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from https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/the-left-should-stop-harping-on-men-that-drives-them-to-trump/

The left should stop harping on men. That drives them to Trump
Aug. 5, 2025 at 12:12 pm
A supporter of President Donald Trump holds up his portrait in Emmaus,
Pa. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS, 2024)

By Matt K. Lewis
Special to the Los Angeles Times
If you’re still looking for someone to blame for President Donald
Trump’s 2024 reelection, don’t just look at the usual suspects — the
MAGA die-hards, the QAnon crowd or your uncle screaming at Fox News.
Consider the bros at your local gym’s squat rack, the Discord server or
the gaming lounge who suddenly swung right — or, better yet, consider
blaming the Democrats who decided those guys didn’t matter. Yeah, nice
work, geniuses.

Recent focus groups conducted by the centrist Democratic group Third
Way, with the polling firm HIT Strategies, show that many young men feel criticized, overlooked and talked down to by a party they see as hostile
to their values and concerns. This echoes similar feedback from last
fall, when young male voters told pollsters that the Democratic Party
“has somehow become the anti-male party.”

If you’re wondering why this siege mentality hasn’t softened, it may be because the condescension and antagonism persist — especially among progressive elites whose statements are often conflated with the
Democratic Party.

July alone offered a plethora of examples. And lest you think this is
from the fever swamps of the internet, consider a few selections from
The New York Times.

First, we got “The Boy Crisis Is Overblown,” which shrugs off boys’ educational struggles, instead suggesting that boys expect others
(women) to pick up the slack, both at home and in school. Then came “The Trouble With Wanting Men,” a literary master class on how dating men
amounts to unpaid emotional labor. And to round it out, “Why Women Are
Weary of ‘Mankeeping,’” which blames men for … being human? Having different priorities than their girlfriends and wives?

See a pattern?

None of these pieces are entirely wrong. Boys and men are only human,
and there are good guys and bad guys. But if you’re a dude just trying
to stay afloat in a rapidly changing world, you might get the impression
that the cultural left, which (let’s be honest) constitutes the
Democratic Party’s base of energy and pressure, isn’t exactly rolling
out the welcome mat.

And if you’re a guy, what do you do with all of that criticism? You
check out. You find a podcast. You listen to some YouTuber explain how
protein cured his depression and why you should never trust a woman who
owns more than one NPR tote bag.

You exercise your greatest act of middle-finger rebellion: You vote for
Trump!

Now, you might say, “Is it really fair to blame the entire Democratic
Party for what a few writers say?” No! But politics isn’t about
fairness. It’s about vibes, and the vibe right now is that progressive culture has morphed into the HR department from hell. Heck, even Sydney
Sweeney in an American Eagle ad was too much for the online pitchfork
crowd. What’s next? Canceling golden retrievers?

The problem for the Democratic Party is that once you’re branded a “woke scold,” it’s hard to pivot, no matter what you say.

Look at President Joe Biden. He was called “Genocide Joe” for supporting Israel, yet still got blamed for pro-Palestinian campus protests — proof
that stereotypes are sticky, and perception, not policy, drives voter sentiment.

But here’s the irony: Democrats have an opportunity to turn things
around — and if their friends weren’t so busy writing gender theory
op-eds, they might notice there’s an opening to do just that.

Thanks to issues ranging from tariffs to immigration roundups to the
Jeffrey Epstein scandal, some of these podcast bros have started mocking
Trump. Meanwhile, “South Park” skewered him for threatening lawsuits to intimidate or silence his critics, which is an impressive about-face considering he used to score points by criticizing cancel culture.

“While some of these young men are still drawn to Trump and the
Republican Party,” Third Way’s focus groups found, “most are persuadable swing voters who dislike significant aspects of Trump’s actions so far
in his second term.”

But it’s gonna take more than President Barack Obama podcasting about “what’s right with young men.” It’s gonna take modern leaders — men and
women — who have the guts to stand up to their own tribe and say, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t treat half the population like defective appliances.”

Want their votes? Talk to them like they’re human. Stop acting like masculinity is a war crime. Nominate a presidential candidate who lifts
and can go on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Offer some real policies that don’t sound like they were cooked up in a gender studies seminar at Bryn Mawr.

Until then? Don’t be shocked if a whole generation of guys hears one
more lecture about toxic masculinity … and decides to vote for the most
toxic guy in the room.

This is how Trump wins.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb
to Fail.”
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