Men

 The trendlines for Democratic support from men - especially young men - are troubling, given the implications of voting for MAGA. Trump's wholesale attack on democratic institutions continues at a fevered pace with yesterday's First Amendment-violating attack on ABC and Kimmy Kimmel. It's important for Democrats to reduce their electoral liability among men, so how do we do it?

Paul Krugman makes the first important point: Men really have seen their economic prospects erode. It is the nature of zero-sum thinking that if Democrats were to acknowledge and speak to that, it would represent a failure to help the ease the hurdles that women still face. That seems like faulty thinking to me, but it's real. I'm a reasonably well off white dude, but I certainly feel like being a white guy in secondary education did not help me at all in my career advancement. There's the strong push to take a school that historically has been staffed by white men and make it more diverse. As a result, we have a male head of school, but almost all the major administrative posts are held by women. I get the sentiment, but I still feel walled in.

For a young man, it can probably feel pretty hopeless.

There was a focus group going around of Hispanic Trump 2024 voters. Almost all of them regret their vote. Trump's support among Hispanics is cratering. Yet none of those voters would - if they could - go back and vote for Harris. 

We are seeing the downside of identity politics. It was used to create solidarity among disadvantaged groups, but now white men and men in general see themselves as disadvantaged by an economy that prizes less traditionally masculine jobs. This creates in-group solidarity.

We need to wrestle with the fact that these men are not interested in voting for a woman, because of this version of identity politics. They might vote for a man, especially if Trump's terrible policies kick them in the teeth, but we can't just issue a white paper about men's employment. We have to acknowledge that men really ARE facing disadvantages and that is creating a male identity politics that extends beyond policy.