Building a Better Manosphere

The second Trump administration’s agenda to date has been, in a word, masculinist. The president and his officials have threatened abortion and birth control access, ushered through appointments of arguably unqualified men to high-profile positions (including some who’ve been accused of abuse), and restricted the use of words including “gender,” “racism,” “trans,” “equity,” “Bipoc” and even “women.” There’s been the suggestion of annexing sovereign nations, the start of a global trade war, a push to ban transgender people from military service and a pronatalist call from the vice president for “more babies in the United States of America.”

And yet, Trump and the men in his inner circle—Elon Musk, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and the rest—don’t themselves recall traditional American masculine archetypes. The old-school conservatism of John McCain and Ronald Reagan evoked taciturn sheriffs fighting outlaws, corn-fed soldiers running into enemy fire to save their platoon, stern paterfamilias providing for their wives and children. Although these values could be patronizing and oppressive, they also carried a sense of dignity, honor and accountability—an expectation that men should stand up to bullies, speak the truth, protect their communities and take responsibility for their actions.