–Analysis–
BERLIN — Toni Morrison once wrote that if the question of why is too difficult, then one should at least focus on the how.
So the question is: how did Donald Trump become president again?
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Trump adopted a new strategy for this election campaign. Instead of wooing away Democratic voters, his campaign focused on a group that was said not to vote at all: young men.
It’s a core of a particular type of young man, the so-called “bro,” who are heterosexual and otherwise not very interested in politics. They don’t have strong opinions on abortion rights or the war in Ukraine, they are not bothered by the question of what the U.S. stands for.
They simply want enough money in their bank account, a reliable circle of male friends, a dream woman to marry, and eventually a family.
Through polling, Trump’s campaign team realized that these men might be the ones most likely to be persuaded to vote, and vote Republican, this time around. If Trump could mobilize them, it might make up for the losses he had to expect from female voters in reaction to the end of the constitutional right to abortion.
In the end, 49% of young men between 18 and 29 voted for him, while 47% voted for Harris. In 2016, 52% of men in this age group voted for Biden.
The bros, alas, have been on a social rollercoaster in recent years.
In the early 2000s, they were very popular and an integral part of pop culture. They were the protagonists in sitcoms such as Two and a Half Men (2003 to 2015), Californication (2007 to 2014) and Entourage (2004 to 2011). Series about men whose lives revolved primarily around male friends, women and having as much fun as possible. They pursued their big city adventures, had lots of sex and booze, and no matter how much they messed up, there were never any real consequences.
Bros meet new feminism
A bro culture also developed away from the screen in the early 2000s in the U.S.. It was bros who stirred up the start-up scene, moving straight from college to Silicon Valley and pursuing careers in tech. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace were all founded by bros. Guys who came to work in hoodies, talked casually and wanted to make their offices a feel-good place to hang out with each other. They were celebrated like stars, especially by young men who hoped to become like them one day.
Young women began to rebel against this bro culture. It was the so-called fourth feminist wave.
In the mid-2000s, young women in particular began to rebel against this bro culture. They were the drivers of the so-called fourth feminist wave.
Women at colleges organized against their male peers, who’d been getting away for too long with sexual assault on campuses. Cases such as those of Brock Turner, Austin Wilkerson or David Becker — students who had raped fellow female students — were widely discussed in the media.
Thus the image of the bros had changed. Now they were no longer seen as fun and admirable, but as dangerous. The resistance of the female students was a harbinger of the MeToo movement in 2017, which finally declared war on bro culture and boys’ clubs. Not just in colleges, but everywhere — Hollywood, Capitol Hill and Silicon Valley.
Die-hard bros withdrew, or at least kept a lower profile.
Trump as one more bro
Instead of traditional media, bros today mainly consume and produce streams and podcasts. It’s a world that likes to present itself as a safe space for so-called “canceled” males, where long, shallow conversations can flourish without boundaries.
The tolerance for disinformation, conspiracy theories and other questionable world views is high. You listen to everything, even if you don’t necessarily agree with the other person’s opinion. Bro podcasts are primarily about simply being able to talk without being judged or scrutinized.
And above all, you mourn losses. Bros mourn the world before MeToo. For them, that was the time when you were still allowed to say and do what you wanted. The longing for a time when things were great is therefore pronounced in this group of voters.
This nostalgia was fertile ground for Trump’s 2024 campaign.
During the election campaign, he did not do interviews with CNN or the New York Times, but he sat down with podcasters, comedians and wrestlers such as Logan Paul, Theo Von, Lex Fridman and Joe Rogan. Some readers may never have heard of these men, but they reach audiences of millions that would otherwise be difficult to access.
In this environment, Trump didn’t have to use political content to convince anyone. He just had to sound like the bros themselves — and definitely not like other politicians.
A campaign strategy
He was good at that. After all, he had been an entrepreneur rather than a politician for most of his life. Trump is also familiar with accusations of sexual violence and overstepping the boundaries of what can be said. What’s more, he is part of the old guard of the entertainment industry.
It’s scary how normal Trump sounds in the context of these podcasts when he talks to the bros about the things that really concern them. Even serious things, such as podcaster Theo Von’s former addiction. American men in particular are affected by rising drug addiction, as well as loneliness and suicide.
So Trump manages to connect to these men, who have felt forgotten for some time and have disengaged from the political scene. That helps explain why they are happy to forgive him if he doesn’t have good answers to other political problems or spreads the occasional lie.
Yes, Trump’s 2024 campaign was tailored more than ever to men
Loyalty above all
Trump’s election victory is therefore also a victory over the MeToo movement. A movement that stood in solidarity against the loyal male gangs it has struggled to break up. Under Trump, the bros have come together again and are now fighting back.
You forgive a man without morals for anything
They fit in so well with Trump because they share one value above all: loyalty. Bros stick together and they don’t let their friends down, even when they do things they don’t approve of, such as sexually harassing women or denying them the right to self-determination or undermining democracy.
After all, their slang saying goes like this: bros before hoes. You forgive a man without morals for anything, but you never forgive a woman if she doesn’t live up to certain moral standards.
Loyalty is a patriarchal and ultimately autocratic principle. With Trump, the bros are back in power. More vindictive, more radical and more autonomous than ever before.
