August 4, 2022

Josh Hawley "is positioning himself, and therefore his movement — his far-right, White-guy movement — as, 'If you’re a man, then you believe in these things.'"

Said Jason Kander," an Afghanistan War veteran who in 2018 stepped away from rising success in the Democratic Party to tend to his mental health," quoted "Josh Hawley’s problem with masculinity" (WaPo).

The column is by Jonathan Capehart, who continues:
These things, you could probably guess, are archconservative values such as the patriarchy, opposition to women’s bodily autonomy, support exclusively for heterosexual marriage, an aversion to labor organizing. In other words, as Kander told me via email later, Hawley is “making manhood synonymous with conservatism.” 
The pitch holds natural appeal for older White men who already hew to traditional morals. But what about the younger White men who, as Kander says, watch Ultimate Fighting but still like their LGBTQ co-workers and have friends who have had abortions? Hawley figures he can woo them too, so long as they share one potent trait with the older group: racial resentment. 
This vision of masculinity is as much about being White as it is about being a man.... 
Hawley may be a clown, but he’s clever, too. He knows White men feel they’re facing a crisis, and he plans to give them an answer....

82 comments:

M Jordan said...

I see some fear rising these days from libs over losing a cultural war they thought they could suppress: manhood. Dems will never be the party that makes a man feel good about his manliness. It’s anathema to their big agenda but also simply an ideology that won’t allow it. The feminization of society can only work after men have built and secured it. And it can only last until their beta males collapse into a puddle of goo.

The cycle is always, ever: Strong men build strong societies, strong societies create weak men, weak men create weak societies, weak societies create strong men.

We’re at that last phase. Expect a bright future.

Humperdink said...

"White men feel they’re facing a crisis ...."

Earth to Capehart, I would suggest all flavors citizenry of the US are facing a crisis, excluding the ruling class of course. These people are really isolated, aren't they?

Michael K said...

The insanity continues with Hawley as the latest target. I was a bit surprised to hear that Rand Paul was not a "NO" vote on that NATO bill.

wendybar said...

Capehart doesn't have to worry about having "manhood". Little racist wimp should look at what a joke his own party is.

Joe Smith said...

So Stanford undergrad and Yale law...

If that's a 'clown,' then the entire democrat apparatchik are clowns.

If he were a D he'd be the next messiah...

n.n said...

Liberalism is divergent. Progressivism is monotonic. Libertarianism is independent. Conservativism is moderating. American conservativism is pro-"the People" and pro-"our Posterity"... without diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry) including racism, sexism, ageism, etc.

Women, men, and "our Posterity" are from Earth. Feminists are from Venus. Masculinists are from Mars. Social progressives are from Uranus... one step forward, two steps backward. Lose your [ethical] religion.

Gusty Winds said...

Josh Hawley was the only Senator with the common sense and the balls to vote against Finland and Sweden's admission into NATO. Rand Paul voted present.

Why should US Taxpayers be on the hook for addition defense money going to Western Europe? Is this a good thing to surround Russia on it's northern flank too? What for?

It is becoming obvious that our government is not interested in real peace, nor the financial health of the American people.

Makes you understand how the Democrat and GOP establishment are aligned, and why they worked so hard to fraudulently remove Trump.

Mark said...

His quick moving exit on January 6 notwithstanding.

MikeR said...

Amazing that you can write an entire column about Josh Hawley, and not bother to bring a single piece of evidence to a single one of your claims. All about a figure that exists in your imagination.
Is it only in my imagination that the Washington Post used to do better?

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

Lurker21 said...

Hawley did write an admiring book about Theodore Roosevelt.

Now let's hear what Hawley thinks of Capehart.

I would hope Hawley has more class and more scruples than to reduce Capehart to racial and sexual/gender stereotypes.

Enigma said...

Superficial, bigoted analyses are always fine when directed at White folks. "Such stupid rednecks."

I chuckled about the reaction to this 2006 documentary on evangelical Christians:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Camp

There was shock in urban, secular circles. Little did they know that this was the norm for hundreds of years of US history... Puritans...Shakers...Amish...Mennonites...Pentecostal...Mormons...

Ignorance is bliss and ignorance is dangerous.

Beasts of England said...

