Tim Walz and The Rise of Non-Toxic Masculinity

When Vice President Kamala Harris announced that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz would be her running mate in the coming presidential campaign, the decision was met with effusive praise from both Blue voters, as well as a disparate group of politicians and commentators.

Walz’ effortless warmth, his heart-on-sleeve demeanor, and his undeniable joy for life, which have been apparent for a long time in his home state—have suddenly become a national story. In a matter of hours, millions of people fell in love with the Governor, sharing videos of he and his daughter on thrill rides at the State Fair, and photos of him being joyfully embraced by a group of school children and cheerfully holding a tiny, sleeping piglet.

And in the wake of the announcement and of his and Kamala' Harris’ electrifying appearance in Philadelphia at their first rally, the “Christian” MAGA Right rolled out a telling reply that they surely imagined was a real zinger:

They created the hashtag #TamponTimmy.

Really. That’s where they went.

That’s all they got.

Not only does this desperate response underscore the reality that Republican voters have nothing left but sophomoric name-calling in an effort to emulate their emotionally-stunted orange messiah in the absence of substantive critique, but it reveals how hateful toward women and how threatened by non-toxic masculinity they are.

MAGAs don’t see how much they expose themselves by using a female medical product as a slur, the way it reveals their complete contempt for women and their agendas toward them.

They are so intimidated by a man this confident in who he is and so endowed with natural humility, that they have to attack these things as if they’re some sort of character flaws.

Emotional maturity is a red flag for them.

Using #TamponTimmy as a slur is a wildly ironic strategy for a court-established rapist too scared to debate a woman, a guy who believes unmarried/childless women don't matter, both representing a party trying to legislate women's reproductive systems and take away their autonomy.

And that’s why Tim Walz confounds and terrifies Donald Trump, JD Vance, the Republican Party, and the entire MAGA movement. His unapologetic exuberance, his open respect for women, and his quiet confidence in his own skin fly in the face of the hollow, insecure alpha-male posturing and the neanderthal women-are-less than theology they’ve been trafficking in. They can’t even see how much of a self-own this all is.

And that’s one of the reasons they are going to lose in November: because America has had it with celebrated misogyny and toxic masculinity.

They are fully fed up with Trump and his surrogate’s contrived John Wayne dudebro American tough guy cosplay, and they are ready to embrace a better kind of manhood: one that doesn’t need to prove how tough it is, doesn’t have to be the center of attention, and most of all, is not concerned about showing its deep humanity because it revels in it.

Tens of million of boys and young men of this nation have been irreparably harmed by the sexist dehumanization of Trump and the MAGA movement, which have been reinforced by Dark Ages theology, culture war politics, inherited/internalized misogyny, and good ol’ fashioned fragile masculinity.

This nation is ready to embrace a masculinity embodied in Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff: one that does no harm, one that gladly defers to a strong, capable, talented woman, and one that makes all of us better.

While Republicans proudly run a proven sexual predator and convicted felon alongside “a childless cat lady”-demeaning Project 2025 architect, as they seek to take away women and LGBTQ people’s human and civil rights, the Democratic Party is elevating a healthy expression of gender equality and collaboration.

The choices could not be clearer.

It’s time to turn the page on the dusty, antiquated sexism-disguised-as-strength that Trump represents and to reject the Evangelical/Republican/MAGA toxic masculinity once-and-for-all.

And we’re going to.

And decent men all around this nation, inspired by Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff are going to do our part.

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