At a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump declared he would be a protector of women “whether the women like it or not.”

He added that, despite warnings from his staff to stop saying so, he was committed to talking about being a protector: “I’m going to protect them from migrants coming in … I’m going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things.”

His comments echoed those from earlier in the day at a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, when Trump told attendees that millions of people have illegally entered the country, including “savage criminals who assault, rape and murder our women and girls.” 

Addressing the women in the crowd, Trump asked: “Is there any woman in the audience that does not seek protection? Please raise your hand.” 

After a moment of silence, he then asked: “Is there any woman in the audience that wants to be protected?” 

Cheers erupted, women in the audience raised their hands and many waved “Make America Great Again!” signs. 

For weeks Trump has been describing himself as a “protector,” someone who will safeguard American workers, jobs, borders and families. But with less than one week before Election Day, that message took a slightly new turn: He will also protect women — even if they didn’t ask for it. 

Trump’s political career has been marked by a number of accusations of sexual misconduct — with the most recent woman coming forward with less than two weeks before the election. Stacey Williams told the Guardian that Trump groped her breasts and her butt in 1993. The Trump campaign denied the allegation. In total, about two dozen women have publicly accused Trump of misconduct, and he has been found liable of sexual abuse and defamation in one case.

Trump’s latest comments were met with strong condemnation from the Harris-Walz campaign, which quickly linked the former president’s message with the issue of abortion access. 

Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump’s comments “very offensive to women” while she spoke to reporters in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday morning. Harris said his comments reveal a misunderstanding of women’s authority, right and ability to make their own decisions about their lives and bodies.

“This is just the latest in a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women and their agency,” Harris said. “Whether he has said that women should be punished for their choices, whether he has talked about his pride in taking away a fundamental right for women, whether it be how he has actually created a situation in America where 1 in 3 women lives in a Trump abortion ban state and has legal restrictions on the rights she should have to make decisions about her own body.”

Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz also sharply rebuked Trump’s comments while speaking at a reproductive freedom campaign event in Georgia on Wednesday.

“It pretty much says all you need to know about Donald Trump and the agenda he wants to impose on us,” Walz said, speaking to a crowd of more than 60 people. “He doesn’t trust us. He thinks he can speak for us. He wants power over us. I don’t know about you, but I never asked Trump to be my protector.”  

Jennifer Gerson in Georgia contributed to this report.

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