harassment) and Trump’s incoming chief adviser Steve Bannon (who was accused of domestic violence against his then-wife).
Update: This post has been updated with a statement from Lisa Fierstein.