One Donald Trump supporter in Texas told Fox News she “wouldn’t vote for a woman” as president and suggested that Nikki Haley is “probably menopausal.” Another Trump supporter told NBC News in North Carolina that he wouldn’t vote for Haley because she’s a woman, saying “a woman’s not gonna be a good president” because “she’s got no balls to scratch. She’s just gonna scratch her head.”
Republicans' Super Tuesday voters really helped to put the MAGA movement’s toxic masculinity on full display. This kind of grotesque bigotry that has come to characterize the movement is, I believe, a major vulnerability for Trump’s chances this fall.
Trump’s performance of what he believes manhood to be is integral to his political persona. He’s crass, arrogant, ignorant, misogynistic and has a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. And this performative bravado is part of what has excited his supporters for years. But there’s a clear argument to be made that these traits make for a poor leader.
The Biden campaign would do well to diagnose and, when appropriate, mock Trump’s hypermasculinity in no uncertain terms.
First lady Jill Biden took a shot at it last weekend, calling out Trump’s misogyny at an event launching the “Women for Biden-Harris” organization in Arizona. Unlike President Joe Biden, the first lady said, Trump has “spent a lifetime tearing [women] down and devaluing our existence.” She went on to say Trump “mocks women’s bodies, disrespects our accomplishments and brags about assault. Now he’s bragging about killing Roe v. Wade.”
That’s a powerful message to women about rejecting misogyny. And the Biden-Harris campaign should take this messaging to men, a voting group that arguably needs to hear it more than any other. If the Biden-Harris campaign wants to win re-election this November, I’m increasingly convinced they need to make a mockery of the hypermasculine id that’s driving today's Republican Party.
Through its embrace of “trad wives” (women who conform to stereotypical gender roles) and its constant attacks on women’s bodily autonomy, the MAGA movement has put forth its expectations for what it means to be a man in today’s America. (Spoiler alert: Domination is a major feature.)
It's no coincidence that a deep-seated misogyny is also at the core of the political platforms of authoritarians around the globe who are imposing their illiberal wills on their countries, from Argentinian President Javier Milei to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Misogyny is integral to fascism; the fight against hypermasculinity and the fight for democracy are one and the same — these are lessons the Biden campaign should be eager to teach. Hypermasculinity is like racism: You’re not going to solve it by talking around it. The campaign should host panel discussions and lectures on the subject with campus and community organizations. They should tap influencers who can speak to the paranoia and thirst for power that fuels hypermasculinity.
A decade ago, I led a college organization that helped Black students at Arizona State University navigate the struggles of attending a predominantly white institution. A great deal of our programming, from reading groups to lecture series, was focused on training young Black men to reject hypermasculine ideals with the understanding that they’d be freer, happier, more sociable people as a result. And in part because of that experience, I and others are far less vulnerable to such political appeals. We know the people trying to reach us in that way are, in one way or another, using us for their personal benefit.
This kind of programming would be a good model for the Biden campaign to follow in the coming months. It could make American men less vulnerable to Trump’s appeals, and it’d have long-term benefits for the health of our democracy, too.