This weekend, in his commencement address at Morehouse College, President Biden made unusually pointed remarks about the pseudo-masculinity peddled by Donald Trump and other purveyors of American fascism:
They peddle a fiction, a caricature what being a man is about — tough talk, abusing power, bigotry. Their idea of being a man is toxic…
But that’s not you. It’s not us.You all know and demonstrate what it really means to be a man. Being a man is about the strength of respect and dignity. It’s about showing up, because it’s too late if you have to ask.
It’s about giving hate no safe harbor and leaving no one behind and defending freedoms. It’s about standing up to the abuse of power, whether physical, economic, or psychological.
We love to see it. This is a good example of a leader on the pro-democracy side actually naming and taking on one of the undercurrents of American politics in 2024 — the battle for the soul of masculinity, in this case. The far right is deft at speaking to such issues, and weaponizing the anxieties of progress; the left often ignores them.
It’s a perfect moment to dig in to this fascinating and important conversation we had with Ruth Whippman, who argues that ignoring the roiling crisis of masculinity in America risks driving more and more men into the arms of authoritarianism:
Trump — and the right in general — is tapping into deep feelings of insecurity and anxiety amongst men. Boys and men are taught to live in constant fear of emasculation. The pressure to live up to some kind of masculine ideal — strongman, hero, provider, or protector — is very real in boys’ and men’s lives…
The progressive left has done a very bad job of articulating a hopeful vision for men, and especially for boys, often just painting them as little more than entitled good-for-nothings or would-be predators.
But, in reality, far from being their enemy, if they could get their messaging right, feminism could actually be boys’ best hope. And the inability to communicate this effectively to them has been a massive PR failure on the part of the progressive left.
Run, don’t walk, to the rest of this essential conversation.