‘Hawley figures he can woo them too, so long as they share one potent trait with the older group: racial resentment.’

The Dems are panicking about minorities, especially Hispanics, migrating to the party of traditional American values. Go woke, go broke.

Sebastian said...

I'd like manhood to be associated with conservatism, but--Josh Hawley?

And of course, raaaccce.

Can't progs do propaganda that at least sounds halfway plausible? Must it all be transparent BS? Or is it just about serving up the confirmation bias to gullible soap opera women?

Religious in America said...

The last refuge of a scoundrel is... RACIST!
If you've got no argument, just accuse your opponent (or target) of being a racist.
- Potato Creek Johnny

rcocean said...

Rand Paul didn't have the guts to vote "NO". He never does. He's the biggest fake in the US Senate, which is saying a lot.

And this is one more reason why we need Trump, or someone just ike him as POTUS. The groupthink in Congress and the Presidency is scary. At least with Trump you had someone who would pushback and TALK about what the American people wanted. All these clowns in DC are AOK ith spending $40,000 million in the Ukraine while leaving our southern border open to drug dealers, criminals, and anyone from anywhere who wants to walk accross.

And then, not satisified with damaging our economy with sanctions against Russia, they want to stir up trouble with China. AT THE SAME TIME! And for what? We've already agreed that
Taiwan is part of China.

Its also why we need to Break up the USA. The stupid leftists in the Northeast and the west coast simply do NOT care, what the US Government does. They'll vote D, no mater what. Forever. Let the Red states go and form their own country. Let the blue states go wallow in their progressive slop.

gadfly said...

Hawley continues to make act like a fool. You would think that holding Yale law credentials would permit him to understand that he broke the law on January 6, participating in casting no votes late in the joint congressional session against certain state electors even after he ran in fear from the violent mob trespassing in the Senate Chamber during the late afternoon.

Another poor loser who will soon find himself gone from politics. He doesn't have the charisma to survive his self-created bad times.

mikee said...

Yesterday I linked the very old SNL skit, Quien es Mas Macho? for its direct means of measuring the differences between men. Yesterday it was a comparison of Trumpian boorishness to other political boors.

Today the skit's methodology for determining who is most manly could be used directly to compare politicians' policy machismo.

Ask your friends:
Quien es mas macho? Josh Hawley or AOC?
Quien es mas macho? AOC or Speaker Pelosi?
Quien es mas macho? Senator McConnell or Chuck Schumer?

And yes, it is possible that no contestants win due to total lack of machismo on all sides.

https://vimeo.com/365899455

Quaestor said...

n.n writes, "Social progressives are from Uranus..."

I've suspected that for quite a while.

More whole grains will help produce firmer, more regular progressives.

Gusty Winds said...

“He knows White men feel they’re facing a crisis, and he plans to give them an answer....”

What a load of crap.

It would be nice if white guys could pull an Atlas Shrugged and leave the rest to their own devices. Everyone loves Mom...until they are short on rent money and need new tires.

White guys aren’t “baby daddies”.

We pay the bills. We pay the alimony to those that claim to be ‘equal’. We pay the child support. We dig ditches along side minority labor. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a large population of feminist farmers feeding the country, or building the houses, and repairing the cars.

We pull our weight without asking for applause, adoration, or thanks because that’s what it means to be a man. We learned it from our grandfathers…and now we are expected to pay for the sins of their times.

We watch our sons become emasculated in the feminist dominated education system.

Our current “white-guy crisis” is clearly seeing that our country and children are being polluted. That many of them will end up in poverty, hopefully with their dicks and tits still attached to their bodies. We see that the destruction of the nuclear family creates poverty and crime.

There are plenty of shit white guys. And when they are lazy assholes, we don’t align with them out of some bullshit skin color loyalty. We call them out. Tell them to get off their asses and work.

And we also know America will lose the next big war it enters with our battleships flying gay pride flags, and vaccinated soldiers wearing pussy hats.

The Genius Savant said...

Jason Kander is a fraternity brother of mine -- not just the national fraternity but the chapter too -- he is a total fraud. He ran, multiple times, by his own measure having PTSD without telling the voters and then has been celebrated by the Media for coming out having it without any regard to the fact that he had it in prior elections. Shameful. F him and anything he says about anyone. Everyone in our chapter who wasn't in his pledge class hated him.

