a key element of the appeal of Republicans to pencil-necked political reporters has always been the idea that the macho tough guys will let you be one of them if you side with the GOP and they'll call you a pussy if you side with the Dems
Sure, but it's been literally every Presidential election in my lifetime (b. 1986). Dukakis in the tank. War hero Bush Sr. vs draft dodger Clinton. Sighing Gore vs manly Texan W. (absurdly) Kerry's fancy cheese vs manly Texan W. etc etc. Subtext is always "jocks vs pussies" bsky.app/profile/cara...
Also…there already has been a presidential election that was objectively more defined by gendered appeals (that being the one in which Donald Trump ran against a woman)???
I think this stuff is instinctual on both ends. Appeals to "manliness" and "honor" have been a core method of control in service of political and economic hierarchy since the dawn of civilization, both for actually-manly soldiers and for aspirationally-manly courtiers like Vanderhei and Allen
Sure, but it's been literally every Presidential election in my lifetime (b. 1986). Dukakis in the tank. War hero Bush Sr. vs draft dodger Clinton. Sighing Gore vs manly Texan W. (absurdly) Kerry's fancy cheese vs manly Texan W. etc etc. Subtext is always "jocks vs pussies" bsky.app/profile/cara...
And so culturally ingrained that the frequent appeals to "you're a pussy/f***** if you disagree with me" feels like a totally natural rhetorical appeal on the right and basically doesn't make sense to people in the rare cases someone on the left tries to marshall it.
Ya that this stuff is often facially ridiculous of course doesn't matter. Trump is objectively speaking a huge wuss and coward. You could write an entire gender studies thesis paper on this stupid photo of Ben Shapiro bsky.app/profile/line...
I really don't want to divert the thread into a debate about sexism in the 2016 primary but I'd also say that I think Bernie Sanders did notably better with masculinity-insecure men than most other Dems in my lifetime did and I actually think this is to his credit bsky.app/profile/madh...
I hadn't heard about this but sure. I can believe any Trump-on-drugs theory people want to sell. Also notable that the transphobic incel misogynist rightists adore Elon Musk who has literally had multiple gender affirming surgeries to make himself appear more masculine bsky.app/profile/drpe...
Yes. If you want to understand Trumpism and conservativism, by the way, the books to read are MORAL POLITICS and DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT by George Lakoff, that explain that conservativism works by tapping into an underlying "strict father" morality system that's embedded in our brains
MORAL POLITICS was actually written even earlier in the 1990s and then adapted into the shorter, more readable DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT in 2004 because Lakoff was frustrated that no one was listening to him despite being obviously correct bsky.app/profile/weid...
Yup. like the fact that Trump can pull this routine off is a clue that it's not about *actually* courage or toughness or any positive masculine traits bsky.app/profile/rock...
What Trump and W had in common was a grossly *ersatz* masculine swagger that the Republican base preferred to, for example, actual military records like McCain's or Kerry's.
I think that's true. Additionally a lot of boomers have a ton of baggage wrt Vietnam vets, not the least of which is many of them consider them losers. Trump has come pretty close to just saying that.
My boomer dad (from whom I am estranged) is a classic Vietnam chickenhawk. A lifelong gun-nut and always pro-war, but oh boy did he snarf those deferments!
There's also Lloyd DeMause's "Reagan's America", which I read in college in the 90s, which is typically goofy and ungrounded since it's all rooted in Freudian analysis of political cartoons...and yet...
See also 🇨🇦 social psychology prof Bob Altemeyer.
His work is really eye-opening, all done back in the 90s. He really called out what was happening on the right.
Th war game simulations are chilling
theauthoritarians.org/options-for-...
All solid experimental social psychology.
May I add a link to YT, a half-hour interview Lakoff did years ago? It's a quick & fascinating explainer for anyone unfamiliar with his theories. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OC-...
