We certainly are hearing a lot suddenly about the men at the top of the Kamala Harris campaign: her husband, Doug Emhoff, who could be first gentleman, and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. And of course, it's all good. And weird.
Soon after Harris revealed Walz as her running mate, Harvard graduate David Hogg claimed that Walz is "the definition of what healthy masculinity looks like." Whatever you say. Putting tampons in boys' restrooms is healthy masculinity.
Worse yet was the opinion piece published by the Washington Post by Catherine Rampell, who argued that perhaps Emhoff's most appropriate title was "progressive sex symbol." Yes, the man who during his first marriage got the nanny pregnant and most likely encouraged her to get an abortion is a progressive sex symbol.
Now USA Today wants to get in on the fun, and it has a piece in its news section about how Emhoff campaigning for his wife embodies (and redefines) masculinity. We think they have that backward; you have to redefine masculinity before you can claim that Emhoff embodies it. Are we using Hogg's standard for health masculinity?
Campaigning for Kamala, Doug Emhoff embodies (and redefines) masculinity https://t.co/mc39caW3r7
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 13, 2024
Please, Francesca Chambers, tell us more:
A “guy’s guy” who intersperses quips about his Fantasy football team with knocks on his wife’s Republican opponent, Emhoff has redefined the role of the nation’s second spouse as he hustles to help Harris become the first female president of the United States.
“The model of masculinity he's presenting is one where you can still like sports. You can still like to hang out with your friends. You can still like to defend your family from threats and be supportive of your wife in her role as the leader of the free world– or the leader of whatever organization she is in charge of,” former Harris communications director Jamal Simmons said.
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"Sometimes, it’s lending an arm. Sometimes, it’s procuring a bag of Doritos." The media really is pushing the Doritos angle, even though under the Biden-Harris administration, you get fewer chips per bag because of "shrinkflation" and corporate greed.
"The model of masculinity he's presenting is one where you can still like sports." What? When, or to whom, was it ever not OK to like sports? Was that toxic masculinity? Was having friends toxic masculinity? They define masculinity as well as they do "assault weapon" and " woman."
This may surprise you (okay. It won’t), but this is not in the opinion section.
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) September 14, 2024
It’s “news” from USA Today White House correspondent @fran_chambers. pic.twitter.com/NyNuqfwwb9
Kamala is the masculine one in that relationship.
— Sharon Peters (@Keggr87) September 14, 2024
He is a beta male. There's nothing masculine about him.
One weird nanny f*cker doesn't redefine anything.
— Steven (@stevenmirn) September 13, 2024
Like so many other attributes associated with MAGA, masculinity is something Democrats desperately crave. They see it but cannot replicate it.
— Andrea E (@AAC0519) September 14, 2024
This just in: Liberal women seek beta (and lower men).
— Matt (@mattunc2003) September 14, 2024
Water is also, indeed, wet.
Related... https://t.co/hF75CPU4Fd
— Kelley K (@KelleyKga) September 14, 2024
He definitely "redefines masculinity."
— McLovin (@McLovin6Actual) September 14, 2024
How does someone both embody and redefine something?
— DrM 🇺🇸 (@DrMagnolias) September 14, 2024
As we said above, they need to redefine masculinity before they can claim Emhoff embodies it.
When did corporate media become so nauseatingly sycophantic? pic.twitter.com/Bzx1E7Utp3
— Janine Curran (@janinereturns) September 14, 2024
So guys are supposed to get the baby sitter pregnant and then force her to get an abortion?
— Joe McWopSki (@LakesFirearmsTr) September 14, 2024
The last thing the world needs is for men to be redefined by beta males like Doug.
— The Populist Mad Ox (@TheRealMadOx) September 14, 2024
Doug Emhoff and the word "masculinity" have never even been introduced.
— Shayadjinn (@Shayadjinn1) September 14, 2024
Hey, the man is a progressive sex symbol, all right? His wife is vice president but he still buys her Doritos.
“I love him. I think that his support of his wife is exactly what I want to see white men in America doing. I think that he is representing what it looks like to stand behind a powerful woman,” said Carol Vinatieri, a Harris volunteer from Abington, who’s training to become a precinct captain.
A Harris volunteer. That's a good source.
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