Hillary Clinton should be celebrating. Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the Fox News debate was ostensibly about ratings. How can the cable network make money without his celebrity pull? Trump may prove his point when Thursday night’s viewership numbers come in.

But switching channels is not the same thing as showing up at a polling booth. More than half America’s electorate is female — they accounted for 53 per cent of the vote in the last election. Even the most apathetic will by now have heard Trump’s opinions about Megyn Kelly, the Fox anchor, who will co-host the debate. Ms Kelly is a “bimbo”, according to Trump, who is incapable of objectivity when there is “blood coming out of her whatever”.

So that is settled. Trump thinks the menstrual cycle is a handicap. He also recoils at other female bodily functions. When Clinton took a bathroom break at a recent Democratic debate, Trump described her as “disgusting”. He used the same word about an opposing lawyer in a 2011 hearing when she asked for a short break to pump breast milk. Looks are also fair game. Among those attacked for their appearance are the actress Bette Midler (“extremely unattractive”), Angelina Jolie (“she’s been with so many guys she makes me look like a baby”), media figure Arianna Huffington (“unattractive both inside and out”), fellow Republican candidate Carly Fiorina (“look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?”) and comedian Rosie O’Donnell (“fat pig”).

None of which has done Trump’s ratings any harm. The more controversial a celebrity, the bigger audiences they attract. The question is whether there is any longer a meaningful distinction between show business and US politics. Do ratings equal votes?

Berlusconi the nearest equivalent

Italy already answered that for itself with its repeated re-election of Silvio Berlusconi, the nearest western world equivalent to Trump. Berlusconi also alternated between boasts of his conquests of women and contempt for their gender. Trump has been bragging of his sexual conquests for decades. In his first book, Trump: The Art of the Deal in 1987, he referred to his frequent affairs with “married and unmarried women”. This was when he was still on his first marriage to Ivana Trump. Like Berlusconi, little is taboo. “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her,” Trump said recently.

We will learn soon enough if the US is different from Italy. Tomorrow, Iowa’s Republicans will choose between Trump and Ted Cruz, the Texan senator, who has made a great pitch for the state’s evangelical vote. It is a fair bet that if heavily churchgoing Iowa endorses Trump, more secular states, such as New Hampshire, will have little compunction. But primary contests are different from general elections. Trump has pitched his appeal to blue collar, male Republicans. To become president, however, he would need to win a higher share of the female vote (44 per cent) than Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee. If his opponent were Clinton, his task would be more difficult. Like Kelly, Clinton is a blonde who answers back. Trump does not respond well to such women.

This is what Trump recently tweeted about Clinton: “If Hillary can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?”

Trump’s critics, including Fox, have mocked him for avoiding the Fox debate: if he cannot handle Kelly, how can he stand up to Vladimir Putin or Ayatollah Khamenei? It is a good question but it misses the point.

Trump does not fear strong men. He thinks he is one of them. Strong women, on the other hand, are an abiding source of distress.

— Financial Times