Heywood Rice said...


White guys aren’t “baby daddies”.

We pay the bills. We pay the alimony to those that claim to be ‘equal’. We pay the child support...


Gonna go out on a limb and suggest you're overgeneralizing here.

There are plenty of shit white guys. And when they are lazy assholes, we don’t align with them out of some bullshit skin color loyalty.

Actually that's what you just did.

Joe Smith said...

Gusty Winds @ 11:39

Are you my long-lost twin?

: )

daskol said...

I want to believe in Hawley, but he’s in Congress with scum and as long as that persists he’s suspect.

daskol said...

I want to believe in Hawley, but he’s in Congress with scum and as long as that persists he’s suspect.

mccullough said...

No one is following Josh Hawley.

Like Kander and Capehart, he’s a worthless opportunist.

And the US lost in Afghanistan and the military can’t recruit.

So spare us The War Hero bullshit

Marty said...

Mike R. wrote, "Is it only in my imagination that the Washington Post used to do better?"

Yes.

Marty said...

Mike R. wrote, "Is it only in my imagination that the Washington Post used to do better?"

Yes.

narciso said...

luttwak practically disenboweled kander in a tablet piece about his memoir, making him a standin for the whole afghan effort,

Marty said...

gadfly wrote, "He doesn't have the charisma to survive his self-created bad times."

Yeah, as if this banal observation applies only to a single politician. (I'm thinking of you, Kamala.)

Kai Akker said...

---The feminization of society can only work after men have built and secured it. And it can only last until their beta males collapse into a puddle of goo.

Yes, Manolo Jordan, and the US of A is the most feminized society that has ever existed on our planet. While Althouses want more-more-more for the girls, men are going to have to rescue them and everyone else from the dismal dreck of the Bidens, Obamas, and all the beta media Althouse likes to escape into.

Dave Begley said...

“ Hawley figures he can woo them too, so long as they share one potent trait with the older group: racial resentment. This vision of masculinity is as much about being White as it is about being a man.... Hawley may be a clown, but he’s clever, too. He knows White men feel they’re facing a crisis, and he plans to give them an answer....”

According to the gay Black liberal.

walter said...

"an aversion to labor organizing."
That's so WHITE!!!

Gadfly,
Do you believe Hawley should be charged with a crime?
Why isn't he?

Dave Begley said...

Joe Smith wrote, “So Stanford undergrad and Yale law...”

Hawley is also an alum of Kansas City’s Jesuit high school. Sen Tim Kaine is also an alum. Kaine could have been VP.

Big Mike said...

To a writer for the Post or the Times the phrase “far right” means everything not to the left of Vlad Lenin. As to manliness, I guess it’s only useful to the likes of the Post’s writers when it means a biological males runs into a burning house — twice! — rescue five children. Otherwise I guess we’re only here on earth to open jelly jars.

Did you hear about the men who died ten years ago in that theater in Aurora, Colorado, because they shielded their girlfriends with their own bodies? In Capehart’s world, that’s just another case of toxic masculinity.

Bruce Hayden said...

“These things, you could probably guess, are archconservative values such as the patriarchy, opposition to women’s bodily autonomy, support exclusively for heterosexual marriage, an aversion to labor organizing. In other words, as Kander told me via email later, Hawley is “making manhood synonymous with conservatism.” The pitch holds natural appeal for older White men who already hew to traditional morals. But what about the younger White men who, as Kander says, watch Ultimate Fighting but still like their LGBTQ co-workers and have friends who have had abortions? Hawley figures he can woo them too, so long as they share one potent trait with the older group: racial resentment. This vision of masculinity is as much about being White as it is about being a man.... Hawley may be a clown, but he’s clever, too. He knows White men feel they’re facing a crisis, and he plans to give them an answer....”

It’s spin and political pandering. There really isn’t any racism there. That’s all made up on the Dems’ part. The Dem party is now the party of women and sissy boys. And, not surprising, from millions of years of evolution, most women prefer more manly men. The sissy boys try to compensate for their inferior masculinity through solidarity with liberal women. That may be all that they have, but it doesn’t work that well, and the women it does work with are going to emasculate them more, if they actually do “get lucky”.

