A Bloomberg column titled “Tim Walz‘s Masculinity Is Terrifying Republicans” went viral when conservatives shared their opinions on it, slamming it across social media over the weekend.
“Kamala Harris’ running mate has traditional ‘manly man’ traits. He’s also not frightened of women, afraid of Black people or terrified of the future,” Bloomberg opinion columnist Francis Wilkinson wrote in his Friday column.
He began the article by saying, “Republicans have scaled back their initial attacks on Harris’ race and gender. Instead, they have targeted the traditional signifiers of Walz’s masculinity.”
“It’s hardly surprising. Any liberal Democrat whose resume includes football coach, military veteran and sharp-shooting hunter is a challenge to MAGA mythology, which posits that liberalism and feminism threaten traditional masculinity, so you’d better vote Republican before marauding Amazons take your endangered man card away,” Wilkinson wrote.
The Bloomberg columnist said Walz is happy to “play second fiddle to a Black woman running for president,” while the Republican ticket “offers little beyond resentment, rage and a promise to restrict the freedom and democratic power of its opponents.”
Conservative social media users sharing Wilkinson’s article often responded with laughing emojis.
One social media user laughed at the notion that “MAGA is afraid of Tim Walz’s masculinity.”
Another female social media user shared a video of Walz with his belly hanging out while waving to people on the street.
“UGHHH! DEFINITELY NOT,” she laughed on the X platform.
“No, we’re terrified by Walz’s leftist agenda,” another person said.
“If manliness is what Ds want, why ice out @RobertKennedyJr?” a social media user asked, showing a shirtless photo of a muscular Kennedy.
Wilkinson is not the only journalist examining Walz’s “masculinity.”
“Tim Walz has tonic masculinity. Confident. Decent. The kind of man who, as another user joked, would start his job at the White House “being asked about national security and the tax code and end with him wearing a headlamp up in the attic fixing some old wiring,” Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse wrote on Thursday.
ESPN pundit Mina Kimes praised Walz’s “type of masculinity” during a podcast interview with sports pundit Dan Le Batard.
“There’s something, to me, really important about seeing someone like this modeling a different kind of masculinity,” Kimes said of Walz.
“We’re kind of seeing it in the NFL with the Kelces, and Dan Campbell — this idea that ‘big, tough football guy’ isn’t separate from showing emotion and empathy,” Kimes explained.
She added, “This man, the year he was a football coach, also ran the gay-straight alliance at a high school. That’s really powerful in a way that goes far beyond politics and electability. There are very few models like that in public life.”
Wired magazine recently wrote on social media that Walz modeled “a traditional yet empathetic masculinity” while the Republican presidential nominee rival “Donald Trump is appearing on fratty streams.”
Numerous journalists and social media influencers attempted a hype campaign last week around Walz’s image pushing the idea that Walz was everyone’s “Midwestern Dad.”
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One influencer called Walz “the dad an entire generation wish they had instead of the one they lost to Fox News.”
Vanity Fair also touted that Walz was “bringing his own brand of “BDE — Big Dad Energy — to the 2024 Democratic ticket.”
