Why Does Trump Appeal to Men?

This week Brett Favre will appear with Donald Trump in Green Bay, part of the Trump campaign’s effort to get men to turn out for him. In some ways these guys are two of a kind.

Favre pushed Mississippi state officials (who apparently didn’t need much pushing) to use $5.5 million in federal money intended to help poor people for a new volleyball arena at his alma mater and where his daughter was a player. Then he personally received $1.1 million out of the same funds intended for the poor, to give speeches that he never gave.

Favre gave back the money and claimed it was all a misunderstanding. I don’ know, me? If I got $1.1 million to give speeches and then didn’t have to give any talks I think I’d understand exactly what was going on. Favre is among three dozen people named in a civil suit while others involved in the schemes to misdirect $77 million in federal relief funds have been charged criminally.

So, to put it succinctly, Favre ripped off poor folks and lied about it. He gave back the money only when caught and he still owes the state something over $200,000 in interest.

Favre has also been sued for sexual harassment more than once and the Jets were sued by two team employees who said they were fired after they complained to management about his exploits. The NFL fined him $50,000, not for the harassment (the cases were eventually settled), but for not cooperating with their investigation.

So, to put it succinctly, Favre had a history of harassing women and lying about it.

And Favre is the guy who is going to stand with Trump and try to appeal to men.

Men favor Donald Trump by a 53% to 37% margin while women go for Harris by 53% to 36%. It’s the largest gender gap since 1980 when men supported Reagan over Carter. Harris’ deficit with men in itself isn’t the end of the world. Since the percentages are mirror images, the support from women neatly makes up for the lack of support among men. And since women generally vote at a little higher rate, that might be more than okay.

The bigger problem is that Trump’s most recent unhinged rants are targeted at getting young men, who otherwise wouldn’t vote, to the polls. If he can turn out nonvoters that would make a huge difference. That’s why he did three hours on Joe Rogan’s podcast and it’s why he’s appearing with Favre and it’s why he’s stepped up the crudeness of his rhetoric — quite an accomplishment for a guy who long ago blew past any sense of decorum on the campaign trail or in the White House itself.

I want to step back from the immediate political strategy — I fear it may work — to think about why it may work. Why is it that a candidate who has been found liable for sexual assault, a candidate who bragged on tape about assaulting women and getting away with it, a guy who has called his female opponent dumb and God knows how many other things that display outright misogyny, why is it that that guy may prompt otherwise politically disengaged young men to put down their Playstations and go vote for him?

Let me start by stipulating for the record that I think liberals, the Democratic Party and mainstream culture have become, by and large, anti-male. Women and people of color are routinely portrayed as victims or noble strivers overcoming the burdens heaped upon them by men, especially white men. White guys are the oppressors while everybody else is the oppressed. There’s even an academic theory called “toxic masculinity.” If any bad thing has happened throughout history you know who to blame. An apt joke I’ve heard goes like this. If a giant meteor were about to hit the earth, the NPR headline would read: “World to End Tomorrow! Women and people of color to be especially hard hit!”

If that’s apparent to me, a Democrat who despises Donald Trump, imagine how those young potential male voters feel about it. No matter how this election turns out my party needs to retool its attitude and its rhetoric to stop needlessly alienating male voters.

This became apparent yet again this weekend when Michelle Obama, a woman I like and respect, made some awfully tone deaf comments in a speech aimed at male voters. In her speech before introducing Harris at a rally in Michigan, Obama went into graphic detail about how Donald Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights would impact women, concluding, “If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women, will become collateral damage to your rage.”

She wasn’t wrong, but this isn’t about being right. This is about winning an election. It’s well past the point where pols can indulge their own views, no matter how strongly felt. It’s time to try to win every vote. And pointing an accusing finger at men won’t do a thing to narrow the gender gap that could cost Harris — and all of us — this election.

But that said, Donald Trump? Is that really a model of masculinity that appeals to men, especially young men? If so, then maybe all that derision that gets directed at my gender might be deserved after all.

Because Trump isn’t just crude. He’s a liar and a fraud and a coward. The model of masculinity that I grew up with was that you were expected to be a stand up guy. You were supposed to win gracefully and congratulate the winners when you lost. You were supposed to work hard and support your friends and family and eventually your spouse, both economically and in her (or his as it later turned out) own career and endeavors. You were expected not to ask anyone else to do something you weren’t willing to do yourself. You were expected to show some discipline, not to panic, and above all not to whine. If you threw a punch you should expect one will get thrown in return and you better be wiling to take it.

Trump turns all those things on their head. He had the gall to essentially call John McCain a loser (“I like people who don’t get caught”) when he himself dodged the draft with phony bone spurs dreamed up by a doctor hired by his rich father. He cheated his business partners and others by lying about his assets. When he lost the election in 2020 he refused to congratulate Joe Biden, to show up at his inaugural or to even so much as admit the obvious — that he lost. And he whines constantly about every perceived slight. He punches but he has a glass jaw. He can dish out criticism but he doesn’t have the character to take it. He claims credit for imaginary successes and refuses to take personal responsibility for anything.

If Trump is some model of masculinity that appeals to young me then we really do have a problem.

There is, in fact, a crisis of men and boys in this country. Somehow we’ve managed to make progress for women feel like a zero sum game, where the long overdue gains for women have come at the expense of men. That’s actually a little simplistic because men in my circle don’t feel that way. College-educated men generally don’t feel threatened by successful women. But blue collar men, who have seen their wages and status fall off sharply in recent decades, do feel the decline and they’re looking for an outlet for, as Michelle Obama described it, their “rage.” This explains why even Black and Hispanic blue collar men have moved toward Trump.

Here’s a chart from a recent New York Times story that neatly explains what’s happened:

Look, I get the frustration and I understand that my party does all it can to push men away. But the answer is not in the likes of a coward like Donald Trump. You want policies that will benefit blue collar men? Vote for Harris. And, in this case it’s the female candidate who displays the positive characteristics that we should want to encourage in our young men.

If “toxic masculinity” exists then Donald Trump is the first case study, while Kamala Harris is a stand up woman.

And on another matter… The Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust, a national effort by the Carter Center to build trust in our electoral process, is hosting a screening of the new documentary “Undivide Us” tonight, October 28th at 7:30 PM at the UW Madison’s Union South. Please consider attending this free event. More here: America is at a crossroads where politicians, traditional media, and social media fan the flames of toxic partisanship, undermining the values and institutions that unite us. UNDIVIDE US is a timely and urgent plea to reclaim the nation’s soul through open discourse, civic engagement, and self-governance. Learn more about the film at https://undivideusmovie.com/