Quote of the Day

These two buffoons [Donald Trump and JD Vance] love to cosplay as warriors, champions of testosterone in a world gone soft. But let’s take a look at what they’re actually doing. Trump, a man who dodged the draft because of imaginary bone spurs, is threatening to withhold federal funding from Maine because its governor won’t bow to his demands. And JD Vance, a man who once wrote an entire book about the dangers of sucking up to elites, is now licking Trump’s boots so hard you’d think they were made of chocolate.

Masculinity, real masculinity, is about strength, courage, and integrity. It’s about standing up for what’s right, even when it’s hard. It’s about protecting the vulnerable, not attacking them for political gain. It’s about facing adversity head-on, not throwing a fit when someone tells you “no.”

By that measure, Trump and JD Vance are about as masculine as a wet paper towel.

Trump can puff out his chest and scream at governors all he wants, but at the end of the day, he’s just a blustering coward who folds under the slightest pressure. JD can cry about the decline of masculinity, but no real man spends his days groveling at the feet of a guy who wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire.

The irony is that the people they’re attacking – women who stand their ground, LGBTQ people fighting for equality – are showing more guts, more resilience, more true strength than either of these pathetic frauds could ever muster.

Trump and JD don’t represent masculinity. They represent the weak, whimpering, flailing desperation of men who know, deep down, that they are frauds. And nothing is more pathetic than a man who has to constantly remind you how strong he is.

– Closer to the Edge
Excerpted from “The Bully and the Bootlicker:
Trump, JD Vance, and the Cowardice of Fake Masculinity”
February 21, 2025

NEXT:
Robert Reich’s 10 Reasons for “Modest Optimism”
During the Trump-Vance-Musk Regime

See also the related Wild Reed posts:
• A Warrior’s Heart
• Vulnerability Is Power
• A Fresh Take on Masculinity
• Manly Love
• Rockin’ With Maxwell
• Reclaiming the Power of Male Touch
• Beloved and Antlered

See also The Wild Reed’s “What a Man!” series:
Ben Cohen | Sean Avery | Hudson Taylor | John Kriesel | Nick Youngquest | Chris Kluwe | Brendon Ayanbadejo | Nick Symmonds | Andrew Ference | Connor Beaton

Related Off-site Link:
The Divine Masculine Principle – The Leveret (September 15, 2018).

Image: Kristen Solberg.