More evidence that, across most of the political spectrum, most people have no fucking idea what a modern factory looks like. FYI: they are full of computers, and many of the jobs require a college education.
Coming into this far too late to scroll all the way down but I dearly hope that one of the first posts asked "are these the kind of jobs that make you Free?"
"While no silver bullet can increase the married birth rate, developing pro-family policies is essential if Americans want to maintain their political and cultural traditions, avoid economic decline, and strengthen national defense."
I achieved my education in history and German literature for my own self-actualization, and it's not working out too badly. I tacked on a teaching program and have retired after 25 years teaching at-risk teenagers.
Listening to these people lauding the glories of factory work makes it very clear they have never actually worked in a factory. I've made plastic bags, trailer homes, and trusses. They were alright, but it can get pretty monotonous being stuck in one place doing the same thing over and over waiting for a bell to ring so you can stop for a while and feel like a human being. I don't get what's so manly about that.
Not only my dad but my mother worked in factories. Ma had been in the Pocketbook Workers Union before she got married. We always liked it that she was in the Machinists Union due to working in the lampshade factory (also was shop steward) while Pop ended his working years in the Ladies Garment Workers Union (also was in the Textile Workers Union, even was a Teamster during the Jimmy Hoffa years). The ILGW was the one that gave Pop a really small pension.
Of course Ma was a pretty strong feminist for her era, likely due to being exposed to doing so much "manly work". Not even close to being a trad wife.
My dad got out of the Air Force in 1954, walked down the street from his home in Detroit and started working at Dodge Main. A couple years later, after hating it, he went to work as a lineman for Ma Bell, a tough physical job putting up telephone poles and stringing wire.
He hate the factory work, and he increased his technical skills so that, when he was in his 30s, he was doing the more involved, womanly work of fixing phones and shooting trouble on lines.
Ta, Robyn. WTF does Jesse Watters know about being manly? There are special occasions for which I wear makeup, and he wears more than I ever do on a daily basis. He's a creep.
I do not usually whine about anyone's alleged gender, but since Jesse brought it up, he would get assaulted in any biker bar in Springfield, Oregon, he cared to walk into.
“When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this,” Jesse Watters said. The crap these people spew is really hard to take sometimes. I'd like to see these "studies"he refers to, but of course they don't exist. Fox "News"is a 24/7 lie machine.
Tariffs, Testosterone, and Tradwives: Fox News Turns Economic Collapse into a Manhood Test
At the heart of this Daily Dunce is an emerging MAGA narrative that economic hardship — particularly self-inflicted hardship like Trump’s tariffs — is not just acceptable, but virtuous, even desirable, because it’s supposedly forging a new, testosterone-fueled generation of “real men.”
This isn't just Fox News fumbling to explain away disastrous policies — it's a coordinated psychological pivot from explaining failure to glorifying suffering, wrapped in a toxic masculinity bow. They’re telling their audience: yes, you're getting poorer, but that’s good, because pain is what makes a man. And if you hang in there, you’ll get a tradwife as your heavenly reward.
Take Greg Gutfeld, for example, who tried to reframe tariffs as some kind of hormonal supplement:
“Could Trump’s tariffs be the ultimate testosterone boost?” He then answered his own rhetorical nonsense with a confident “yes,” as if adding 30% to the price of a Ford pickup somehow causes your testes to swell with patriotic virility.
Meanwhile, Jesse Watters tried to rationalize the economic pain with this bizarre assertion:
“When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this.” Yes, he said this. From behind a literal screen. While wearing makeup. On a television show. Telling other men that working indoors makes them effeminate — unless, presumably, they’re him.
Watters also spun fantasies about tariffs magically restoring lost factory jobs:
“It’s going to bring back strong towns, thriving main streets — the real America.” Except that’s the opposite of what tariffs do. They raise costs on inputs, cripple exports, and hammer sectors like farming and manufacturing — the very jobs these clowns claim to be defending.
