OPINION: Trump is not a man’s man

Photo via: Gage Skidmore/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

Danny Murnin, a senior studying Journalism, argues that the notion that Donald Trump is a “man's man” is incredibly misguided.

During the time I’ve been in high school and college, I’ve seen firsthand how popular former President Donald Trump is with people in my demographic: straight white men under the age of 30. But that popularity always stemmed from Trump’s personal nature, not because he was specifically targeting the “bro” vote. 

But in the months and weeks leading up to the general election on Nov. 5, Trump has very much centered young men as a key demographic he is targeting. He has appeared on “bro” podcasts hosted by Logan Paul, Lex Fridman, Adin Ross, Andrew Schulz, Theo Von, the Nelk Boys and Barstool Sports. He has regularly attended Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) matches widely watched by young men. 

According to a New York Times/Siena College poll, there is a massive gender gap between the voting preferences of female voters and male voters ages 18 to 29. Women in this age group prefer Vice President Kamala Harris by 38 points while men prefer Trump by 13 points. Historically, young men have been a very unreliable voting bloc, to put it mildly, with their 2020 turnout 11 points lower than young women. But could that change this year?

I honestly really hope it does. In a healthy democracy, voter turnout in major elections should always be sky high and we shouldn’t be seeing such major discrepancies based on simple demographic differences. I personally find it embarrassing that voter turnout in America lags so much. Even in 2020, which had the highest voter turnout in a national election since 1900, one out of every three Americans eligible to vote stayed home. 

I profoundly hope that male college students all over the country come out in droves on or before Nov. 5 to exercise their civic duty. As I said, America is a better country when more people participate in the political process. But I cannot understand what it is about Trump that my fellow young men see as positive, likable or cool. 

Maybe there are young men out there who are voting for Trump specifically because of policy reasons. I think it is silly to believe Trump will “fix” an economy that is actually really strong, bring peace to the Middle East or fix America’s broken immigration system, but that isn’t my focus here. The reality is that any Republican running for president in Trump’s place would be promising those exact same things, but I have a very hard time imagining Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley gathering anywhere close to the level of traction Trump has among young men. 

The best explanation for this is that many young men see a lot of themselves in Trump and are supporting him more because they like his demeanor, find him funny and see him as an example of what a strong man looks like. 

This is the part of Trump’s apparent appeal that utterly puzzles me, because it isn’t just young men supporting Trump who think of him as an alpha male who exudes strength and masculinity, it is men of all ages and even some women supporting him. But this view is especially prominent among young men, and that is what I want to address. 

I don’t claim to have the answer to what really constitutes a “real man,” but I sure know that it isn’t anything that remotely resembles Trump. There is nothing admirable about Trump’s masculinity because it quite simply doesn’t exist. 

Trump famously has been at the center of many controversies involving his treatment of women, and his supporters often like to pretend that these things never happened or just dismiss it as locker room talk. If your view of what constitutes a “real man” in regards to interaction with women includes cheating, assault and creepy fantasies, then sure, Trump is masculine.

But really, ask yourself, what is masculine about a man who has been found liable for rape and is literally on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women? Is there anything masculine about him fantasizing about dating his own daughter? How about remarking that he’d like to be dating a 10-year-old girl ten years down the line? Surely, walking unannounced into a dressing room of naked teenage girls isn’t what a strong, masculine man would do, right? 

Also, while this pales in comparison to the previous points, since when has having five children with three different women and cheating on all three of them been what “real men” do? 

There really shouldn’t be any debate that Trump is a sexual predator, but many young men seem to either not believe he is, don’t care that he is, or actually like that part of him.

Even if you put aside the predator stuff (which you shouldn’t) it is still abundantly clear that Trump is hardly a good example of a strong, masculine man. This is a 78-year-old, morbidly obese man who walks around with an awful spray tan without any shame and routinely holds rallies where he expresses admiration for the size of a dead golfer’s genitals, professes his love for a fictional serial killer and dances around on stage for 30 minutes like a maniac. It is very hard for me to fathom that the man in this photo is seen by countless Americans as a positive example of masculinity. But, unfortunately, he is. 

Finally, as a man, I’ve always been taught it is important to project strength not only when you are up, but also when you are down. It has been impressed upon me that, as a man, how I conduct myself when things don’t go well for me is important. Men are supposed to be honorable and gracious in defeat. Men certainly aren’t supposed to throw giant temper tantrums when things don’t go their way. After Trump lost in 2020, he threw the biggest temper tantrum in American political history by aggressively trying for two months to overturn the results of a free and free election, and people actually died because of it. 

Maybe all this focus on Trump’s strength among young men is an overreaction and voter turnout among this demographic will remain lackluster and not give Trump a notable boost. But there is a very good chance that 2024 breaks that precedent, and I hope any of my fellow young men who plan on voting seriously consider whether Trump is really the macho man you think he is.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.