NPR - Is Donald Trump Playing The 'Man Card'? (Exploiting Gender Resentment)

[TomCADem]

Interesting article on why Trump's message resonates so well with men. If you include his racial appeals, white men. Basically, men are extra motivated by lack of civility and insults. Thus, in order to compete, Trump needs to supercharge his base by appealing to gender resentment and the idea that men have been disenfranchised and disrespected by women. In addition, if the campaign rhetoric is extra negative, then this will help drive his turnout.

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/10/477423028/is-donald-trump-playing-the-man-card

If Clinton is playing the woman card by focusing on pay equity or child care, said Kelly Dittmar with the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, "then, surely, Donald Trump has been playing the man card, by talking about the ways in which his opponents are, in fact, not masculine enough for the office."

"There's been multiple ways that Donald Trump's sort of played his own man card," Dittmar said. "Just by talking about the size of his manhood, in the most direct and overt ways, but he's also taken on the tactic of talking about other candidates as weak or little, like 'Little Marco,' and even making fun of Jeb Bush for needing his mommy, infantilizing Jeb Bush."

* * *
Brooks found women weren't really affected one way or the other by negative campaigns. But men were. "Independent men were especially likely to vote after seeing uncivil negative messages — the kinds of attacks that throw in extra insults." In other words, insults seem to mobilize men.

"Incivility produced a real gender difference between men and women; men seemed to like it."

[niyad]

1. in a word, YES.

[MH1]

2. "Incivility produced a real gender difference between men and women; men seemed to like it."

Sigh.

I heard that on NPR this morning. I was distracted but it sounded to me like: Trump is doing this intentionally, and studies say it could work.

We should not underestimate the marketing ability of Trump (especially with all the free help he's getting from the media).

Sigh.

[TomCADem]

3. It Works Because Trump Is a Mysogynist By Nature

I think what Trump realizes is that he can never sell the idea that is supportive of women, so why try? Instead, double down and argue that it is men who are being oppressed and marginalized by political correctness and women playing the woman's card, and that if it was purely a matter of merit, most successful women would not be where they are, but for favoritism towards women.

It turns a liability, chauvinism, into a strength. Trump represents a return to traditional Ward and Jude Cleaver values where a man worked and women cheerfully supported their husbands at home.