SPEAK UP: Who owns masculinity?

Can Tim Walz take the idea back from the right?

Accustomed to attacking Democrats as effete, out-of-touch coastal elites, Donald Trump and JD Vance have found themselves, for the most part, flummoxed by Tim Walz. Sure there’s been some mild Swift Boating and some… well, weird attempts to paint him as effeminate by insulting his effort to make tampons available in school restrooms. But this stuff is half-baked at best and does not seem like it will stick.

Why? We suspect it has to do with the fact that in Walz, the Democrats have elevated a real alternative to MAGA masculinity. As we discussed the other day, Walz doesn’t just bring political skills and a facility with finely-crafted campaign attack language to the ticket — he brings his own example as dude and mensch.