Donald Trump expressed disbelief that a woman could hide her choice at the polls from her husband, destroying an ad from a Democratic group reminding women that their votes are private.

The ad, published by Vote Common Good and narrated by actress Julia Roberts, shows a woman voting for Kamala Harristhe suggestion being that her vote does not match her husband’s. “In the only place in America where women still have the right to choose, you can vote the way you want,” Roberts says in the video.

In a meandering phone conversation with “Fox & Friends” Saturday morning, Trump criticized both the ad and Roberts.

“I’m so disappointed in Julia Roberts – she’ll look back on it and she’ll cringe, like, ‘Did I really say that?’ It doesn’t say much about her relationship, but I’m sure she has a great relationship,” he said.

“But wives and husbands, I don’t think that’s how they deal with things. I mean, can you imagine a wife not telling her husband who she’s voting for? Have you ever heard anything like this? » Trump said. “Even if you have a horrible relationship, if you had a bad relationship, you’re going to tell your husband. It’s a ridiculous ad, it’s so stupid.

Polls showed a sharp gender divide among votersparticularly young votersin the presidential election: a majority of women supported Harris over Trump, and Trump beat Harris among men. In trying to close the gap, Trump’s appeals to women have tended to veer into condescending, vaguely threatening statements.

The Democratic ad, released this week, also rabid right-wing influencers, like my colleague Ja’han Jones did underlines. Some of them have suggested that women should not have the right to vote at all if they vote differently from their husbands.

Trump’s dismay at the suggestion that a woman’s vote is entirely up to him is reminiscent of at least one instance where he seemed concerned about how someone might vote.