Op-Ed: The Debate and the 'Real Gender Gap'
My piece for a major newspaper on Trump's 'masculinity role playing'
Hi all,
My op-ed about tonight’s presidential debate leads the Opinion section in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution (paywall but read below about full access) — by far the biggest paper in the showdown state of Georgia.
It starts off with Trump’s record of lying:
Even if the moderators attempt to fact-check some individual claims, their efforts will surely be inadequate to extinguish the flames engulfing Trump’s pants.
Harris will likely say some inaccurate things as well, though generally without the onslaught that makes Trump the most mendacious politician in modern U.S. history. It would be “bothsidesism” to pretend otherwise.
Then it moves on to the topic of Episode 22: the “real gender gap’” in the race.
In the column, I discuss Trump’s misogyny toward Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Now, he’s facing another woman for the top job. He wants to appeal to men who falsely see him as representing “masculinity,” but he also knows his candidacy would be stronger if he could win over more women. Harris, meanwhile, needs to keep emphasizing the fight for women’s reproductive freedom, a top issue for voters across the political spectrum. She also needs to show men that she and her running mate, former football coach and openly loving dad Tim Walz, stand for and represent them. (As I explain in my podcast, Walz — the Minnesota governor — is statistically far more representative of today’s American men.)
The AJC does not do gift links. BUT I recently did a post here for my paid subscribers about a free, legal way to see most major news outlets, including newspapers, online in full.
So if you become a paid subscriber to this newsletter, you can learn about this, save money, and avoid giving those hard-earned dollars to certain news agencies that are failing you (as we’ve discussed on the show).
Fingers crossed for the debate and the future of democracy,
JL