Dissecting Trump’s Arnold Palmer masculinity play

Donald Trump’s closing pitch to voters at a Pennsylvania rally this weekend started with a rant about the late golf legend Arnold Palmer’s genitals. No, you did not misread that sentence.

It drove Google searches, it evoked attacks from Democrats about the former president’s vulgarity and it was still the subject of joke-trading among political professionals two days later.

Yes, it was bizarre. But it also underscored larger dynamics at play this cycle, including Trump’s emphasis on hypermasculinity as he looks to hold his advantage with male voters, particularly younger men.

So we pulled together five of our reporters to dissect the moment and discuss what it means for a race that pollsters are projecting will be marked by the largest gender gap in modern political history.

Jonathan Lai: Let’s start with the viral moment: Trump talking about Arnold Palmer. What did you make of that?

Holly Otterbein: From one perspective — one that probably most of D.C. has, not to mention many critical suburban voters — it was crass and weird and showed, perhaps, how unstable Trump is.

But from another perspective — one that many of his supporters certainly have — it was funny. I think Trump is trying to deploy his sense of humor as a tool in the last stretch of the campaign, in part to show that he’s a “man’s man” and drive up support among male voters.

Adam Wren: It was a little breathtaking. My initial thought was, is this what you really want to be talking about in the most critical of swing states with only a fortnight remaining before Election Day? What consultant would recommend this?

And then I quickly thought: Is anyone really surprised by this type of behavior from Trump? And doesn’t this further play into his brand as a politician who is uniquely authentic? Time and again, voters have told me this is what they like about Trump: He speaks what’s on his mind. And to be fair, Barack Obama raised the issue about — ahem, endowment — in a prime-time speech at the DNC in Chicago. This kind of talk is widely accepted now, and particularly for Trump, baked into voters’ perceptions.

Myah Ward: I actually didn’t find the moment shocking, TBH, just given what we’ve heard from Trump in the past!

But I immediately thought about this in the context of the gender gap pollsters are projecting this election, and I really see this as another example of Trump leaning into his idea of masculinity and targeting those male voters (particularly young men) that he and other Republicans have been investing in for several years now.

Brakkton Booker: There’s so much attention being paid to Trump’s reference to the late golfer’s — shall we say golf club — but what’s being overlooked slightly is that in that same speech the former commander in chief described his Democratic challenger as a “shit” VP.

It represented a vulgar escalation in his insults of Kamala Harris. When Harris was asked about it a day later in her sit-down with MSNBC, she took the high road saying: “The American people deserve so much better,” and, “It demeans the office.”

Not exactly the clapback I would have expected, especially after this summer when Michelle Obama seemed to ditch her whole, “when they go low, we go high” mantra from 2016.

Meridith McGraw: Was anyone actually surprised Trump said that? He just recently said that Harvey Weinstein was “schlonged,” a term he once used to describe Hillary Clinton’s 2008 primary run. He opened a 2016 debate with a joke about the size of his manhood.

Trump says crass things all the time, and the locker room talk is one of the things some of his fan love and could help him appeal to young male voters, an important voter bloc for the Trump campaign. I was at his rally in the Bronx and talked to three young men and asked why they liked Trump and they all agreed: They thought he was hilarious. That being said, there are plenty of Trump supporters who’d rather he leave the locker room talk back at the club house, it’s beneath the office, it’s in poor taste, etc.

But out on the campaign trail, his base is entertained by these types of comments and it also more broadly reflects just how frankly vulgar mainstream American culture and pop culture is these days.

Lai: Let’s zoom into that a little: Trump was notably going on a much longer riff about Palmer and masculinity, and there’s a clear connection to the idea of “locker room talk.” How does this fit with what Trump is doing more broadly around masculinity? How does that play with having a female opponent?

Booker: The crass language plays well for the MAGA base and also those who are not sold on the Harris candidacy — whether it’s about her gender, or a feeling that Democrats lean too heavily into identity politics.

We’ve seen how her dating history has been used to call into question her qualifications. It’s given an opening to Trump supporters as justification for why she should not win the White House. This doesn’t expand Trump’s base, but reinforces hardened ideas about Harris, which I think is the point.

Otterbein: Trump is clearly making dick jokes with a male audience in mind. And to Meridith’s point about the rally goers, it can be a powerful tool with voters. Trump used his sense of humor to great effect against Clinton in 2016, and voters I talked to that year often contrasted the two candidates in very gendered (and often outright sexist) terms — he was “funny,” while she was “humorless” and “cold.”

But I have a theory about why this year may be different. Harris has leaned into her laugh on the campaign trail. She is constantly photographed with a big grin. She even laughed at one of Trump’s jokes at the debate! I hear plenty of criticisms about her from voters, but “humorless” is not one of them. She seems to be trying to disarm his attacks, in this and other ways.

Ward: Yeah, building on Holly’s point, I don’t think it’s as effective this go around. I always think back to the launch of Harris’ campaign. Her candidacy really took the internet by storm. There were the brat summer memes, videos of her dancing, clips of her laughing that creators were weaving together in viral montages. I always think of the video of her and her sister, Maya, laughing about this “Big Sister General” exchange.

