So much will be said about the Presidential elections of 2024. Democrats will reflect and inquire where they went wrong, and the various political pundits will claim that it was the economy, the southern border, immigration, and the economy. And credible arguments will be made to sustain their hypothesis. The Democrats will be accused of misplaced emphasis where too much was placed on a women’s right to choose, and protection from abortion bans. Some will argue that not enough emphasis was placed on bread-and-butter issues of the working class. Where was the talk about jobs, opening and keeping manufacturing booming in the US, and making wages grow to support a family and make feasible the American Dream. The Harris campaign expected a huge turnout of women voters who would resonate with issues of Choice, a national abortion ban, democracy, more civility in public discourse, and protecting the country from fascism. But it appears that was a gross miscalculation. We discover according to a Washington Post exit poll that 45% of women broke for Trump with 53% of white women going that way. White women and Hispanic men voted for Trump despite the sexism and racism of the campaign. The numbers among Black men had not changed from 2020 where 8 in 10 Black men supported the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump’s campaign was a celebration of maleness. We heard about women being protected whether they wanted it or not. He talked about the size of Arnold Palmer’s penis. Even after the attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania he pops back up with his fist in the air chanting “fight, fight, fight”. This was the Cowboy, the John Wayne, tougher than Ronald Reagan that white maleness and women were waiting for. Despite all the trials, convictions, adjudication for sexual assault, and the infamous tape where he is heard saying that you can “grab them by the pussy”, and his posturing with some of the world’s “strong men” helped to define him as a man’s man. His white male supporters, and more than a majority of white women dismissed all the Trump rhetoric, its rancor, racism, and the sexism as a celebration of testosterone that reestablished the “strong” white man.
As a man growing up in this US culture, I understand the sexist misogynistic attitudes that are afoot in the psyche of men. Though as a Black man I was raised with strong Black women, yet I did not escape the socialization that defines maleness and separates us from women. Though I have faithfully worked to reeducate myself from this socialization I am still struggling with my own failures. The culture has served as the academy of sexism and misogyny. As men we have all been educated in the universities of the locker room where we take sideway glances to see whose package is bigger, and to affirm the miracle of men. We have been socialized to believe that men should lead, are stronger, and that men are the pragmatist and therefore wiser than women. White women have largely been accepting of these roles as evidenced by 53% going with a macho white male instead of an accomplished Black/South Asian woman. Not only is this sexist but racist. Men have a strong identification with the macho sexism of Donald Trump, and feel that he spoke to their sense of failure as men in the home, community, and world. Trump has presented a beacon that draws white men to it in hopes that by supporting him it will mean that white men can take their rightful place – again. This movement is not just the Make America Great – Again movement, but it is also The Make Men Great – Again movement that resonated with significant portions of the white male and female population that led to the defeat of another woman vying for President of the US. In this case it was also a nonwhite woman who was perceived as posing a threat to maleness and endangering the belief that this is a country for, by, and of white males.
Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Senior Advisor-Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA, & Director and Chief Visionary-Faith Strategies, LLC