Chuck Todd rips Democrats for struggling with men, suggests male success often seen as ‘Gender advantage'
"Look, what Democrats have gotten into is they are coming across as a party who essentially said any success by a man was because they had a gender advantage," Todd said in an episode of his podcast posted Tuesday.
"At least that's what men heard," Todd added. "I know that's not what many women were saying and what many Democrats were saying, but that is what's come across. And so, whatever it is, it came across."
Todd recalled a conversation he had with a producer that illustrated this problem.
"I'll never forget, I had a producer point this out to me back in 2016," Todd said.
"Hillary Clinton was doing a rally, and she was namechecking every single demographic group that she wanted their support from, except one," he added. "She never asked for the vote of men. And it was one of these weird things where my producer, who said, 'You know, I don't really want to vote for Donald Trump, but I wish you would ask me for my vote.' And that's how a lot of men have felt."
Todd called out President Donald Trump and his "toxic masculinity," but said that Democrats need to do better to reach men.
"Democrats don't seem to want to communicate with men, that instead, there's more of a desire not to almost run against men," Todd said.
"And I get it, toxic masculinity as espoused by Donald Trump is just that – toxic – and not exactly the way any of us would want to see our sons behave or be raised," he added.
"Everything's been about the extremes and there's not been enough nuance and… that lack of nuance may be why men feel as if they are feeling pushed away by the Democratic Party, particularly non-college-educated men," Todd continued.
Instead, Todd said, Democrats should be more inclusive towards men with their messaging and say, "We hear you. Your struggles matter, too. You aren't the enemy."
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