In part 2 of 100 I defined patriarchal misogyny as something different than just patriarchy or misogyny because it is an intentional political and social strategy used to advance an authoritarian agenda, and I am directly calling it out as a fundamental tenant of Trumpism. I believe this is true, but seeing that Andrew Cuomo is running a campaign for mayor of NYC that is likely to get a lot of traction in the process of the primary, I want to be clear that I do not think Trumpism is (nor Republicans are) alone to blame for the rise of weaponizing patriarchal misogyny. I think many Democrats will vehemently deny that their party utilizes patriarchal misogyny for political ends, and I think there are folks in the Democratic Party much more willing to stand up to it and its politicization than there are in the Republican Party, but there is no doubt that individual Democratic politicians, including too many rather popular ones, over many decades have at least embraced the privileges afforded by patriarchal misogyny, if they have not directly used it for political ends.
Andrew Cuomo is an example of one of these kind of Democrats, as he was eating up being called the “Sexy Governor” during the first year of the Covid pandemic, putting himself forward as this confident, tough guy, who could stand up to Trump 1.0 for what was right, while simultaneously sexually harassing at least 11 women. Cuomo is largely considered to be a front runner in this campaign for mayor and will heavily lean into the image of a “tough guy from New York” who has stood up to Trump in the past, and use that to contrast himself against current NYC mayor Eric Adams. I find this grotesque, but also pretty ironic, because I am fairly confident that had/if any sexual harassment accusations against Cuomo proceed to point of facing criminal conviction, I think Cuomo would be quick to accept a pardon from Trump/capitulate with Trump’s Department of Justice to make sure that none of those accusations even get prosecuted. The fact that Trump is so readily willing to “save” men accused of sexual violence and manipulation, as well as general corruption and fraud accusations, regardless of past political affiliations is one of the things that makes Trumpism so particularly frightening and dangerous.
Trump’s weaponization of patriarchal misogyny is very much about establishing, or maybe just expanding the class of men in power who are above the law and who will be able to “reap the benefits” of power in disturbing and disgusting ways. This is not actually a new thing, and there are probably even more presidents than we know of who abused the power of their office to gain access to and control over women’s bodies and lives, but Trump’s efforts to return the US to that kind of protection for the President and his cronies is an intensely reactionary move against decades of feminist action. There is a very real danger of Trump succeeding in re-entrenching patriarchal misogyny in US political and social thought that will spill over well beyond Trumpism, rebuilding walls that protect terrible and abusive men, that had only just begun to crack.
The fact that Trump was probably drawn to the idea of running for president based upon his insider perspective of the ways in which Bill Clinton abused the power of his office should not be lost on anyone, nor should the fact that so many men with a history of abusing power have been similarly drawn into the Trumpist camp.
It is going to take more than traditional US leftist politics and campaigning to undo the damage that Trumpism is causing, even as the success of Trumpism is largely a result of the failure of Leftist campaigning and politics. The massive turnover of federal employees and a desire to hire new, loyal Trumpists into every federal office is going to make sure that it is harder than ever for anyone to whistle blow. It might not even take official laws or executive orders to accomplish things like running women and LGBTQIAA+ folks out of the military or federal law enforcement as abuse and harassment will be largely ignored as long as they appear in service of the political vision. Even if Trump leaves office at the end of his second term, and a Kamala Harris wins the presidency back with a full house and senate majority, there is almost 0 percent chance that any Democratic president is going to commit to clearing house in the same way, and it will take decades of organizational restructuring around principles of inclusivity and justice to uproot the ground work of patriarchal misogyny that Trumpism is doing everything he can to embed into the Federal government. Attacking this problem from the top down, and waiting for leaders who we trust to be able to enact these changes to navigate a system that will be incredibly hostile to change is delusional fantasy at this point, but there is great potential for youth movements to rise up in resistance and revolt as the futility of traditional political means becomes more apparent. But only if we can make sure to counter the vision of “every (white/rich) man a king of his own kingdom” that Trump is employing patriarchal misogyny to sell to young men, especially young white men.
Brainstorming and envisioning a masculine identity not rooted in “the ability to control and rule the people around me as property” is our path forward away from both Trumpism and the overt weaponization of patriarchal misogyny that Trumpism is force feeding back into US politics. Hopefully, it will also be something I can continue to contribute to and focus on with the rest of these blog posts.