JD Vance was mocked Thursday for offering “cringe” advice to young men he says mainstream U.S. culture now opposes: Crack a beer, tell jokes, and embrace your masculinity.
The vice president suggested he and Donald Trump (who does not drink alcohol) won over the demographic by embracing these things and not telling men what to do or how to think.
“I think our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge,” Vance said. “You should you should try to cast aside your family. You should try to suppress what makes you a young man in the first place.”
Vance, 40, claimed that American men are under attack for simply being who they are.
“My message to young men is don’t allow this broken culture to send you a message that you’re a bad person because you’re a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends, or because you’re competitive,” he said.
Vance gave his message on stage to a pro-Trump crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and his masculinity comments drew a raucous round of applause from those attending.
The vice president’s remarks elicited the opposite reaction, however, from critics on social media who said his message was “cringe” and that he was exaggerating how the left views masculinity to keep young American men voting red.
Vance, who attended Yale Law School before entering politics, said he and his “guy friends” really enjoy laughing at jokes together.
“When I think about like, what, what is the essence of masculinity?” Vance said. “You could answer this in so many different ways, but when I think about me and my guy friends, we really like to tell jokes to one another, like, we like to laugh. When you think about all of the movies that were really popular...”
Vance was then cut off by Mercedes Schlapp—the CPAC organizer interviewing him on stage—before he could complete his answer.
“Are you saying you’re pretty funny?” she asked.
“I try to be,” Vance responded with a smile.
“OK, President Trump—who’s funnier, who’s funnier?” she asked next.
Vance answered that Trump, of course, is funnier, eliciting laughter from Schlapp and the crowd. He then returned to his masculinity message and explained how Trump won over so many young male voters.
“I think this is why young men in particular are so, you know, they’re so inspired by President Trump, is because he doesn’t allow the media to tell him he can’t make a joke or he can’t have an original thought,” he said. “President Trump just says what’s on his mind. That’s a damn good thing, and it’s a good example to set for young men in American culture.”
Schlapp, piggybacking off Vance’s comment, said she has always told her five daughters the most important decision they’ll “ever make” in life is “who they marry.”
The vice president, himself the father of a daughter and two sons, agreed.
“That’s right,” he said.
