Marine veteran publicly schools Josh Hawley on manliness

Recently, an Axios interview with far-right Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) — a man perhaps best known for helping to incite the Capitol insurrection — went viral due to some truly head-scratching opinions he shared about manhood.

During his conversation with a reporter, Hawley defended his belief that “masculinity” is under attack from the left. He said that society has to call men back to “responsibility” because “spending your time on video games, spending your time watching porn online while doing nothing” is rotting our civilization.

Conveniently, Hawley used his little theory to sidestep any kind of grappling with the real issues facing Americans like stagnating wages, lack of access to healthcare, and growing levels of inequality.

Like the rest of his plutocratic party, Hawley would much rather drum up inane culture war issues like video games and pornography than discuss the material conditions that actually affect people. The reason, of course, is that Republicans have no interest in improving the lives of American workers. They just need to keep them distracted so that they can continue funneling more wealth to corporations and the 1%. It’s the only reason the GOP exists at this point.

Josh Hawley’s claims that manhood is under attack will result in more men trying to maintain power through violence. Guns are the weapon of choice for extremists, misogynists and insurrectionists in America, and women will pay the price with their lives. pic.twitter.com/XmX7BHWF08

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 8, 2021

Hawley’s remarks were widely mocked but perhaps the best response came from military veteran Lucas Kunce, one of the candidates running to replace Republican Senator Roy Blunt in Hawley’s state of Missouri.

Kunce tweeted that while Hawley was working at “fancy law firms,” Kunce was a Marine serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and that during his time deployed overseas he and his buddies would spend their downtime between missions playing video games.

“So I don’t know what Joshua thinks about our ‘masculinity’ — but I’m damn proud I served with these men,” wrote Kunce above photos of his brothers-in-arms serving in uniform.

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The concise post perfectly drills down to reveal the hollowness of Hawley’s comments. Conservatives love to praise the troops and hold them up as paragons of manhood until they voice opinions contrary to right-wing orthodoxy. Playing video games in no way makes you less of a man, but whining about other people’s masculinity the way Hawley is doing certainly does.

While Josh Hawley worked at fancy law firms, I was a Marine. Guess what me and my buddies serving in Iraq and Afghanistan did between missions? We played video games.

So I don’t know what Joshua thinks about our "masculinity" — but I'm damn proud I served with these men. pic.twitter.com/2m3uQlskQe

— Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) November 9, 2021

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