The Democratic Party Can't Win Elections Without Men

Bring Them Back in the Tent

I’m big fan of the Obamas. They’re great orators and smart. I appreciate their brand of practical politics, not pushing the country past where it’s ready to go. But this week, I think they both got stuff wrong.

Early polls are showing a huge gender gap in the coming election. Dudes are voting for Trump. Women are voting for Harris. Young men from all parts of the country, not just middle-aged farmers from the midwest, are voting for Trump. He’s even seeing a record number of support from Black and Latino male voters.

We’re looking at a very close election, where every vote matters. So, this gender chasm is very concerning. So, last week, the Harris campaign brought out the heavy hitters, including Beyonce and the Obamas. The Obamas specifically addressed the gender gap, but they fumbled the job.

Last Saturday, Michelle Obama spoke at a rally in Michigan, where she acknowledged that men are angry about the slow pace of progress, but “your rage does not exist in a vacuum.”

She said that men needed to care about abortion more than their own anger about economic issues.

“If your wife is shivering and bleeding on the operating room table during a routine delivery gone bad, her pressure dropping as she loses more and more blood, or some unforeseen infection spreads and her doctors aren’t sure if they can act, you will be the one praying that it’s not too late,” Mrs. Obama said. “You will be the one pleading for somebody, anybody, to do something.”

And if they don’t put aside their angers about their jobs and the economy, she said, they are assigning the death penalty to the women in their lives. “If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women, will become collateral damage to your rage.”

That’s pretty heavy.

Earlier this month, Barack Obama “sternly suggested” to Black men that their sexism might be preventing them from voting for a woman.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think that you are going to change hearts and minds by telling people that their votes will lead to the death of their loved ones or that their failure to endorse Harris is a product of their own disgusting sexism.

Scott Galloway has done many podcasts and interviews recently on Democrats and the male vote. On a recent CNN interview, he said that men feel abandoned and even discriminated against by the Democratic Party. At a time when men aren’t finishing colleges and getting good jobs compared to women, they are searching for a party that will represent them.

Galloway says we cannot have a flourishing society, women can’t flourish, if men are floundering. And men are floundering as evident by a number of statistics, including a high suicide rate, which has been underreported by the popular press, Galloway says. (Except by me a few years back.)

Galloway says that the Democrats must develop their own brand of masculinity, address the serious economic issues facing all young Americans, and get away from identity politics.

Much of what Galloway says is true. I do think that young people are living in a dystopian world. Their resumes are filtered by bots based on keyword searches and the number of internships that were arranged by rich parents and their expensive colleges. College grads are under-employed. They have little chance of owning their own homes and are stuck living with their parents. While there’s a growing demand for positions in the trades, society has been slow to accept this shift.

But it’s not just about economics.

Young men are being influenced by Internet personalities like Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate, who tell vulnerable dudes that Trump will solve all their problems. Without anything else occupying their free time, too many guys are easy prey for conservative Internet podcasters.

This week, Donald Trump went onto the Joe Rogan podcast, where Rogan praised his comedic timing. That one podcast got 20 million views in 20 hours. Harris should go onto Rogan, too.

And then there are the unions. In the past, the unions, which were closely aligned with the Democratic Party, spoke to men. But the decline of the unions has left men to drift to the Republican side. There are fewer union bosses, who slapped workers on the back and drank beers in a bar to rally their support. Now, guys only interact with other workers over a Zoom call.

Even the guys who are still protected by a union are uncomfortable in the Democratic Party. Does a pipe fitter from Philadelphia feel any affiliation with an administration that hires a crossdresser who steals women’s luggage from the airport carousel? There are many reports about the rank-and-file union workers supporting Trump, while their leadership offers public support for Harris.

The Democratic Party can’t win elections without men. Shaming them to vote for their candidates won’t work. Democrats have to acknowledge the economic issues that are impacting all young people, but especially guys, and they need to offer solutions. They need their own influencers who can talk to straight white men. The Democratic Party has to embrace dudes, and keep them in the party tent. If not, we’re look at a party realignment.

Our democracy is based on the assumption that people will elect representatives that represent their self-interest. That’s how Madison designed the system, because he knew that men aren’t angels. He thought a well-designed system — checks and balances, federalism, and even the electoral college — will take that self-interest and make something better than the old system of monarchy and tyranny.

So, the Democratic Party has to provide young men with something other than shame and finger-wagging. I want the Obamas and others to rethink their strategies this week. It’s not too late. And do better.

Photo: Me, at JKF airport in August 2024, Election Chocolate Bars