Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, launched a "man-focused media blitz" last week in an effort to bolster their campaign's tepid support among male voters. It's gone about as well as you might expect, prompting observers to wonder whether breathtaking incompetence was to blame or whether the Harris-Walz campaign was deliberately trying to repel male voters. According to the latest New York Times poll, Donald Trump is winning men by a margin of 53 percent to 42 percent.
Walz flexed his masculinity over the weekend by going pheasant-hunting, which he described as his "favorite thing." He was joined by a group of social media "influencers." The Minnesota governor got decked out in bright orange hunting gear, but he didn't shoot any pheasants. One member of the hunting party allegedly shot a rooster, but the carcass was never recovered. Walz never fired his Beretta shotgun, and appeared to have trouble loading the gun, which inspired numerous comparisons to Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny's chronically inept nemesis. He ignored a reporter's question about why Democrats were struggling to appeal to male voters.
The governor's Good Morning America interview with former NFL star Michael Strahan went just as poorly. Strahan asked Walz to explain why he said the Electoral College "needs to go" during a swanky fundraiser at the home of California governor Gavin Newsom (D.)—comments that the Harris campaign was forced to repudiate. "We're out there making the case that—the campaign's position is clear that that's not their position," Walz bumbled in response. "Their position and my position is, is to make sure that everybody understands their vote, no matter what state they're in, matters."
The Harris-Walz campaign seems particularly concerned about shoring up support among black male voters, but when asked how they planned to do that, Walz gave a characteristically vague response. "I think we need to make sure we’re getting out to them. We hear what they’re saying," Walz told a local television station in Philadelphia. "I think it's more of taking it to them, making the message tailored." On Monday, Harris unveiled her plan to "create an Opportunity Agenda for Black Men," which includes a (blatantly unconstitutional) race-based loan forgiveness program and a promise to "protect cryptocurrency investments so Black men who make them know their money is safe."
While Walz pranced around on the campaign trail in a "most flamboyant" fashion, the campaign dispatched former president Barack Obama to "speak some truths" to "the brothas" about why voting for Harris is the only "acceptable" choice compared with Trump, who "has a history of denigrating" black men. "Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president," Obama griped at a Harris campaign field office in Pittsburgh.
The former president's comments drew rebukes on social media from black men who found them condescending. Vernon Jones, a former Georgia state lawmaker, accused the Harris campaign of deploying Obama to "whip black men back on the plantation to vote Democrat." Meanwhile, black podcaster Charlamagne tha God criticized the Harris-Walz campaign for seeming "out of touch," saying Trump's "America First" message "resonates a lot more." Last week, Charlamagne revealed that a young black man told him Trump's recent appearance on Flagrant—the Andrew Schulz podcast with a heavily male audience—was "gonna get Trump elected."
The Harris campaign tried sending former president Bill Clinton out on the trail in Georgia, but that ended in disaster as well. After getting mistaken for President Joe Biden at a McDonald's restaurant, Clinton created the perfect sound bite for a future Trump campaign ad. While discussing the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student murdered by an illegal immigrant who entered the country during the Biden-Harris administration, Clinton said the murder "probably wouldn't have happened" if the killer had been "properly vetted."
The decision to use Clinton, who also spoke in primetime at the Democratic convention in Chicago, is seemingly at odds with the party's desire to promote a less "toxic" version of masculinity. Clinton lied about having sexual relations with a White House intern. He has been credibly accused of sexual assault and is notorious for being unable to control his rage.
Democrats and their media allies have sought to portray Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, as an adorable "wife guy" who is "reshaping the perception of masculinity." Those efforts have been complicated by reports that Emhoff destroyed his first marriage by sleeping with his children's nanny, "forcefully slapped" an ex-girlfriend in France, and hired an "unqualified" part-time model to be his "trophy secretary" at a law firm accused of fostering a misogynist work environment. Mainstream journalists have been happy to ignore these reports or dismiss them as false. They stopped insisting we should "believe all women" in 2020 after Biden was credibly accused of sexual assault.
FACT CHECK: Did Doug Emhoff Hire 'Trophy Secretary' at Pervy Law Firm? (PHOTOS)
Journalists desperately want Harris to win, but their sneering commentary about male voters is unlikely to help close the gender gap. Last week, for example, MSNBC analyst Mara Gay disparaged millions of men for sitting "at home listening to Joe Rogan, being angry, or being recruited to fascism." Politico reported on Tuesday that Harris is seeking an interview with Rogan, the massively popular podcast host, in an effort to "bolster her reach with male voters."