Then there’s Sean Hannity, playing the role of stoic martyr recruiter. When a caller dared to complain about losing money from Trump’s economic policies, Hannity snapped:
“You don’t have the stomach.” This is straight-up authoritarian rhetoric: if you’re suffering, shut up — your pain is proof of loyalty.
Even the MAGA influencers joined in, blending economic destruction with revenge fantasy. Benny Johnson sneered that inflation is just part of “building character,” while Rogan O’Handley melted down over a video of young women dancing, asking his followers to choose:
“Tariffs or this?” As if the cost of chicken rising 42% is worth it just to make women less happy.
The underlying pitch?
Masculinity isn’t about flourishing — it’s about enduring suffering, and the more you suffer, the more masculine you are. And conveniently, that suffering is always someone else’s fault — liberals, feminists, TikTok girls.
It’s economic masochism as identity politics. It’s prosperity gospel, but for incels.
The real kicker? All this self-flagellating macho nonsense is being pushed in defense of Donald Trump, a pampered man-child who’s never experienced discomfort unless the Diet Coke button stopped working. He’s the least masculine man alive — unless masculinity now includes bankruptcy, golf cheats, and compulsive lying.
So yes — Fox News and MAGA influencers want you to believe that tariffs are a testosterone supplement, that inflation is a virtue, and that the only path to manhood runs through a Walmart with $9 eggs.
And all of it, every unhinged bit, is just a cover story to distract from one simple truth: Trump screwed the economy. And they’d rather redefine masculinity than admit it.
When will Mr. Watters "man up" and take a job greasing boilers on the assembly line?
Seriously, no one WANTS to be a mere "worker"... one thing foreigners always note about USAnians is that when asked about themselves, they talk about what they do for a living... not their family, not their interests, but their job. I don't see any people celebrating their children becoming a third generation plumber or electrician, but they'll rate a newspaper photo for being "first in their family" to earn a degree or whatnot.
Then again, what's wrong with being an educated worker?
I actually did want to be a worker. I went to college on a National Merit Scholarship and took a few years off before grad school. But I liked working for a living and never went to grad school. I made plastic bags, drove taxis, built trailer homes, stripped concrete forms, loaded and unloaded trucks, built trusses and a few other odd jobs. I liked the people I worked with and enjoyed the freedom of being able to think what I wanted to think. I could run a jackhammer all day and go home to read Tolstoy or Emil Durkheim or history books or whatever I wanted. I eventually settled into landscaping because I liked the creativity and flexibility of it. It was also a job that attracted a lot of intelligent but unambitious people, so I felt right at home. The labor force has become somewhat MAGAfied in recent years. I think that's in large part because republicans have actively reached out to working people while democrats have taken them for granted. Republicans don't actually help them. They just tell them who to hate so they can feel better about their miserable lives. If someone came along with a more positive message for working people, they could turn the tide both politically and culturally. There's not a lot of love for the moderates of either party, because they are pandering at best, and contemptuous at worst, to working people. It's Bernie, AOC, or Trump. The hardcore magats sabotage themselves eventually. They're whiny as hell, completely inflexible, and never take accountability for their actions.
But I don't think there's anything wrong with being proud of working for a living. A lot of working people are very proud of what they do, and it takes a lot more skill than some people give them credit for. There's just no reason to add toxic masculinity to the mix. Some of the best crew leaders at my company are women, and there aren't many people who have a problem with that. Anyone who can do the work is going to get respect.
More evidence that, across most of the political spectrum, most people have no fucking idea what a modern factory looks like. FYI: they are full of computers, and many of the jobs require a college education.
Coming into this far too late to scroll all the way down but I dearly hope that one of the first posts asked "are these the kind of jobs that make you Free?"
"While no silver bullet can increase the married birth rate, developing pro-family policies is essential if Americans want to maintain their political and cultural traditions, avoid economic decline, and strengthen national defense."
AKA cannon fodder.
I think Fox has been smokin' those boner pills they sell all day.
So, I'm supposed to take "manliness" advice from dudes that wear makeup. Jesse really needs to come out of the closet.
Apologize to closets!
