Attention, American men Donald Trump and his allies want you to believe your vote says big things about your masculinity.
In the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election, the Republican nominee is amping up his hypermasculine tone and support of traditional gender roles, a reflection of the surgical campaign-within-a-campaign for the votes of men in a showdown with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris . But where Harris is deploying "dudes" who use bro-ey language and occasional scolding to boost her support particularly among Black and Hispanic males, Trump's camp is meeting 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 manliness as a vote for the former Republican president.
"If you are a man in this country and you don't vote for Donald Trump, you're not a man," Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk said on his podcast.
Subtle, it's not. But the razor's edge contest between Trump and Harris elevates the importance of small caches of voters who are apathetic or on the fence in the battleground states poised to decide the election. So in a twist on gender and identity politics, both camps are reaching out beyond their ideological bases.
"You're thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that's a sign of strength, because that's what being a man is?" former President Barack Obama scolded Black men last week in Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state. "That's not acceptable."
