Are any of us really surprised at the machismo Donald Trump displayed in a private conversation back in 2005? As women are we so naïve that we believe conversations like the one Trump had with Billy Bush don’t happen all over the country every day -- and let’s not kid ourselves -- from locker rooms to board rooms to the hallowed halls of Congress?

I ask these rhetorical questions because as an American woman I don’t think a macho man in the White House is such a bad idea. And you shouldn’t either. A little macho could go a long way with the Russians or the Iranians or the North Koreans for that matter. Likewise, it wouldn’t hurt in arguably the most macho cultures of all -- the Latin and South American counties -- not to mention Mexico.

Macho men, from JFK to LBJ to Ronald Reagan have proven that a little machismo can and does provide us with an edge on the world stage. Historically, the U.S. has projected strength and backbone, the kind of awe that Alexis de Tocqueville spoke of at the inception of this country. We are the rebels, the independents, the strong and the brave.

Some trite person once said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” As voters if we are searching for the “perfect” candidate for president we are certainly out of luck this year and perhaps always have been. What we need is someone who will fight for us, place us first in his or her list of priorities and stay out of situations across the world that we can’t control.

What if our macho leader actually paid some attention to the dire situations at home from the inner cities to the small ghost towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan left in the wake of NAFTA? What if he or she cut taxes, stirred up our dormant economy and stopped regulating us out of business? What if they just let us go and allowed us to roar like the lion of ingenuity and entrepreneurialism that made us great in the first place?

The character qualities of macho and ego in a man or woman, when harnessed properly, are good attributes worth having in a leader. Who would say that Margaret Thatcher or Golda Meir didn’t have a “set” that projected both strength and courage in defense of her people? The point is this, it’s not about a man or a woman -- it’s about the things that matter versus the things that don’t.

My argument is simple: women in this country are made of strong stuff.  We aren’t afraid of a little macho and Lord knows we’ve all forgiven our men for a few indiscretions. So now is not the time to back away and let our petty little offenses get the best of us. We are brave American women, filled with courage and hope for the future of this country -- a future that our kids will inherit.

This is simply why we can and must and should vote for Donald Trump for President.

Leesa K. Donner worked in the broadcast news industry for twelve years as a television news anchor, reporter, and producer at NBC, CBS and Metromedia (now FOX) affiliates in Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. She served as Creative Director of  Horizons Television, Inc., and is currently Senior Advisor to One Generation Away a public policy think tank devoted to educating young people about America’s founding principles.