The Man Behind the Curtain
Susan J. Demas
America has a masculinity problem, and it’s not the one Donald Trump is selling.
For decades, the definition of manly fitness for public office was fairly simple: military service. George H.W. Bush flew 58 combat missions in World War II. John McCain endured five years of torture in a North Vietnamese prison and refused early release. Even George W. Bush, who used his family connections to join the Texas National Guard, understood that military service was a baseline expectation if you wanted to be taken seriously as a commander-in-chief.
Bill Clinton got battered for avoiding the draft. Barack Obama never served. The cultural expectation was so entrenched that Democrats spent years on the defensive about it.
And then along came Donald Trump and his five draft deferments. He mocked POWs, reportedly called fallen soldiers “suckers and losers,” and has a profound contempt for anyone in uniform who doesn’t flatter him. And suddenly, the Republican Party decided that none of that mattered anymore. What mattered was bravado, dominance, and rage. What mattered was the performance.
That’s the tell. What Trump sells isn’t masculinity. It’s the performance of masculinity. And there’s a crucial difference.
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