Well, guess what? Other demographic groups have and celebrate manly men too - and in our present political environment, that specifically includes Hispanics. Thus, the claim of White Racism - trying to insert a wedge between the manly men on the right and those of other ethnicities. It’s not working. Hispanic men are, if anything, more macho than their gringo counterparts.

As for LGBTxyz co-workers - who cares? as long as they don’t try to groom our kids, which is a big problem right now. Gay guys, like their sissy boys, aren’t really competing for the primary prize - the best women.

Leland said...

I don’t see it as so much Harley positioning himself but rather democrats hoping their painting of him as holding these views will distract voters from the absolute mess they have made of education, the economy, healthcare, and foreign relations. When you haven’t received a raise in years as your employer business suffers from a destroyed supply chain, while your children can’t go to school because their teacher may get monkeypox or covid; then you might not buy the Democrat pretense that it is because their opponent is racist. After all, they are the party of Robert Byrd, George Wallace, and Woodrow Wilson.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ever since Josh beat Claire McCatkill - the left have lost their minds with hatred for him.

F the left

narciso said...

left him a quivering shell,

https://freebeacon.com/culture/duty-honor-ambition/

Kevin said...

Said Jason Kander," an Afghanistan War veteran who in 2018 stepped away from rising success in the Democratic Party to tend to his mental health,"

More people in the Democratic Party need to do this.

Then they need to stay away from the Democratic Party to keep the mental health they gain.

narciso said...

and she was such an empty shell, only noteworthy because a man of great note, todd akin was defeated thanks to that sniveling rove,

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The far-left white soi boi antifa-terror and smear movement rolls on.

Jupiter said...

Just for the record, I gots no problem with "labor organizing". But I do have a problem with the government forcing people to join unions, and with unions of government employees.

Other than that, yeah, ol' Josh has got my number. Pissed-off white man who earns a living.

tcrosse said...

"I'm a man, but I can change if I have to, I guess."

Michael K said...

Another poor loser who will soon find himself gone from politics. He doesn't have the charisma to survive his self-created bad times.

gadfly got his politicians mixed up again. The RINO congressmen who voted to impeach Trump are gone from politics along with that RINO AZ House Speaker who to a Trump supporter for a state Senate seat.

No Democrat is running for that seat.

Iman said...

Capehart is a racist clown. That is all.

JLT said...

David Brooks described himself as a social democrat on Milton Friedman’s “Free to Choose” show in 1986. Brooks is one half of the PBS NewsHour weekly roundtable. His “conservative” counterpart is fake-conservative Jonathan Capehart. Unfortunately, Capehart tends to always agree with Brooks. PBS needs to replace Capehart with a genuine conservative.


traditionalguy said...

All that article accuses Hawley of is simple MAGA Trumpism. But Trump never has gone near White racist or anti-women. They just make it up as fast as the media propagandists can write daily fiction. Hawley may soon find himself impeached, arrested and sued into bankruptcy. That is the Dem game when a MAGA Trump wins elections.

Not Sure said...

On the question of the manliness of conservatives, the science is settled.

wildswan said...

"mikee said...[A SNL skit's] methodology for determining who is most manly could be used directly to compare politicians' policy machismo.
Ask your friends:
Quien es mas macho? Josh Hawley or AOC?
Quien es mas macho? AOC or Speaker Pelosi?
Quien es mas macho? Senator McConnell or Chuck Schumer?"

With AOC and Pelosi there, shouldn't the word be "machismx."

The Vault Dweller said...

opposition to women’s bodily autonomy
Just say he is pro-life, or if he feels that gives too much rhetorical benefit to him say he is anti-abortion. What other issues regarding bodily autonomy of women does he oppose? Something tells me the author of this piece opposes the the idea of bodily autonomy of women getting to chose whether they wear a mask or not, or even whether they get a particular vaccine. Also the author trying to couch his disagreements with Senator Hawley's positions in terms of Hawley's problem with masculinity makes me think the author feels insecurities regarding his own masculinity and is merely projecting those onto Hawley. If he has this problem I suggest he watch or rewatch The West Wing. There are plenty of left-wing men in that show that could reassure the author that it is in fact possible to be left-wing and masculine at the same time.

