![]() ![]() I freely accept that I do not pass muster by the standards of most Trump supporters. #BRAVE SYNONYM THAT CORRELATES WITH COWBOY FULL#My shower is full of soaps and shampoos claiming scents like “tobacco and caramel,” and my shaving cream has bergamot in it, whatever that is. I schedule my haircuts on Boston’s Newbury Street weeks in advance. In late middle age, I still struggle with the eternal issues of manhood, including what it means to be a good father and husband-especially the second time around after failing at marriage once already.Īnd truth be told, I am not particularly “manly.” I wear Italian shoes with little buckles. I was, in every way, an immature cad as a younger man. ![]() Nor do I make these observations as a role model of male virtue. But then again, a lot about the president offends me, as a man, as a Christian, and as an American. ![]() I should point out here that I am not criticizing Trump’s manifest lack of masculinity solely because he offends my personal sense of maleness. Peter Wehner: The president is unraveling Put another way, as a question I have asked many of the men I know: Is Trump a man your father and grandfather would have respected? Rather, I am noting that courage, honesty, respect, an economy of words, a bit of modesty, and a willingness to take responsibility are all virtues prized by the self-identified class of hard-working men, the stand-up guys, among whom I was raised.Īnd yet, many of these same men expect none of those characteristics from Trump, who is a vain, cowardly, lying, vulgar, jabbering blowhard. Some of these traditional masculine virtues have a dark side: Toughness and dominance become bullying and abuse self-reliance becomes isolation silence becomes internalized rage. And I do not present these beliefs and attitudes as uniformly virtuous in themselves. ![]() Not every working-class male voted for Trump, and not all of them have these traits, of course. They shoulder most burdens in silence-perhaps to an unhealthy degree-and know that there is honor in making an honest living and raising a family. They feel that you should never thank another man when he hands you a paycheck that you earned. They are men who still believe in a day’s work for a day’s wages. They are, as an American Psychological Association feature describes them, men who adhere to norms such as “toughness, dominance, self-reliance, heterosexual behaviors, restriction of emotional expression and the avoidance of traditionally feminine attitudes and behaviors.” But I didn’t need an expert study to tell me this they are men like my late father and his friends, who understood that a man’s word is his bond and that a handshake means something. (My father’s best friend got the Silver Star for wiping out a German machine-gun nest in Europe, and I never heard a word about it until after the man’s funeral.) They admire and value the understated swagger, the rock-solid confidence, and the quiet reserve of such cultural heroes as John Wayne’s Green Beret Colonel Mike Kirby and Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo (also, as it turns out, a former Green Beret). These are men whose fathers and grandfathers came from a culture that looks down upon lying, cheating, and bragging, especially about sex or courage. They are not the products of elite universities and cosmopolitan living. The men I grew up with think of themselves as pretty tough guys, and most of them are. I am a son of the working class, and I know these cultural standards. Rather, the question is why so many of Trump’s working-class white male voters refuse to hold Trump to their own standards of masculinity-why they support a man who behaves more like a little boy. The president’s inability to measure up to Marcus Aurelius or Omar Bradley is not the issue. I prefer not to dwell on this question.īut since his first day as a presidential candidate, I have been baffled by one mystery in particular: Why do working-class white men-the most reliable component of Donald Trump’s base-support someone who is, by their own standards, the least masculine man ever to hold the modern presidency? The question is not whether Trump fails to meet some archaic or idealized version of masculinity. Some of them are merely curiosities others are of national importance, such as whether he understood the nuclear-weapons briefing given to every president. So many mysteries surround Donald Trump: the contents of his tax returns, the apparent miracle of his graduation from college. ![]()
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