The left should stop harping on men. That drives them to Trump
Recent focus groups conducted by the centrist Democratic group Third Way, with the polling firm HIT Strategies, show that many young men feel criticized, overlooked and talked down to by a party they see as hostile to their values and concerns. This echoes similar feedback from last fall, when young male voters told pollsters that the Democratic Party 'has somehow become the anti-male party.'
If you're wondering why this siege mentality hasn't softened, it may be because the condescension and antagonism persist — especially among progressive elites whose statements are often conflated with the Democratic Party.
July alone offered a plethora of examples. And lest you think this is from the fever swamps of the internet, consider a few selections from the New York Times.
First, we got 'The Boy Crisis Is Overblown,' which shrugs off boys' educational struggles, instead suggesting that boys expect others (women) to pick up the slack, both at home and in school. Then came 'The Trouble With Wanting Men,' a literary masterclass on how dating men amounts to unpaid emotional labor. And to round it out, 'Why Women Are Weary of 'Mankeeping,'' which blames men for … being human? Having different priorities than their girlfriends and wives?
See a pattern?
None of these pieces are entirely wrong. Boys and men are only human, and there are good guys and bad guys. But if you're a dude just trying to stay afloat in a rapidly changing world, you might get the impression that the cultural left, which (let's be honest) constitutes the Democratic Party's base of energy and pressure, isn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat.
And if you're a guy, what do you do with all of that criticism? You check out. You find a podcast. You listen to some YouTuber explain how protein cured his depression and why you should never trust a woman who owns more than one NPR tote bag.
You exercise your greatest act of middle-finger rebellion: You vote for Trump!
Now, you might say, 'Is it really fair to blame the entire Democratic Party for what a few writers say?' No! But politics isn't about fairness. It's about vibes, and the vibe right now is that progressive culture has morphed into the HR department from hell. Heck, even Sydney Sweeney in an American Eagle ad was too much for the online pitchfork crowd. What's next? Canceling golden retrievers?
The problem for the Democratic Party is that once you're branded a 'woke scold,' it's hard to pivot, no matter what you say.
Look at President Biden. He was called 'Genocide Joe' for supporting Israel, yet still got blamed for pro-Palestinian campus protests — proof that stereotypes are sticky, and perception, not policy, drives voter sentiment.
But here's the irony: Democrats have an opportunity to turn things around — and if their friends weren't so busy writing gender theory op-eds, they might notice there's an opening to do just that.
Thanks to issues ranging from tariffs to immigration roundups to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, some of these podcast bros have started mocking Trump. Meanwhile, 'South Park' skewered him for threatening lawsuits to intimidate or silence his critics, which is an impressive about-face considering he used to score points by criticizing cancel culture.
'While some of these young men are still drawn to Trump and the Republican Party,' Third Way's focus groups found, 'most are persuadable swing voters who dislike significant aspects of Trump's actions so far in his second term.'
But it's gonna take more than President Obama podcasting about 'what's right with young men.' It's gonna take modern leaders — men and women — who have the guts to stand up to their own tribe and say, 'Hey, maybe we shouldn't treat half the population like defective appliances.'
Want their votes? Talk to them like they're human. Stop acting like masculinity is a war crime. Nominate a presidential candidate who lifts and can go on Joe Rogan's podcast. Offer some real policies that don't sound like they were cooked up in a gender studies seminar at Bryn Mawr.
Until then? Don't be shocked if a whole generation of guys hears one more lecture about toxic masculinity … and decides to vote for the most toxic guy in the room.
This is how Trump wins.
Matt K. Lewis is the author of 'Filthy Rich Politicians' and 'Too Dumb to Fail.'
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The Hill
27 minutes ago
- The Hill
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27 minutes ago
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Do Cuomo and Adams secretly want Mamdani to win?
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Civil rights leaders criticized Trump for portraying cities, especially those led by Black mayors, as crime ridden. "Painting a false picture of the city's largest Black-majority cities, led by Black mayors, is part of the Trump administration's ongoing strategy to exploit racial distrust for political gain,'' Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and George Lambert, president of the Greater Washington Urban League President, said in a statement. If Trump really wanted to help cities, several mayors argued, he wouldn't be cutting funding for anti-poverty programs and community policing efforts. 'We need to have this federal government invest in cities like Oakland instead of disinvesting in us,' said Lee, who spent 27 years in Congress, including during Trump's first term. 'It doesn't make any sense what this government is doing if they want to see cities not just survive but thrive.' More: 'DC has a right to govern itself': Civil rights leaders denounce Trump's takeover move 'Reasonable people can look at the optics' Trump has yet to publicly bring up race in his criticisms of those cities, but experts point to his history of racially disparaging remarks, including during his first term when he questioned why the United States would let in people from countries like Haiti and parts of Africa, which he referred to using an expletive. Trump also called Baltimore, a predominately Black city, a 'disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.' While the president didn't specifically mention race then or in his recent references, it's clearly implied, said Jason Williams, a professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Williams said urban centers historically have been code for talking about Black people or communities of color. 'He doesn't necessarily have to say it in order for his base to know what the implications are,' said Williams, adding that most people know DC has a significant Black population. 'It does give him some plausible deniability. Not that I think this president would care." Oakland's Lee told USA TODAY she finds Trump's actions "fearmongering and diversionary." "A lot of what he does is to provoke unrest and that gives him an excuse, so we have to be prepared and ready to fight," she said. Oakland has a contingency plan if Trump tries to send in National Guard, Lee added. When asked if she could provide any details, the mayor replied, 'I'm not at liberty to do that right now. That would be inappropriate at this point.' In DC, Trump justified his actions by citing a recent overnight assault of a former federal official and in Los Angeles, he called in the National Guard to quell civil protests spurred by the aggressive immigration crackdown. He might take advantage of other isolated incidents to target other big cities, said Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy at the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization focused on criminal justice. "It's the red meat that Trump uses to rile up the MAGA base and it is effective as bait only when it's left unchecked," Rahman said. 'We've been here before' Federal officials have sometimes used their powers to undermine Black urban leadership and portray them as chaotic and incompetent or crime prone, Williams said. He pointed to examples such as the urban renewal of the 1960s and 1970s when federal officials displaced Black neighborhoods with highways and a century earlier, after Reconstruction, when governments dismantled post-Civil War gains. 'We've been here before with federal overreach and an attempt to try to roll back hard-won wins," Williams said. The nation's capital has long been in the crosshairs of Trump and GOP congressional leaders. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold funds if Bowser didn't remove a Black Lives Matter mural from a street near the White House. 'DC has always been this sort of political football for the Republicans,' Williams said. While some Black mayors are concerned about their cities becoming a Trump target, they're continuing their work to combat crime, Johnson, the Savannah mayor, said. 'We're worried about fighting our federal government as well as fighting crime," he said. 'It's a continuous 'what if, what next,' which we think are distractions from what the American people are really talking about.' Johnson said the ideologies and approaches of some Black mayors may be different than Trump's, but that doesn't mean they can't be partners on issues, including crime. 'We understand elections. We're politicians ourselves," he said. 'We're charged with playing with whoever is on the field. When Donald Trump became president, he became president of our cities too.' Contributing: Phillip Bailey
