Take note, American men: Donald Trump and his allies want you to believe that your vote says great things about your masculinity.
In the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election, the Republican candidate is amplifying his hyper-masculine tone and support for traditional gender roles, mirroring the surgical campaign-within-a-campaign for men’s votes in a showdown with Democratic Vice. President Kamala Harris. But where Harris deploys “guys” who use bro-ey language and the occasional scolding to boost her support, especially among black and Hispanic men, Trump’s camp meets men in alpha male terms, often with crude and demeaning language. That means he appears on podcasts, gaming platforms and alongside surrogates who define American masculinity as a voice for the former Republican president.
“If you’re a man in this country and you don’t vote for Donald Trump, you’re not a man,” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, said on his podcast.
Subtle, it’s not. But the sharp contest between Trump and Harris raises the stakes of small pockets of voters who are apathetic or wary in the battleground states that are about to decide the election. So in a twist on gender and identity politics, both camps reach beyond their ideological bases.
“You think about calling out or supporting someone who has a history of belittling you because you think that’s a sign of strength because that’s what being a man is?” former president Barak Obama black men scolded last week Pennsylvania, the largest battlefield state. “That is not acceptable.”
The polls and history tell the story of the candidates’ pursuit of male support. Trump, who has a long history of denigrating women and bragging about the size of his body parts, won among men in 2016, when he defeated the Democrat. Hillary Clinton and in 2020, when he lost to President Joe Biden.
This year, men appear to be leaning toward Trump and women toward Harris, although the size of the gap varies by poll.
The country has an unbroken list of male presidents, who are presented as father figures, role models and archetypes of American masculinity. Their ranks included military heroes, including George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lawmakers like Abraham Lincoln, Obama and Biden. A son of the South, Bill Clinton. An actor who became governor in the role of Ronald Reagan. And descendants like John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush – a rancher from Texas.
Then there’s Trump, the New York developer and entertainer whose political fortunes have survived a difficult presidential term. 34 felony convictionsa jury verdict hold him liable for assault and two attempted murders. He stood up from a shooting in July, blood splattered and his fist raised, shouting, “Fight, fight, fight!”
He’s taking a paternalistic approach as part of a strategy he hopes will help his campaign, not just among men, but also among suburban women who may be hesitant to support him. Trump has long pursued this misogyny against women who challenge him.
“I think women like me because I will be your protector,” he told supporters in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday in remarks about illegal immigration. “The women want protection. They don’t want these people coming in.”
Last week, Trump called radio host Howard Stern, whose audience is predominantly male, a “BETA MAN” on Truth Social. He recently proposed a female protester at an event should “go back home to Mom” to “get the hell beat out of her.” His spokesman, Steven Cheung, tweeted mocking Harris’ campaign, using a sexualized slang term — “cucked” — as an obvious shorthand for weakness and submission.
He often muses on stage about his advisors who advise him to change so that he can better appeal to women – but then rejects their advice.
Trump is deploying a strategy that has its roots in the late 1960s and 1970s, when Republicans realized that framing their opponents as soft and feminine could make them attractive among working-class whites, according to Jackson Katz, author and creator of the film . “The Man Card: 50 years of gender, power & the American presidency.”
By positioning Trump as a male hero, the campaign has created a narrative, Katz said. “It really is a soap opera for men.”
In a series of twists on the ever-present gender divide and identity politics, young women are becoming more liberal, but young men are not. Most Hispanic women are positive about Harris, but Hispanic men are more divided about her. Last weekend, alarm bells sounded in the Democratic ranks to assure about Harris’ support among black men. And some young men feel culturally dissatisfied at the age of Me, too And Black lives matter.
In the final weeks of the election, this dynamic could present an opportunity for the campaigns as they try to gain more support among razor-thin slices of the electorate that have yet to choose sides.
“There seems to be a struggle to define masculinity in this campaign,” Jack Z. Bratich, a communications professor at Rutgers University, wrote in an email. Trump, he said, is “exploiting their insecurities and resentments so that they feel empowered to vote for him as a way to restore the patriarchal order.”
Harris has unveiled a plan for giving Black men have more economic incentives and opportunities to thrive. She will be at the town hall on Tuesday with Charlamagne Tha God, an influential radio host. And vice presidential candidate Tim Walzfresh from the pheasant hunt with reporters in tow and talking football, unveiled an effort to improve the lives of rural voters. She wants you to know that she owns a Glock and that her favorite curse word, like she once saidstarts with an “m” and ends with “ah.” (After letting out a signature chuckle, she further clarified, “Not ‘eh.'”)
Harris also announced that she will step out of her ideological comfort zone for her her first interview on Fox News. That was enough to activate Trump.
“Fox has become so weak and soft on Democrats,” he grumbled on Truth Social, his social media platform. For his part, Trump will also appear on Fox News this week in an all-female town hall.
In a sign of how important men’s votes are to Harris’ campaign, men are calling on men to support her. Hence the birth of “Dudes for Harris,” “Hombres con Harris,” and Black Men Huddle Up” events in battleground states.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” actor Sam Elliott asked in a gravelly voice in an ad for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “Because when it comes to women, it’s time to get over it.”
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Kellman reported from London. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report from New York.