The one thing that REAL MEN do is walk around all day braying that they are "REAL MEN."
Methinks she doth protest too much.
I achieved my education in history and German literature for my own self-actualization, and it's not working out too badly. I tacked on a teaching program and have retired after 25 years teaching at-risk teenagers.
And, Jesse-Greg, that ain't bean-bag.
Listening to these people lauding the glories of factory work makes it very clear they have never actually worked in a factory. I've made plastic bags, trailer homes, and trusses. They were alright, but it can get pretty monotonous being stuck in one place doing the same thing over and over waiting for a bell to ring so you can stop for a while and feel like a human being. I don't get what's so manly about that.
Not only my dad but my mother worked in factories. Ma had been in the Pocketbook Workers Union before she got married. We always liked it that she was in the Machinists Union due to working in the lampshade factory (also was shop steward) while Pop ended his working years in the Ladies Garment Workers Union (also was in the Textile Workers Union, even was a Teamster during the Jimmy Hoffa years). The ILGW was the one that gave Pop a really small pension.
Of course Ma was a pretty strong feminist for her era, likely due to being exposed to doing so much "manly work". Not even close to being a trad wife.
My dad got out of the Air Force in 1954, walked down the street from his home in Detroit and started working at Dodge Main. A couple years later, after hating it, he went to work as a lineman for Ma Bell, a tough physical job putting up telephone poles and stringing wire.
He hate the factory work, and he increased his technical skills so that, when he was in his 30s, he was doing the more involved, womanly work of fixing phones and shooting trouble on lines.
Show me on this doll where the soup hurt you, Jesse. Now show me where the straw did. Ok, good work! Now show me where the screen hurt you.
A little more makeup and a wig on him and every accusation is a confession, it seems.
You want to see that felcher's straw?
Ta, Robyn. WTF does Jesse Watters know about being manly? There are special occasions for which I wear makeup, and he wears more than I ever do on a daily basis. He's a creep.
I do not usually whine about anyone's alleged gender, but since Jesse brought it up, he would get assaulted in any biker bar in Springfield, Oregon, he cared to walk into.
“When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this,” Jesse Watters said. The crap these people spew is really hard to take sometimes. I'd like to see these "studies"he refers to, but of course they don't exist. Fox "News"is a 24/7 lie machine.
Tariffs, Testosterone, and Tradwives: Fox News Turns Economic Collapse into a Manhood Test
At the heart of this Daily Dunce is an emerging MAGA narrative that economic hardship — particularly self-inflicted hardship like Trump’s tariffs — is not just acceptable, but virtuous, even desirable, because it’s supposedly forging a new, testosterone-fueled generation of “real men.”
This isn't just Fox News fumbling to explain away disastrous policies — it's a coordinated psychological pivot from explaining failure to glorifying suffering, wrapped in a toxic masculinity bow. They’re telling their audience: yes, you're getting poorer, but that’s good, because pain is what makes a man. And if you hang in there, you’ll get a tradwife as your heavenly reward.
Take Greg Gutfeld, for example, who tried to reframe tariffs as some kind of hormonal supplement:
“Could Trump’s tariffs be the ultimate testosterone boost?” He then answered his own rhetorical nonsense with a confident “yes,” as if adding 30% to the price of a Ford pickup somehow causes your testes to swell with patriotic virility.
Meanwhile, Jesse Watters tried to rationalize the economic pain with this bizarre assertion:
“When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this.” Yes, he said this. From behind a literal screen. While wearing makeup. On a television show. Telling other men that working indoors makes them effeminate — unless, presumably, they’re him.
Watters also spun fantasies about tariffs magically restoring lost factory jobs:
“It’s going to bring back strong towns, thriving main streets — the real America.” Except that’s the opposite of what tariffs do. They raise costs on inputs, cripple exports, and hammer sectors like farming and manufacturing — the very jobs these clowns claim to be defending.
