If Doug Emhoff is the new face of masculinity, I’ll take a hard pass.
Give me the Marlboro Man, or anyone who was in a Gillette ad before the razor company decided to lecture America about the inherent crappiness of males.
Or someone who hasn’t been accused of forcefully slapping their girlfriend in public — even as he’s heralded as the biggest lift-up-the-ladies dude since Jerry Springer played the Masculine Feminist on “Married with Children.”
Just three days ago, in an MSNBC interview, Jen Psaki gushed over the feminism of Kamala Harris’ husband, telling Emhoff that he “reshaped the perception of masculinity” and was a “wife guy.”
Emhoff shamelessly said that he was always that way: “It’s the right thing to do … women should not be less than.”
That is, unless that lady’s story gets in the way of the left’s empty “believe all women” narrative.
Psaki, a former Biden administration flack, made no mention of Emhoff allegedly impregnating his kids’ nanny in 2009 while he was married to his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff.
Now, Harris and her media lapdogs are predictably silent as it is alleged that, in 2012, Emhoff slapped an ex-girlfriend so hard that she spun around.
The disturbing claims were reported by the Daily Mail, which spoke to three friends of the alleged victim, a New York executive Emhoff reportedly dated for three months. The pair were attending a gala during the Cannes Film Festival when he allegedly assaulted her because he thought she was flirting with a valet.
Friends, who provided detailed documents to back up the pair’s trip, claimed the woman slapped him back and that he forced his way into her cab. They broke up that night but, sources claimed, Emhoff did not apologize.
He has also not yet denied the claim or issued any public statement.
Pretty dark stuff. Especially since he’s made the rounds boasting of his enlightened views on female empowerment.
“This is something I have thought about a lot, I’ve spoken about a lot,” he told Jonathan Capehart — again, on lib-friendly MSNBC — in 2023. “There’s too much of toxicity — masculine toxicity out there, and we’ve kind of confused what it means to be a man, what it means to be masculine. You’ve got this trope out there where you have to be tough, and angry, and lash out to be strong.”
Yikes.
We’ve been informed by Oprah, crowing at the DNC, that “decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024.”
It’s not very decent to hit a lady. And Harris, given her professedcommitment to female victims of abuse, should be outraged by these dark revelations.
As should all the A-list ladies who cheer her: women like Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep, who famously called Harvey Weinstein “God.”
Remember the endless think pieces on toxic masculinity after Christine Blasey Ford accused then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school? Though she couldn’t remember a time or place, nor establish that she and Kavanaugh actually knew each other, it did not stop the media from attempting to cast him as an unredeemable monster.
Many women in the media wore black to support Blasey Ford. Actors like Allison Janey, Kerry Washington and Debra Messing walked off their Hollywood sets.
One of the women who took part in that performative social media event? Then Senator Kamala Harris.
“Wore black today in support of all survivors of sexual assault or abuse. We won’t let them be silenced or ignored. #BelieveSurvivors,” she posted.
No one is wearing the dark shade of mourning today. There are no hashtags. No outrage. Joy still reigns. Emhoff is still brat.
A quick Google search for the Second Gentleman produces nary a mention of this alleged assault. Most media has ignored it. Politico has nothing about it, but has tweeted a piece opining that J.D. Vance’s beard “can be negative, conveying aggression and opposition to feminist ideals.”
Hey, at least Emhoff didn’t use the violent phrase “childless cat ladies.”
And to anyone who says, “but he’s not the one running for office”: If Nancy “Just Say No” Reagan had secretly hosted coke parties, we would have cared. Supporting females is Emhoff’s entire personality. Admittedly, Trump has his own baggage and accusations, as we’re reminded daily, but he makes no claim to a moral high ground.
If you’re going to build your political identity on being the party of women believing women and supporting victims, find a consistent line. Not just when it’s politically expedient.
Otherwise, the hashtag shouldn’t be #BelieveWomen. It should be #BelieveWomenOnOurSide.