Seamus said...

Mike R. wrote, "Is it only in my imagination that the Washington Post used to do better?"

Yes
____________________

I used to think that the Washington Post under the Graham/Weymouth dynasty was a lefty rag, but then Bezos got ahold of it and made the Post under Kay Graham look like--we'll, not as good as All the President's Men makes it out to be, but still a real newspaper rather than a Buzzfeed clone.

Dude1394 said...

If you don't support Josh Hawley then you are not a man.
If you don't vote for Biden you are not black.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Looks like it's the Left, not Josh, that has "a problem with masculinity"

"This vision of masculinity is as much about being White as it is about being a man"

Aside from the racism of that claim, even if it were true there's be a simple solution:
The Left can start celebrating "being a man".

What's that? The Left hates actual men, and will never celebrate them?

Then I guess Josh and the Republicans get them

Greg The Class Traitor said...

opposition to women’s bodily autonomy

Pre Dobbs, if a man and a woman had sex, and the woman got pregnant, then if the woman wanted to kill the baby, she could
And if the woman wanted to keep the baby, the man was on the hook for 18 years of child support

No "bodily autonomy" for him.

So, if you value males,a nd want men and women treated equally, I can't see how you can consider "women’s bodily autonomy" to be important, in a world where men have none

Greg The Class Traitor said...

mccullough said...
No one is following Josh Hawley.

Like Kander and Capehart, he’s a worthless opportunist.

And the US lost in Afghanistan and the military can’t recruit.

So spare us The War Hero bullshit


It wasn't Hawley who caused the US Charlie Foxtrot in Afghanistan, that was Dems and the Biden Admin

And it's not Hawley's policies that are making it so the military can’t recruit, that again is Dems and the Biden Admin


So I congratulate you on an utterly incoherent post

Lars Porsena said...

Capehart et al will never get over Hawley's grilling of Dem bench appointments on the judiciary committee. There on Youtube and worth your while.

Drago said...

Beasts of England: "The Dems are panicking about minorities, especially Hispanics, migrating to the party of traditional American values."

That partially explains gadfly's pathetic attacks on Hawley.

n.n said...

the science is settled

Strength, acuity, and probity... choose, wisely.

Spiros said...

When did the democrats (i.e., the good guys) become such racist bastards? Every thing these people say or write or tweet or whatever is inherently racist. They divide people by race, treat race as "essential" and then distribute public goods, including university spots and government jobs, according to race. But these scumbags are never racist, just angry at all the injustice in the world!

rcocean said...

Kander is such a fake. One of the few Jewish "Afghanistan vets", its too bad he's exaggerated his war service and is claiming to have PTSD. He graduated from Law school in 2005, and graduated from ROTC. In 2006, spent ONE YEAR in Kabul as an intelligence officer. Resigned from Army Reserve in 2011.

IOW, resigned his reserve commission 11 years ago. Was in Afghanistan as a desk jockey 15 years ago. But now, we're still talking about his PTSD.

Reminds me of that other WARRIOR, David French. Or that 21st Century George S. Patton: Lt.Col "Fat boy" Vindman, who left his desk, and then ran over a Baghdad landmine on his way to the PX. And was tranformed into a WOUNDED HERO.

rcocean said...

Hawley gets viciously attacked every week by the MSM/Wapo/NYT. Mitt Romney WRITES editorials for the MSM viciously attacking other Republicans.

I'll take Hawley anyday over Mittens. Or that warmongering fake: Miss Lindsey.

realestateacct said...

A Trump endorsed black man just defeated a white guy who voted to impeach Trump in a primary in Michigan. How can this be fit into the narrative of those nasty white guys?

Howard said...

Of course you people love chickenhawks.

Narr said...

I'm disappointed at Paul; Hawley is too obvious in his smarm, ambition and self-regard to have widespread appeal IMO.

Josephbleau said...

"Dems will never be the party that makes a man feel good about his manliness."

Quite true, when I saw the video of Bernie Sanders on his honeymoon in Moscow drinking vodka shirtless, singing komosol songs... Euuu floppy skin. Crazy Vlad would have had a 500 Kg bear draped over his back carrying a Druganov rifle, riding his horse thru snowdrift wearing a speedo.

