Combat sports promoter and Trump ally Dana White recently gave a revealing window into the deeply self-conscious, macho id that informs the MAGA movement.
Through companies like the Ultimate Fighting Championship, White has built a large, mostly male audience. That platform has been the basis for him to fashion himself as a spokesperson for manhood and to associate himself with others who have done the same, like manosphere influencer Andrew Tate. White has also used it to help position Donald Trump in similar terms to that audience.
So when White opines on what manhood supposedly is or isn’t, it offers insight into the perspective of some men in the MAGA movement, which is deeply obsessed with performative masculinity. That’s why I found it pitiful to see him publicly berating men who openly discuss their mental health.
White delivered his commentary, fittingly, on the podcast of MAGA influencer Katie Miller, who is married to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. White, after saying it’s a “man’s job” to make sure a woman feels “safe” and is “treated right,” admitted that his idea of masculinity is “toxic” and railed against men who talk about their feelings:
I hate this whole men’s mental health bulls— that they talk about. Unfortunately, when you’re a man, you are the provider. You are the one that takes care of your family. You know, you are the example for your kids when they grow up — and your sons, you know, and your daughters. And unfortunately, you can’t be that guy that — I see these guys posting on social media, “I had a bad day and I’m so sad” and all this other crazy shit.
After Miller said men who bring up their mental health are “unattractive,” White responded, “It’s unattractive to other males, let alone other women.”
White’s response underscores how much MAGA masculinity hinges on performance and comparing oneself to other men, arguably expressive of a deep insecurity.
If you’re considering looking to White for lessons on manhood or mental health, consider that this is a person who was recorded slapping his wife in public in 2023 (White said afterward, “I’ve been against this. I’ve owned this. I’m telling you that I’m wrong” but faced no repercussions) and said he had “almost no feelings about” the death of his parents, from whom he was estranged.
And yet, there he was on Miller’s podcast, lecturing American men on how they should ignore their feelings and make women feel “safe.”
A man discussing his feelings or openly referencing his mental health issues obviously doesn’t preclude him from providing or being present for his loved ones. It’s suggestions to the contrary that contribute to the men’s mental health crisis, which people like White seem to want us all to ignore.
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