The 2024 presidential cycle is possibly the weirdest of all time. Between an intra-party coup to replace one presumptive nominee, multiple assassination attempts on a second nominee, a third who hides from the media, and messaging and memes running the gamut from eating cats to constantly opining on being raised a middle-class kid, the strangeness of this election is unparalleled.
Occasionally, the campaigns delve into things that matter. For those who are bored with hearing about economic policy, managing the border, national defense and similarly trivial matters, there’s a new issue emerging. Masculinity was propelled into the news cycle this week by the Lincoln Project. The political action committee released an advertisement supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, and narrated by actor Sam Elliott, the reigning king of the American cowboy caricature.
It’s not accurate to call the ad larded with profanity; Elliott only uses one of George Carlin’s seven words you can never say on television. But more jarring than his angry, gratuitous swearing is how Elliott characterizes masculinity by explaining, “It’s time to be a man and vote for a woman.”
Elliott doesn’t say what a man is if he doesn’t vote for a woman - one can only imagine - but the ad rises to stratospheric levels of irony. The Lincoln Project, you may recall, was mired in scandal in 2021 after co-founder John Weaver faced accusations of sexual harassment by more than 20 men. The Daily Beast reported that Weaver was “accused of sexually harassing and grooming dozens of men, including one who he started talking to when the kid was just 14.”
The revelations of Weaver’s behavior prompted a mass exodus of the PAC’s leadership. Former John McCain campaign strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt left after admitting an inability to control his anger. Other departures involved advisors and strategists including Kurt Bardella and Nayyera Haq, columnist Tom Nichols, Jennifer Horn and others who jumped ship in the months surrounding the Weaver scandal. The bloodletting was so severe, one writer suggested the way to fix the Lincoln Project was to simply “shut it down.”
But the Lincoln Project is not shut down. Instead, the group pilloried in Politico Magazine for “Flagrant profiteering and sexual impropriety,” is now telling us how to be a man. Forgive me for not being swayed to the style of masculinity promoted by a group co-founded by a middle-aged guy putting the make on teenage boys.
This recent emphasis on masculinity is part of a continuum that began a few years ago when Doug Emhoff, the vice president’s husband, condemned toxic masculinity. Without mentioning that he impregnated the family nanny some years ago, Emhoff told MSNBC, “we've kind of confused what it means to be a man, what it means to be masculine.” Emhoff explained how, “you’ve got this trope out there where you have to be tough, and angry, and lash out to be strong.” Considering Elliott’s tough, angry, lashing out in the Lincoln Project ad, it appears he was unaware of Emhoff’s warning or ignored it.
Masculinity was further elevated when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was named Harris’s running mate. One college newspaper in California greeted the Walz nomination by proclaiming “Tim Walz is redefining masculinity for young voters.” Bloomberg went so far as to editorialize that “Tim Walz’s masculinity is terrifying to Republicans.”
If we are to take the man’s words and actions at face value, Walz’s redefinition of masculinity apparently includes repeatedly lying about his military rank, the nature of his service, how he and his wife dealt with fertility issues, his DUI arrest, even whether he received an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. The man comes across as an inveterate liar and a goofball on amphetamines. There are some terrifying things about Walz but masculinity isn’t one of them.
This strangeness is compounded by the fact that we’re being told what it means to be a man by a party whose most recent Supreme Court nominee was unable to define a woman. Given the Democrats’ well established record on gender confusion, I’m not convinced they’re ideally suited to provide guidance on this issue. Contrast their approach to masculinity with the actions of this Fox weatherman rescuing a woman stranded by the rising waters of Hurricane Helene Friday morning. Which version rings truer?
Taking advice on masculinity from the likes of Elliott, Emhoff, Walz and their allies is like taking advice on bank security from Willie Sutton. I’m sure there are some men who believe that voting for Harris can validate their masculinity. But I suspect there are many more who do so by providing for their relatives and members of their households, showing honor to their wives, and training up their children well. Masculinity of this sort takes more effort than casting a ballot but it’s a lot more satisfying.