Concerned about charges that traditional American masculinity might be losing its luster, Fox News has taken on the role of defender of real red, white, and blue machismo. Such was the case on last week’s “Outnumbered” during which the lovely, leggy ladies and their oh-so-male guest host defended the manhood of Whites, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and America!!!
Not for nothing has Outnumbered been described as “the show that sexism built.” That was back in 2014. Flash forward to 2022 and nothing has changed. Four gals in short skirts on either side of a designated male (he’s outnumbered, get it?!) who provides the requisite male wisdom and validation for whatever right wing propaganda message is being pimped.
Last week, the ladies tore into a Washington Post article written by Pulitzer Prize winner and associate editor of the WAPO, Jonathan Capehart, who dared to point out that the “manhood obsessed” U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (who wrote a book about manhood) equates masculinity with conservative values that don’t exactly include diversity and tolerance. But even worse, OMG, Capehart wrote that Hawley’s version of masculinity is directed to “white America.”
Former Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany began the love fest with the claim that Capehart “vilified” Hawley (aww) by asserting that Hawley is “advocating for masculinity based on racial resentment.” (nooo) After reading the relevant section of the article, McEnany lamented to Harris Faulkner, “They always come up with a new, far-fetched liberal lunacy” which, in this case, is about bigotry. On cue, Faulkner provided the requisite Fox white-wash, (pun intended) “it always comes down to race” and that she “gets it” because “the r-word gets everybody’s attention.”
In keeping with Fox’s defense of manly snowflakes, she asked when masculinity became "such a horrible thing.” She wanted to know when femininity became horrible because, “if you hate one thing, you must hate the other.” (Huh?) She just couldn’t understand how we got to this point and threw in a reference to pronouns – a subtle knock on the transgender community who are not exactly beloved by Fox News. Not so subtle was her claim that the focus on race and gender was to “cancel” people.
A gleeful McEnany introduced the “outnumbered” male, Jimmy Failla, as “an expert on masculinity.” Failla, a former cab driver, is a stand-up comedian and host of a Fox radio show, “Fox Across America.” He has said, on Outnumbered, that there is no war on women; but rather, with abortion, a “war on babies.”
Failla is, not surprisingly, “with Hawley.” He pontificated that “we’re here because of masculinity.” He continued with more incoherent comedic stylings about how we’re “here because our grandparents stormed the beach and saved Private Ryan.” (Of course, there were many women in the war effort, but maybe Failla doesn’t know that?) He informed us that “the real hustle” is when you “break this down on racial lines.” He also announced that “minority children suffer from a strong male presence in the home.” I think he meant to say they “suffer from a lack of a strong male presence" – a right wing myth that has been debunked. Sociologist Failla pontificated that “when you go to race, you’ve lost the argument.”
McEnany just glowed when she described Hawley as “a conservative rock star.” She said that the reason why “they” are “going after him” is because “he’s the best and brightest.” Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the former president, whined about how “they” go after Trump and Ron DeSantis. In insulting The Washington Post, she said that the Post article should be “taken with a grain of salt.” She went on about the men who died in WWII and how “they’re the reason why our society has been able to progress" and asserted that masculinity has “been beneficial for a large part of our history.” She asked how “masculinity became a bad thing.”
Emily Compagno offered more of the same in attacking this supposed "preposterous" "slam." However, unlike the others, she did mention that part of Capehart’s focus was on U.S. Army veteran and Missouri Democrat Jason Kandor who offered his view of masculinity which, according to Compagno, is “just like what Josh Hawley is doing.” (Unlike Kandor, Hawley did not serve in the military.) She cited Kandor’s criticism of Hawley's anti-union and anti-same sex marriage views which, she claimed, were "attacks" on Hawley’s faith and his vision of masculinity – attacks that McEnany ascribed to the nasty liberalism at the Washington Post which does “hit pieces” on conservatives. (And this isn't a hit piece on the WAPO and Capehart?)
So Hawley, the same Hawley who raised his fist in solidarity with the J-6 insurrectionists and was caught on camera rapidly running away from the same folks in the Capitol building, is a paragon of right wing masculinity? Hmmm, if he needs the sweet, li'l gals on Outnumbered to run defense for him, that just might not be the case!
You can watch it below, from the Thursday, August 4, 2022 Outnumbered.
Josh ‘Hauling Ass’ Hawley, you’re not fit to polish Adam Kinzinger’s boots.
“Fist pumper to fleeing coward: Jan. 6 video shows Missouri who Josh Hawley really is”
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article263718073.html#storylink=cpy