Donald Trump is the epitome of toxic masculinity. All this posturing, all this bullying, all the authoritarianism and embracing of dictators and war criminals is an attempt to hide a really deep and really pathetic insecurity.
It’s just...so unbelievably sad.
It’s just...so unbelievably sad.
One of the mistakes we make with authoritarians like Trump and Putin is that we often view them through the lens of masculinity, exactly what they desperately need. These are really sad, insecure men. The posturing is compensation, the politics of cruelty a mask.
With Putin, the masculine facade is what the Right applauds, but it’s manufactured by political technologists. With Trump, garbage like this Rocky picture is just a lame attempt at boosting his flagging ego. It’s pathetic and breeds fascism in the name of personal identity.
In fact, fascism is born out of this masculine insecurity. There’s a reason these men surround themselves with war and weapons and militarized society. They need it because they themselves are weak and petrified of being exposed as weak. It’s external validation and armor.
Only by recognizing the pathetic nature of it all, and ripping the masculine aura away, can we keep these fascistic movements at bay. They recruit insecure young men who buy into this garbage. That’s how it grows. This is just lame posturing and we have to call it what it is.