And I think we’re seeing her maneuver something that is challenging for a woman running for office. It’s the “she’s too serious” or “oh, she’s not serious enough” dynamic women have to grapple with. And no, Harris is not leaning into the historic nature of candidacy, but she is showing her personality, leaning into her first name, her laugh, while also projecting the serious, official nature of the office she’s seeking. That’s the balance her campaign from the beginning wanted to strike.

Wren: One of the meta-conversations in this race — as in almost every race — that’s happening right now is about authenticity. Is this candidate actually who they say they are? And are they behaving in a way that’s true to them?

Let’s look at Harris: Is there really nothing she would have broken with Joe Biden on? She can’t think of one thing? Meanwhile, Trump’s comments about Palmer’s manhood — not to mention his highly staged photo-op slinging fries at McDonald’s — both sought to convey his authenticity, even if one of those wasn’t choreographed by the campaign.

McGraw: There will be Ph.D. dissertations on gender in America in the year 2024 — and the divide we’re seeing is an important part of this election. We are seeing in polls how more men are being drawn to Trump and women to Harris. Trump’s team in particular has been trying to reach young men who they think could be motivated to turn out and are going on podcasts geared toward men, showing up at sports events like the Steelers game this weekend or pro wrestling events, and pushing memes to get their attention.

Ward: Meridith got me thinking about young men and how effective Trump has been in presenting the 2024 race as one of “strength versus weakness.” He really had this down with Biden — leaning into the old age attacks — but despite Harris’ gender, she’s actually chipped away at this perception. And we hear her talk a lot about this on the trail all the time — the meaning of “strength” and what that looks like from a leader.

Otterbein: Totally, Myah. And I think this speaks to how perceptions of masculinity also turn on age. Trump emasculated Biden by painting him as too old. Now Harris’ campaign, in a slightly subtler fashion, is emasculating Trump in the same way — it’s the not-so-hidden message when Harris says Trump is “weak” and “unstable” and bashes him for not releasing his medical records.

McGraw: Yeah, and to your points, the Harris campaign is really leaning into questioning Trump’s character and his fitness for office in the final stretch. They’re bringing former administration officials and Republican leaders on the trail to talk about that or be a witness to Trump’s behavior.

Booker: Are those Harris attacks breaking through, though? They can come across as dismissive, but lack the zing she displayed in the debate where she could insult him to his face.

Ward: That depends on who you ask. But let’s just say they’re not breaking through on their own for argument’s sake. I do think these attacks can be effective at distracting Trump, poking the bear a bit — whether it’s on his age or his crowd sizes.

McGraw: Depends on who you’re talking about, I think. In a recent New York Times/Siena poll, Harris is winning 9 percent of Republican voters. I’m going out on a limb to guess those Republican voters aren’t the ones who laughed when they heard Trump talking about Palmer’s manhood.

Wren: Meridith makes a smart point. It’s easy to allow Trump supporters to justify and explain these remarks. But with Harris so focused on pulling in soft Republicans, are they still so willing to give him a wide berth here?

Otterbein: Harris actually warned voters to not be distracted by Trump’s humor at a campaign event aimed at soft Republicans today. Sitting down with Liz Cheney in the Philadelphia suburbs, she said, “There are things that he says that will be the subject of skits and laughter and jokes, but words have meaning coming from someone who aspires to stand behind the seal of the president.”

Lai: One really interesting thing you’re all pulling on is that this could play in many different ways for different audiences. It’s easy to make an argument in any direction.

So let’s unpack it directly: Bottom line, does this Palmer masculinity riff help or hurt Trump? Why?

Otterbein: It all comes down to turnout! (Sorry!) Will the young men who think he’s funny come to the polls? Or will soft Republicans help Harris run up the score in the suburbs because they're sick of his shtick?

Ward: Totally agree with Holly. I’m still stuck thinking in the frame of where I started — the historic gender gap this cycle and how important moderate white women are going to be in these final weeks. We’re seeing both campaigns try to go after these voters. And I guess I question how this kind of talk will help Trump with these women who are torn between two really serious, weighty issues — abortion and the economy.

I’m just not sure kicking off a swing state rally by talking about Palmer’s manhood is the best use of the little time he has left to lure in the fence sitters.

Booker: Well, if I absolutely have to pick a side on this, I’d say it helps, but only by the slightest of margins. The more he can keep playing to his base and the more earned media he can receive from his stream-of-consciousness rants, the more it helps in some ways negate his significant fundraising deficit he has compared to Harris. It could help him drown out the disciplined campaign Harris is running.

McGraw: My TL;DR: I don’t think it makes a difference. It all played out rather predictably: Trump was called lewd and profane by the media and the left, some in his base laughed and there was the tried and true eye roll or shrug from Republicans who let this behavior slide because they like his policies. I don’t think this riff — however crude — changes anything.

Trump making dick jokes: par for the course.

Wren: It was neither a birdie nor a bogie, just something to talk about over a cold one back at the clubhouse.