Marc in Eugene said...

I have no interest whatever in reading Jonathan Capehart define 'archconservative values', ha. My WaPo subscription, begun in the excitement of Dobbs etc is about to expire, and will remain expired until, I don't know, perhaps November. Will return to trusting Althouse to uncover anything there of real significance but Jonathan Capehart? no, no.

Drago said...

NeverTrump = AlwaysDemocratical.

And it always has.

Drago said...

Biden Voter/Party of Bush's & Cheney's: "Of course you people love chickenhawks"

LOL

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger Narr said...
I'm disappointed at Paul; Hawley is too obvious in his smarm, ambition and self-regard to have widespread appeal IMO.


Like Trump?

Howard said...

What's good for Goose is good for the Gander

Drago said...

realestateacct: "A Trump endorsed black man just defeated a white guy who voted to impeach Trump in a primary in Michigan. How can this be fit into the narrative of those nasty white guys?"

Gadfly and Howard will simply shift to their standard racist democratical talking point: that guy ain't a "real" black guy.

Robert Cook said...

"Dems will never be the party that makes a man feel good about his manliness."

Any man who even consciously thinks about "manliness" (his or anyone else's) has a problem. Those who fetishize "manliness" have even worse problems.

Bilwick said...

So, summarizing this and every other essay or op-ed article by a "liberal": Submit to the Hive, peasants. The Hive knows best. People who oppose the Hive are bad.

Ampersand said...

Manliness is not a concept that lends itself to definitive explication. It's more of a "I know it when I see it" sort of thing.
Nobody in their right mind would use Jonathan Capehart as a guide to manliness.

CWJ said...

"I'm disappointed at Paul; Hawley is too obvious in his smarm, ambition and self-regard to have widespread appeal IMO."

I pulled this quote not because of the author, but rather because I've seen this sentiment here before.

Somehow, the one indeed only senator who had the courage to vote no to courting WW3 is to be criticized for his ambition. I don't care a whit about his ambition if he votes responsibly. He was the only one of a hundred who did.

He made me proud of having him be one of my senators.

Narr said...

You left out smarm, self-regard, and lack of widespread appeal.

And if one senator is all that stands between us and WW3 we're already screwed.

Lurker21 said...

Politicians aren't perfect. Don't idolize them. They can serve purposes and play important roles, but they aren't going to be role models. Politics, though, is about ambition and the Washington world leads politicians to think that ought to play more powerful roles than they do. Critics and enemies waste time pointing out that politicians aren't paragons of virtues, obscuring the fact that sometimes they are useful and valuable in the positions they have. Fans idolize politicians until they find out that the politicians aren't perfect and don't agree with them all the time and can't achieve everything that they promise. Then they bitterly turn on yesterday's heroes.

I have a dim memory of some politician wheeling out his old gay uncle who cowrote the musical Cabaret to take a cheap shot at his opponent. Now I remember that the politician probably was Jason Kander. The story left an unpleasant aftertaste for me. Not because the uncle was gay, but because Kander was basking in the reputation of a relative, preening himself on his connection to someone else's achievement, rather than focusing on the issues or on his own accomplishments. It seemed to me to be trivializing things. Talking about one's gay uncle might be permissible for a politician, but to evoke Broadway and Hollywood glitz was to make oneself an unserious candidate.

JAORE said...

Jonathan Capehart was under the hood of my car this morning, chewing on the wring harness.

ccscientist said...

So being against rampant crime makes Hawley racist? Viewing abortion as murder is not allowed as a valid view? Being supportive of families is verboten? So much wrong here.
Hawley stood up to the twit who could not define a woman during a hearing recently. Good for him.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Robert Cook said...
"Dems will never be the party that makes a man feel good about his manliness."

Any man who even consciously thinks about "manliness" (his or anyone else's) has a problem. Those who fetishize "manliness" have even worse problems.


Oh cookie, you never fail to fail.

So what I see you writing here is that everyone except "real men" deserves to be "validated" by the people they vote for.

But to be a "real man" means that no one should ever validated you, except for parking.

GFY

Jack Klompus said...

Oh Cookie, remind us how awesome you are because you live in NYC and have really super edgy way lefty "radical" politics. You ridiculous poseur.