The Harris-Walz campaign has a problem with men, and they are desperately trying to fix it as polls indicate razor-thin margins in key battle ground states.
First, the campaign attempted to trot out Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff as a paragon of the “new masculinity,” attracting wide mockery as pundits pointed out that a man who abandoned his family after impregnating the nanny was scarcely a model of male virtue.
A more recent allegation published by the Daily Mail that Emhoff slapped another ex-girlfriend was brushed off by the second gentleman, in legally specific terms, as a “distraction.”
The Harris-Walz campaign has moved onto the other things. They’ve recruited celebrities such as Jennifer Garner, an actress and ex-wife of Ben Affleck, to gush unconvincingly about how “sexy” men who support Kamala are:
Capital One Lady:
“God is there anything sexier than a man who’s like, men for Kamala? I mean whew!”
Dripping with despair.
pic.twitter.com/0p8WjORYUO
— Champagne Joshi (@JoshWalkos) October 12, 2024
To top off their efforts, they’ve released an ad allegedly targeted at men depicting various American masculine stereotypes gruffly announcing their support for Kamala Harris – and abortion (which, the ad implies, all real men support):
This is what Dems think men are like.
Incredible. pic.twitter.com/ELrKI8pHxx
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 11, 2024
The ad triggered almost universal mockery of the “hello, fellow kids” sort – the Harris-Walz campaign not only doesn’t know how to reach men, but it also doesn’t know how to hire actors able to convincingly portray traditional masculinity. Unsurprisingly, it soon emerged that several of the male actors hired to attract male voters are gay. The ad itself was created by a former writer for late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
As Samuel James noted: “The only thing you need to know about the ‘not afraid of women’ ad is this. Kimmel, by the way, made his career with ‘The Man Show,’ a show that regularly made male lust and dissipation a source of delight. Secular masculinity is trapped within the porn/effeminacy binary.” James is precisely right.
It is interesting to observe that even when they are attempting to be aspirational, all Harris has to offer men, when it comes down to it, is the agenda of the sexual revolution. Vote for me, because the women you love may need to have their babies suctioned out of them by Planned Parenthood. Vote for me, because your sex life depends on it. Vote for me, because our revolution depends on it. That’s all her ad offers, when you cut through the weird theater kid version of Country Guy Sits On Truck Tailgate stuff.
It’s a more expensive version of Doug Emhoff partnering with “Men4Choice” to urge men to vote for abortion because pro-life laws are “affecting man’s ability to plan their lives.” Emhoff has held “Men4Choice” events in Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina. “I’m talking about this with my other dad friends,” he stated. “I’m talking about it with my son. And it’s not just because I also have a daughter. I have a son and we talk about it, about how this is going to impact him and how he’s going to start a family or not.”
Who knows – maybe Emhoff’s son will also impregnate a family employee, and what will he do then if abortion isn’t available? Emhoff is precisely the right person to make the case for “Men4Choice,” because he is, as I’ve noted before, a good example of what the sexual revolution has done to masculinity.
This stuff used to be implicit, but with the fall of Roe v. Wade, it has become explicit. Perhaps the best microcosmic example of this is the fact that the porn industry is also pouring cash into getting Kamala Harris elected.
Thus far, the “Hands Off My Porn” campaign has spent $100,000 on ad buys targeting young men on porn sites. The message is simple: vote for Kamala Harris to ensure that you never lose access to your pornography. Harris is losing with young men. The architects of the “Hands Off My Porn” campaign think that this might be the way to shore up her flagging poll numbers and get her male votes.
What is the Harris-Walz ticket selling young men? Abortion, pornography, and an assurance that masculinity means sex with whoever you want, whenever you want, however you want – with the government there to ensure that the consequences are taken care of. It’s a bold play. The gloves are off. So are the masks.