As the conservative media ecosystem tries to cope with the fallout from an apparent feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk — over the GOP’s budget bill — some right-wing influencers are trying to spin the spat as nothing more than two macho men in a benign sparring match.
You may not think that two grown men — arguably, the most powerful in the world — hurling meme-ified insults, threats and accusations at each another is an acceptable or respectable portrayal of masculine vigor — akin to Ali-Frazier or two ferocious bulls locking horns.
But many in MAGA world, an ecosystem known for trafficking in toxic masculinity, are trying to convince their followers otherwise.
“Sometimes guys fight. Guys sometimes will punch you in the face, and the next night you’re having a beer. Sleep with your girlfriend, and you patch things up,” Fox News host Jesse Watters argued Thursday night.
Fellow Fox host Sean Hannity compared the barrage of insults to his bygone athletic days growing up, saying “there wasn’t a single day that we played hockey or basketball, football or baseball — whatever we were playing — where we didn’t fight. And then we’d fight, then we’d become friends again.” He also described Musk and Trump as two “very strong-willed heavyweights” — as if what we’re talking about here is prize fighters, not petulant and unstable men.
Fellow MAGA influencers, including conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and right-wing troll Joey Mannarino, chimed in with their own bizarrely anatomical rationales. Fellow MAGA influencers, including conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and right-wing troll Joey Mannarino, chimed in with their own bizarrely anatomical rationales, with Posobiec saying the spat was a model demonstration of direct — or “phallocentric”— communication and Mannarino saying this is simply “how men with testicles spar.” Right-wingers love to accuse liberals of teaching what they portray as toxic or extreme “gender ideology,” which is basically their summation for the idea that trans people exist and deserve rights. Meanwhile, many of the loudest voices in MAGA world are out here telling the world that mercurial outbursts, including threats and juvenile insults, are a staple of manhood. Americans ought to keep this contradiction in mind as conservatives try to impose their warped view of gender on the nation. Thus far, the responses out of MAGA world to the apparent divide between two of their most beloved political figures have ranged from the hypermasculine denial laid out here to abject sadness. And while it’s unclear what, if anything, this spat will mean for Americans, or the passage of a Republican bill seeking deep cuts to federal programs, it is clear that conservative influencers aren’t enjoying watching all this drama play out in public.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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