Tim Walz's normal dad energy is causing MAGA to come unglued

[marmar]

Tim Walz's normal dad energy is causing MAGA to come unglued
Walz is the opposite of weird: Kamala Harris' running mate shows masculinity can be about love and not hate

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published August 8, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) In their first go-round in attacking Gov. Tim Walz, the Donald Trump campaign bet that maximum hyperbole could hoodwink people into dismissing the "chill dad" demeanor of Vice President Kamala Harris's new running mate. "Tim Walz will unleash hell on Earth!" a Trump fundraising email said of the former high school football coach turned top Minnesota executive. The campaign followed up with a barrage of emails describing the affable Midwesterner as "Dangerously Liberal," in clear hopes that brute repetition would distract voters from the fact that Walz reads more like "Ted Lasso" than "Che Guevara."

....(snip)....

Dubbing Walz "Tampon Tim" appears to have been kicked off by popular right-wing troll Phillip Buchanan, who goes by the Twitter handle "Catturd." As documented by Media Matters, the slur took off rapidly across the MAGA internet, with users photoshopping pictures of Walz surrounded by tampons. Within an hour, it had been informally picked up by the Trump campaign, with longtime Trump aide and speechwriter Stephen Miller amplifying the nickname. It all appeared to be a race to prove that MAGA is full of weirdoes with deep psychological issues.

The impetus for this freakout was a bill signed by Walz last year requiring public schools to make menstrual products available to students at no charge. The bill was the result of student activists and medical professionals making irrefutable arguments such as, "Teenagers don’t know when they will get their period," and "We cannot learn while we are leaking." Schools have toilet paper and school nurses, so why not provide this small amount of help? No one benefits, except the bullies, if students get blood on their clothes and on the furniture.

....(snip)....

As a male friend texted me, "there is a genuine hunger out there — I see it in many of my students — for some kind of positive model of how to be in the world as a straight white dude." Trump and his acolytes offer an exhausting and harmful model, that is entitled, rage-fueled, and its heart, deeply insecure. Walz, however, seems comfortable in his own skin. He shows there's nothing wrong with liking football and fixing your own car — both are fine uses of a person's time! All that "traditional man" stuff can live quite comfortably with "woke" ideas like "women are people, too." As Walz has persuasively posited, his is the more normal way to be. It's the MAGA try-hards who are the weirdoes. The phrase "tonic masculinity" — in opposition to the toxic masculinity of MAGA — soon started to spread online. ..........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/08/08/tim-walzs-normal-energy-is-causing-maga-to-come-unglued/

[LearnedHand]

1. "Tonic masculinity"!

Love it. Such a healthy view!

[Coexist]

6. Love that!!

Link to tweet

[CaptainTruth]

17. At first I honestly thought gin & tonic.

I haven't had coffee yet.

[et tu]

25. that's not bad either lol nt

[Aristus]

30. That's it!

Next time I have a G&T, I'm calling it my tonic masculinity!

[raising2moredems]

37. Vodka tonic for me...

And I'm glad this very thought will get the theocrats-men-in-charge cretins all riled up.

[BoRaGard]

29. Totally tuned in to tonic

[newdeal2]

2. Very important to have positive role models

I’m always saddened when I see males 18-30 who are supporting TFG.

[raising2moredems]

38. They are not males, that is the problem

At best momma's boys and/or filled with men-in-charge crap from too many "christian" religions. They will never be men and will continue to live in their childhood bedroom or someone's basement. Educated women certainly want nothing to do with them nor should any women. I think there needs to be a safe haven for females looking to escape religious brainwashing. Having no money and/or education all too often results in bad, bad, bad marriages.

[Cosmocat]

3. That they so readily embraced "Tampon Tom" is clear evidence

of just how insane they are.

How on earth does that seem like a good idea?

[Think. Again.]

27. These are the same people who wore diapers outside their clothes to trump rallies, sooooo....

[raising2moredems]

39. Tampons rule...

And kudos to any male who can discuss menstruation and feminine hygiene in adult manner. I bet Tim would go to the store and purchase whatever his wife/daughter/friend/stranger needed without a hint of discomfort. He's a man. TFOG and Vance would evacuate a brick if the GP, why-did-I-marry-him, and/or daughters asked them to go to the store.

[madaboutharry]

4. They are stuck in middle school.

So much ick.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

33. I hated middle school n/t

[madaboutharry]

34. I did too.

Mean girls bullied me about my curly hair.

[Irish_Dem]

5. He is a man, not a child like GOP males.

[Lonestarblue]

7. J D Vance and Josh Hawley need to be told that they now have the Walz role model for what it means to be a man.

Maybe dweeb Hawley should revise his book calling for extreme domination of women and children!

