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The Toxicity of the Frat Bro Mentality: How Trump’s Machismo Will Be His Demise

His rallying cries often echo the “frat bro” and “good old boy” culture—an ethos centered on dominance, chest-thumping confidence, and disdain for introspection or vulnerability.

Libby Winkler
3 min readDec 7, 2024
Photo by Nima Sarram on Unsplash

The Toxicity of the Frat Bro Mentality: How Trump’s Machismo Will Be His Demise

In American politics, Donald Trump’s appeal to hyper-masculine bravado is no accident.

His rallying cries often echo the “frat bro” and “good old boy” culture—an ethos centered on dominance, chest-thumping confidence, and disdain for introspection or vulnerability.

While this mentality helped solidify his base in 2016, it may be his undoing in 2024.

Trump’s brand of machismo is rooted in an outdated notion of leadership that prizes forcefulness over empathy, aggression over nuance, and loyalty to patriarchal hierarchies over progress.

This toxic masculinity not only alienates women and younger, progressive men, but it also fails to address the rapidly changing demographics and cultural shifts in the United States.

The Cult of Dominance…

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Libby Winkler
Libby Winkler

Written by Libby Winkler

Freelance writer who loves exploring the messiness of humanity, while poking around in nooks of life and shining light on all the things that make us complex..

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