Greg Gutfeld’s sexual obsession with AOC unintentionally reveals the insecurities of the MAGA man

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is continually being harassed by MAGA males, and so it is no shock she understands what fuels them: insecurity.

“Donald Trump affirms insecure males’s thought of masculinity,” she explained on a recent episode of the “I’ve Had It” podcast. She added that he additionally affirms “insecure white people’ thought of race.”

Anybody who has been on the receiving finish of a MAGA troll’s ire can verify this, after all. The one folks Trump and his followers are fooling with their bullying techniques and false bravado are themselves. It is particularly apparent in the way in which that right-wing males get fixated on conventionally enticing feminists. Handsome girls provoke sexual insecurities and maximally infantile conduct from the right-wing man. It would not take a level in psychology to see this, simply functioning senses and a social media account.

However, after all, MAGA males cannot deal with an accusation of insecurity with out instantly proving it to be true, which is precisely what occurred to Greg Gutfeld, an alleged “comic” whose lack of expertise led him to Fox Information, the place audiences faux to search out his pathetic bully act humorous.

Earlier this week, Gutfeld tried to argue that Ocasio-Cortez is simply projecting “her personal insecurities about her boyfriend’s masculinity.” After which he engaged in a gross, racist sexual fantasy about her: “That is why she is so pro-illegal immigration: she is projecting her secret needs for younger, virile males who’re coming right here in droves.”

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Actually, somebody thinks rather a lot in regards to the “virility” of immigrant males, but it surely’s not the congresswoman from New York. Maybe it’s unfair to characterize Gutfeld as fully talentless: He actually has a knack for upsetting the sexual insecurities of his viewers. Probably it is as a result of he shares their completely appropriate worry that others can see by way of their chest-thumping to, in Gutfeld’s phrases, the “mushy and buttery” situation of a typical Ford F-Collection pick-up truck driver. The following day, Gutfeld doubled down on his unhinged attacks on Ocasio-Cortez, reassuring viewers that it is “OK” to make use of the phrase “retarded” to explain her.

This was a two-fer of low cost political incorrectness, punching down at folks with psychological disabilities, whereas additionally being a sexist slight in opposition to a girl’s intelligence. Does anybody, even within the credulous Fox Information viewers, really purchase Gutfeld’s try and insinuate that somebody as fairly, charming and gifted as Ocasio-Cortez is tough up for male consideration? No, however clearly there may be worth for his viewers within the fantasy of it. The poisonous masculinity that’s the beating coronary heart of the MAGA motion is basically a psychological protection mechanism of males who, typically for excellent purpose, secretly consider themselves to fall in need of masculine beliefs like braveness and vitality.

After all, everybody feels insecure at instances, however there are productive methods to take care of these emotions. For starters, one may query the sexism behind the view that bravery and energy are “masculine” in any respect, and word that ladies are simply as, if not typically extra, prone to show each. (Actually, Ocasio-Cortez has to muster extra fortitude to take care of the firehose of abuse she will get in a day that Gutfeld has proven in his life.) One may undertake self-improvement initiatives to develop these qualities, from understanding to volunteering to simply attempting one thing new. One may spend much less time rotting your mind out by watching cable information and doing one thing productive along with your life, even when it is as small as working a weekend at a soup kitchen.

However nah, for MAGA males it is simpler to affix their mushy arms collectively in settlement that one of the simplest ways to really feel massive is to bully different folks — particularly girls. MAGA is a fascist motion and a white nationalist ideology, but it surely’s additionally a help group for males who’re in fierce denial about their very own insecurities. By trying to one another to validate their infantile assertions of dominance, they’ll collectively inform themselves a fairy story about the way it’s “robust” to select on folks half your measurement.

Trump, along with his thick make-up and peculiar comb-over, has made this a lot worse. He is made it in order that MAGA males really feel much more emboldened to disregard all goal actuality to say an identification of efficiency and may. Take heed to Trump voters and they’re going to wax on about his “energy,” despite the fact that the one most evident trait of the person, moreover narcissism, is cowardice. He solely acts robust when shielded from hazard, comparable to his fleet of safety guards. He likes to insult folks from behind a pc or in a speech, the place they cannot speak again. He sends others, such because the mob on January 6, to do his soiled work, whereas he rests in security and luxury. Not that he is by no means personally violent, after all. He is lots violent with girls who’re a lot smaller than him, as E. Jean Carroll can tell you. However once more, that is the craven’s path to feeling highly effective, as pathetic as somebody who kicks puppies to really feel forceful.

Trump’s “testimony” throughout Carroll’s lawsuit in opposition to him Thursday was a traditional — and hilarious — instance. He and his lawyer, Alina Habba, spent days hyping the likelihood that Trump would take the stand, with a transparent hope that this may make him look unafraid of the decide or Carroll’s lawyer, who had already drawn damning testimony from Trump throughout a deposition for the primary trial. As a substitute, Trump sat within the witness field for just a few minutes, and solely there to affirm that he nonetheless agreed along with his statements from the earlier deposition. He did not go additional than that, as a result of it will have allowed Carroll’s lawyer to cross-examine him, and effectively, he is rightly afraid she’ll get him to say much more incriminating issues.

That is MAGA “manhood” in a nutshell. Trump enjoys bragging about how daring he his however runs away from any actual threat as quick as he can. As a substitute of claiming something beneath oath, the place he may very well be questioned, Trump simply muttered as he fled the courtroom, escaping any chance of getting to take care of somebody who would stand as much as him.

Trump’s fame has created a permission construction for conservatives to wallow in misogyny to an extent that may be stunning, even by at this time’s low requirements. Sarah Longwell, the never-Trump pollster who runs the always-informative Focus Group podcast for the Bulwark, has been speaking about this rather a lot. In the case of these focus teams of Republican voters, it is by no means been a bunch that is notably feminist, to say the least, however the quotes Longwill pulled from a recent gathering of two-time Trump voters from New Hampshire was downright mind-boggling within the shameless sexism.

“I do not really feel as if a girl belongs within the presidential seat,” one Republican lady stated, claiming girls suppose with “coronary heart principally over thoughts,” and that they want — look ahead to it — “any individual like Trump.”

“It is a man’s job,” argued a person within the group, saying girls are incapable of “robust choices.” He added, “Don’t need them having a foul day or that point of the month, or no matter.”

It is in all probability too apparent to level out, however there isn’t any single opinion that may presumably be dumber than arguing Trump is an emotionally managed individual as a result of feelings-regulatory powers of his gender. Nevertheless it speaks volumes to the position that psychological denial and fantasy play within the MAGA worldview that individuals can say stuff like this. This stage of mendacity to themselves is proximately about Trump, however actually, it runs deeper than that. These are the sorts of tales folks inform to cover disagreeable truths from themselves. For ladies, it is about not admitting that they’ve accepted second-class standing for no good purpose. For the boys, after all, it is an inexpensive manner to be ok with themselves. They do not have to really be courageous or true or sturdy. They only need to faux this stuff are robotically granted to them by the fortune of being assigned male at delivery.