[erronis]

10. Eggsactly!

[IronLionZion]

8. School lunch and tampons sounds like hell on earth to MAGA

because MAGA are just plain weird.

Tonic Masculinity, I like that

Link to tweet

It's tonic masculinity: it helps and heals, instead of harming. It's the antidote to toxic, and I love it.

[Clouds Passing]

9. What is up with the wrong-wing's obsession with women's feminine hygiene products?!

Did they think it’s supposed to be demeaning to have your menstrual cycle?!

The only thing that’s demeaning is their own crazy messed up thinking! Keep on hating women you idiots and you will continue to lose.

[haele]

18. It's ick to them. IME, guys faint more from the sight of blood than gals.

We have to deal with menstruation. And we typically deal with it privately, as it's a personal matter.
Boys can't comprehend what it's like (unless they have older sisters) and frankly, even with decent sex education, the idea of menstruation confuses them. They don't understand the variations of the way it presents among individual women, and it seems like a weird disease that they don't want to catch.

Hence, menstrual hits and proscriptions against women that are menstruating. They are afraid of catching a period and how being around it, they might start bleeding and become weaker.

Haele

[Clouds Passing]

20. "They are afraid of catching a period and how being around it, they might start bleeding and become weaker."

Good one

[uponit7771]

21. +1, swear half of what these weirdos talk about is related to peoples genitals

[hibbing]

11. "his is the more normal way to be"

Luckily, I grew up in a household where this actually was the norm. Getting so tired of the macho bullshit from his supporters when their dear leader is the biggest, whiniest crybaby about EVERYTHING.

Forward!

[slightlv]

36. I agree that I'd really like to have grown up in an era

where Walz attitude was the norm. As wonderful as my Dad was, I grew up in the 50's and 60's, and these things were just not discussed, especially in mixed company. Still, I felt free enough to tell my Dad if I needed tampons (and exactly what to get) if he was headed to the store, even if it was a little embarrassing to both of us.

[AverageOldGuy]

12. "Weird" does not begin to describe them

Demented

Sick

Mad dogs

Psycho

Infantile

[CaptainTruth]

19. Vile

[Butterflylady]

24. Add pathetic to that list....

[Zoomie1986]

31. But weird is what freaks them out

Sometimes you have to go with what works and not with what you wish would work.

[evolves]

13. Great article

Thank you for the link!

[RexLipton]

14. Really?

Weren’t they the ones wearing maxi-pads on their ears?

[geardaddy]

15. I've seen Facebook posts on our side of the aisle reclaiming Tampon Tim as a great name!

Taking the sting out of the idiocy that the reichwing thinks it's so clever.

[BrightKnight]

22. It's just weird echo chamber BS. nt

[BrightKnight]

16. A lot of younger guys have no idea how to be an authentic man.

Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2024, 01:05 PM - Edit history (1)

It is dying skill and Walz is a good example of how to do it. A good coach teaches a lot more than football.

[Zoomie1986]

32. I don't really blame younger men for the confusion

If they don't have good role models or guides, then the messages they get about being a 'real' man from society and culture are often confusing when they're not toxic.

The only way most of them learn authenticity is to go out there and live it with the tools they have. The smarter ones will learn after screwing up--man, that really backfired on me, don't do that again. The dirtbags will say, it felt good to hurt people or piss them off that way, do it again!

Until we find a way to change how we create authentic men, thus it will always be.

[sarchasm]

23. I love Walz 'tonic masculinity'

So inspiring

"there is a genuine hunger out there — I see it in many of my students — for some kind of positive model of how to be in the world as a straight white dude."

and for the rest of us as human beings

Harris and Walz are exemplary humans IMO

Thank you Kamala Harris for this masterful first order presidential decision!

[et tu]

26. nicely stated

cf45 is going down what's hs name again
i can't recall lol lol lol

[IbogaProject]

28. Fascists are also crying about the free school meals

Free breakfast and lunch just makes the whole process easier, the administrative costs are lower and it causes more stable demand for the meals, which reduces food waste. Then the long term cost savings to make sure more kids are well fed will pay off in spades over the decades ahead. These MAGAts are so full of a zero sum world view they can't understand sharing and mutual cooperation. Their 'tax cuts' reduce economic growth, every GOP tax shift has hurt the economy.

[Beartracks]

35. ... and then they wonder why their little town continues to shrivel up and die off.

Investment in actual real people is a better use of money than giving it away as tax cuts to the rich.

================

[liberalla]

40. Great article! I'm so glad Amanda Marcotte gave this issue time and consideration, and

delivered an excellent description of the warped "toxic" versus "tonic" masculinity. This whole thread was well worth the time to read. Tim Walz is a new model for healthy masculinity, confidence and caring for young men.

We have hit the jackpot folks! Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are exactly what America needs right now!