JD Vance has a plan to bring the white-male manosphere back to Trump and MAGA
Por Rhian Lubin — – World RSS Feed
JD Vance has a plan to bring the white-male manosphere back to Trump and MAGA
Manosphere figures and Republican insiders are divided over whether Vance, 42, is the right man for the job
Rhian Lubin in New York Thursday 08 October 2026 16:21 BST
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Vice President JD Vance is trying to win back the young, white men who helped propel President Donald Trump back to power in the 2024 presidential election and persuade them to vote Republican in November.
Key manosphere figures, GOP analysts, insiders and Trump administration allies are divided over whether Vance, 42, is the right man for the job, according to a Politico report.
In the run-up to the midterms, Vance has sought to appeal to young men, including Gen Zs, by appearing on manosphere podcasts like Joe Rogan and Jack Posobiec. He has touted the message that the Trump administration is committed to tackling “institutionalized anti-white, anti-male discrimination in this country,” and acknowledged the frustrations of young men in interviews and on the campaign trail.
But some Trump allies and operatives are concerned that young men might be “a lost cause” in the midterms because of their opposition to the Iran war, which has triggered high gas prices and has no end in sight, a person close to the White House told Politico.
“But he should still try, right?” the source said. “Because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s also just good for him, bigger picture, if he’s making good arguments and raising his profile.”
open image in gallery“[Trump] is reviled now by Gen Z, including Gen Z men, and that was absolutely not the case in ‘24,” the person added.
In 2024, Trump won 18-24-year-old men by 3 points, according to Politico, citing CNN exit polling data. But the president’s net favorability rating with the demographic has plummeted to minus 17, according to the outlet, citing a recent Cygnal poll.
Allies of Vance say that he is the best person to step in and appeal to the group. An RNC official told the outlet that the party’s data shows that young men who are persuadable voters are more likely to lean Republican than Democrat.
“As a millennial and young father, Vice President Vance is the perfect messenger for young men who feel they’ve been left behind and want to achieve the American Dream,” said RNC national press secretary Natalie Baldassare.
Posobiec said that Vance was “the most effective messenger to young voters” after interviewing the vice president on Air Force Two last week. The MAGA podcaster had asked his followers, “Should I ask JD Vance about what the GOP can do to win young male support in our interview today?”
open image in galleryDozens of accounts responded, expressing opposition to “foreign wars” and suggesting Posobiec instead ask Vance what he can do to win “young white male support.”
“This is us saying, no, we get it. We don’t like the system either,” Posobiec told Politico. “However, maybe don’t burn down the country. Because when we burn down the country, the problem is we still live in the country. It’s not a good idea to set fire to the house you live in.”
Another Vance ally, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet, said young men are “hungry for the truth” and the vice president was the right person to deliver.
“JD has a way of doing it without speaking down to them or saying that what they’re feeling isn’t real, but calling them higher,” he said.
Other Republicans are less convinced.
“I don’t think there’s any kind of consensus,” a former Trump campaign official said of Vance as being the right person to speak to young men. “This is a really tough environment, probably the worst since 2006 for Republicans… and so this is an all hands on deck moment.”
Another conservative commentator said that “Vance’s entire approach seems to be to concede that Trump’s foreign policy is bad and unpopular, but populism is great, vote for us!”
Vance, who is likely the Republican frontrunner in 2028, also has to balance supporting Trump on the war in Iran with his own opposition to U.S. conflicts overseas.
“I’m not asking anybody to agree on every single policy of the administration,” Vance said at the midterm convention in Dallas last month. “What I am asking you to do is to recognize the contrast with the radicals and recognize the achievements of the last 18 months. We have done a lot, my friends, and we can do a lot more if we fight together.”
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JD VanceDonald TrumpMAGAJoe RoganJack Posobiec
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