Republicans pretend tariffs will restore manhood to America

More than a decade ago I blogged about how Republicans were constantly freaking out about things weakening American manhood. Yoga for kids. Paid internships. The Washington Redskins changing their racist name (they eventually became the Washington Commanders, though I’ve read rumors they might change back). Co-ed sports teams. Firing abusive coaches. Protecting kid athletes from head injuries.

As I said in the linked post, some of this is that “wussification” and similar words are, like communist/woke/socialist just a catch-all insult that can apply to anything. But it’s also reflects they are indeed worried about America losing its manliness. And that they think this is a good line to feed their rageaholic audience. As I cover in Undead Sexist Cliches, various conservatives freak out over anything that suggests even a slight blurring of gender boundaries, such as male grip strength being less than it used to be. As Celeste Davis says, patriarchal masculinity gives men a very narrow range of choices in how they can live. Blurring the supposedly clear lines between the genders will bring on the apocalypse … somehow.

So perhaps it’s not surprising — okay, even I’m surprised that they’re pitching Trump’s tariffs as manly, the solution to the supposed crisis of masculinity. From what I’ve read — sorry, don’t have specific links — we’re going to get the bureaucrats and office workers out of their drone jobs and into manly careers! Manual labor! Factory work, surrounded by other men! Jesse Watters says, for example “if you’re out working, like building robots like Harold, you are around other guys. [you’re not. Women work in factories and on assembly lines too] You’re not around HR ladies and lawyers — that gives you estrogen.” And “When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman.”

This is, of course, bullshit. If it wasn’t, then how manly is Watters, a guy whose career is sitting and talking on TV about toughness (to paraphrase George Orwell, it’s possible he thinks talking about the glories of manual labor is just as good as doing the work). And doing so in a way that makes Tucker Carlson look deep and thoughtful.

In the same vein, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has explained all the fired federal workers will be the backbone of the new factory-work class. Shrink government and provide factories with labor. It’s almost like when China’s Cultural Revolution sent white collar workers and business people out into the fields to live as peasants (Bessent, I’m sure, doesn’t think his administrative gig is useless).

As multiple people have discussed online, it won’t work. Maybe a push to revive American manufacturing would have worked 50 years ago, when the off-shoring was new and there were plenty of laid-off workers who had the skills. Plus during the Reagan years, unemployment was high. Now? We have exceptionally low unemployment thanks to Biden — I’m sure the Felon will undo that — and there’s not a huge army of people with the skills to step into these various manly jobs (some discussion here and here). Plus part of the appeal of those jobs for guys was the union-protected breadwinner wage; Republicans will not be advocating for these jobs to go union. And even if employers stop offshoring jobs to nations with cheap wages, that does not mean they’ll want to offer good wages.

There’s also the non-trivial fact that lots of people won’t want to work manual labor jobs — I’m confident Bessent and Watters don’t, for example. There’s a reason “learn to code” has become an online joke; lots of people wouldn’t be good coders and would hate the job if they had it (I certainly would). This is the right-wing equivalent. It reminds me of the sexist insistence that a woman only has one job, wife and stay-at-home mom, regardless of whether they want it or are any good at it.

I fully realize the real issue is that their God King has decreed tariffs are good, therefore everyone has to tongue-bathe his idea with praise (that people even on the right are complaining may be a good sign). But it’s still interesting how they rationalize it (bonus: Paul Krugman on why so many people didn’t see this coming).

You can buy Undead Sexist Cliches in Paperback or Ebook. Cover by Kemp Ward.