Such talk offends some women but not all. Social critic Camille Paglia has cited Trump’s “fearless candor and brash energy” as a “great gust of fresh air.” Maloney says she feels there is a double standard with regard to Trump, and that he fires back at both men and women. “A lot of people have insulted him and called him a clown, a carnival huckster and a sideshow,” she says. “He has been hit on all sides, but people tend to focus on, ‘Oh, he said this one thing, one time, that one day.’”

Maloney says she was in awe while watching Trump announce his presidential bid on TV in June last year. “Though he may not have worded things like a typical politician, I felt an authenticity with the way he spoke. I just thought, This man is different, and this man stands out to me,” says Maloney, a self-described conservative. “I remember laughing because he was so blunt, and I remember thinking, We don’t hear that on TV.”

By December, Maloney was chairwoman of the Georgia Women for Trump Coalition. She and nearly 400 other women hosted events and worked the phones ahead of the state’s March 1 primary. A large part of her volunteer role, she says, was dealing with daily battles against what she calls the media’s spread of disinformation and political propaganda against Trump. “To me, it’s showing strength and courage to say what you believe, regardless of what people think.”