Trump's campaign plays on resentment of wounded masculinity

He is full of praise for strong-willed leaders, surrounds himself with combat sports champions and keeps above all to project an image of strength: Donald Trump is playing the virility card to the hilt.

Opposed to a Democratic candidate, the outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, as during his victorious campaign of 2006 against Hillary Clinton, he finds himself on the defensive concerning his fluctuating position on abortion.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris arrives aboard Air Force Two to travel to Detroit and Pittsburgh for campaign events, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on September 2, 2024 © POOL – Jacquelyn Martin

Kamala Harris is enjoying a surge in support from female voters as the Republican billionaire has often boasted of having allowed the cancellation of the federal guarantee of the right to abortion.

But Donald Trump is assiduously courting the electorate that, pell-mell, endorses cryptocurrencies, MMA and considers that American society has sunk into “wokeism”.

“He speaks to our generation,” Nick Passano, 37, told AFP, who came to attend a Trump rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (northeast) last week with four other cryptocurrency investors known as the Maga Boyz, all tattooed.

“We have to make our voices heard about the example we want to give our children, which is to say strong and masculine men,” he adds.

Former US President Donald Trump on the third day of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, on July 17, 2024 in Wisconsin © AFP – Jim WATSON

The combative attitude of the 78-year-old Republican candidate, his cheek bloodied, just after having escaped an assassination attempt during a meeting on July 13, further galvanized this fervor during the conservative party convention a few days earlier late.

“If you're a man in this country and you don't vote for Donald Trump, you're not a man,” conservative commentator Charlie Kirk said.

And during the convention, wrestler Hulk Hogan ripped off his shirt and called him a “gladiator.”

US President Joe Biden clears his throat during a speech in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 16, 2024 © AFP – Kent Nishimura

A striking contrast, exploited to the full by his campaign team, with the decline displayed by outgoing President Joe Biden, 81, weighed down by his catastrophic debate against Donald Trump in June.

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– “Persecuted white masculinity” –

But the abandonment of Joe Biden, suddenly replaced by Kamala Harris, 59, has changed the situation.

It is riskier for Donald Trump to puff out his chest in front of a woman of Jamaican and Indian origin than in front of another white man over 70, according to commentators.

Paul Johnson, a professor of communication at the University of Pittsburgh, believes, however, that he will not adapt his message to this change of opponent.

The “Trumpist vision” consists of describing a “wicked” world, where “real Americans must be prepared to fight for their place, to tell unpleasant and racist truths, and if necessary to use violence,” Paul Johnson told AFP.

This is evidenced in particular by Donald Trump's frequent reposting of crude sexual attacks against Kamala Harris on his social networks.

His young supporters at the Johnstown rally saw this as proof of his fearlessness.

“The fact that he's himself is why I like him so much,” confides Wyatt Waszo, a 21-year-old restaurant worker.

But Donald Trump is only riding the wave of the macho movement, according to analysts.

US Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, at the Democratic convention in Chicago, August 22, 2024 © AFP – Robyn Beck

Many conservative radio shows are echoing what they call “male malaise.” It's a visceral reaction to globalization and movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Michigan (north), told AFP.

“This idea of ​​a persecuted and disdained white masculinity is very closely linked to that of American greatness, considered as being in a state of siege,” according to her.

And in this conception of the world, “this greatness can be restored by giving free rein to this rough, even ruthless masculinity,” continues Kristin Kobes Du Mez.

“Trump plays on the fears of losing what we have,” she summarizes.

Minnesota Governor and Kamala Harris' running mate Tim Walz at the Democratic convention in Chicago, August 22, 2024 © AFP – Robyn Beck

For her part, Kamala Harris is careful not to place her candidacy under the sign of the unprecedented accession of a woman to the White House.

And Democratic strategists hope that the profile of her running mate Tim Walz, a progressive but also a former military man, ex-American football coach, hunter and fisherman, will make him win some points on this front.

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