Then there’s Sean Hannity, playing the role of stoic martyr recruiter. When a caller dared to complain about losing money from Trump’s economic policies, Hannity snapped:
“You don’t have the stomach.” This is straight-up authoritarian rhetoric: if you’re suffering, shut up — your pain is proof of loyalty.
Even the MAGA influencers joined in, blending economic destruction with revenge fantasy. Benny Johnson sneered that inflation is just part of “building character,” while Rogan O’Handley melted down over a video of young women dancing, asking his followers to choose:
“Tariffs or this?” As if the cost of chicken rising 42% is worth it just to make women less happy.
The underlying pitch?
Masculinity isn’t about flourishing — it’s about enduring suffering, and the more you suffer, the more masculine you are. And conveniently, that suffering is always someone else’s fault — liberals, feminists, TikTok girls.
It’s economic masochism as identity politics. It’s prosperity gospel, but for incels.
The real kicker? All this self-flagellating macho nonsense is being pushed in defense of Donald Trump, a pampered man-child who’s never experienced discomfort unless the Diet Coke button stopped working. He’s the least masculine man alive — unless masculinity now includes bankruptcy, golf cheats, and compulsive lying.
So yes — Fox News and MAGA influencers want you to believe that tariffs are a testosterone supplement, that inflation is a virtue, and that the only path to manhood runs through a Walmart with $9 eggs.
And all of it, every unhinged bit, is just a cover story to distract from one simple truth: Trump screwed the economy. And they’d rather redefine masculinity than admit it.
@PatriceMersault
Fun read!
Suffering for your politicalized gender ideals is not just for masculine men, btw.
The truest woman is the one who suffers through the most brutal scenarios of pregnancy and childbirth.
Funny how these maga-pushed gender ideals tend to increase the likelihood of violent death.
“Could Trump’s tariffs be the ultimate testosterone boost?” NO!
When will Mr. Watters "man up" and take a job greasing boilers on the assembly line?
Seriously, no one WANTS to be a mere "worker"... one thing foreigners always note about USAnians is that when asked about themselves, they talk about what they do for a living... not their family, not their interests, but their job. I don't see any people celebrating their children becoming a third generation plumber or electrician, but they'll rate a newspaper photo for being "first in their family" to earn a degree or whatnot.
Then again, what's wrong with being an educated worker?
I actually did want to be a worker. I went to college on a National Merit Scholarship and took a few years off before grad school. But I liked working for a living and never went to grad school. I made plastic bags, drove taxis, built trailer homes, stripped concrete forms, loaded and unloaded trucks, built trusses and a few other odd jobs. I liked the people I worked with and enjoyed the freedom of being able to think what I wanted to think. I could run a jackhammer all day and go home to read Tolstoy or Emil Durkheim or history books or whatever I wanted. I eventually settled into landscaping because I liked the creativity and flexibility of it. It was also a job that attracted a lot of intelligent but unambitious people, so I felt right at home. The labor force has become somewhat MAGAfied in recent years. I think that's in large part because republicans have actively reached out to working people while democrats have taken them for granted. Republicans don't actually help them. They just tell them who to hate so they can feel better about their miserable lives. If someone came along with a more positive message for working people, they could turn the tide both politically and culturally. There's not a lot of love for the moderates of either party, because they are pandering at best, and contemptuous at worst, to working people. It's Bernie, AOC, or Trump. The hardcore magats sabotage themselves eventually. They're whiny as hell, completely inflexible, and never take accountability for their actions.
But I don't think there's anything wrong with being proud of working for a living. A lot of working people are very proud of what they do, and it takes a lot more skill than some people give them credit for. There's just no reason to add toxic masculinity to the mix. Some of the best crew leaders at my company are women, and there aren't many people who have a problem with that. Anyone who can do the work is going to get respect.
Norman Rockwell was a New England liberal who painted pictures of kids going to school while Black. Please don't take his name in vain. Thanks!
Also pictures of cops helping ducks cross the road instead of tasering them for jaywalking.
‘In Just Seven Days, [Factory Work] Can Make You A Man‘
No more getting sand kicked in my face!
I’ll also take the Charles Atlas Training Course!