Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff has “reshaped the perception of masculinity” with his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, MSNBC host Jen Psaki suggested Sunday.
“There is also an important, interesting part about how people have talked about your role is how your role has reshaped the perception of masculinity,” Psaki remarked with a slight laugh. “I’m not sure you planned on that, but you are an incredibly supportive spouse. Has that been an evolution for you? Do you think that’s part of the role you might play as First Gentleman?”
“It’s funny. I’ve started to think a lot about this. I’ve always been like this. My dad’s always been like this. To me, it’s the right thing to do, support women. It is mutual with Kamala and I. We support each other, we have each other’s back,” Emhoff said.
He added, “I’ve said many times when we lift up women, we support women whether it’s pay equity, childcare, family leave, and all of these issues in this post-Dobbs hellscape. Women should not be less than. Women should not have less rights and be treated differently. That’s not the American way.”
Psaki continued, “There is a pop-culture phrase, ‘wife guy,’ which you’ve kind of been known as. Are you familiar with this?”
“I have heard about it,” Emhoff said.
“A ‘wife guy,’ a ‘proud wife guy.’ How do you feel about it?” she asked.
Emhoff joked, “If I do something annoying to Kamala, and she gets upset, I’ll just show her that article.”
Various media outlets and commentators have painted Emhoff and Harris’ running mate Gov. Tim Walz to be different examples of masculinity to combat former President Trump’s hold on the male vote. A Washington Post columnist went as far as to refer to Emhoff as a “progressive sex symbol.”
“Move over, Ryan Gosling. The modern female fantasy is embodied by the man who might soon become our first First Gentleman,” Catherine Rampell wrote.
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CNN’s Dana Bash suggested during the DNC that Emhoff and Walz appealed to voters who were not as masculine as Republican candidates.
“But they are doing so in trying to put forward male figures, Tim Walz being one of them, Doug Emhoff last night, who can speak to men out there who might not be the sort of testosterone-laden, y’know, gun-toting kind of guy who wants to listen to Hulk Hogan and the kind of players that came out at the RNC or might want to listen to that,” she said.
“But also, in addition, understand that it’s okay in 2024 to be a man comfortable in his own skin who supports a woman, and that is something they are really trying to work on with male voters beyond the base,” she added.
