Democrat Governors Are Launching Programs Aimed at Helping Men – Will It Make a Difference?

One of the biggest drivers of Donald Trump’s success in the 2024 election was the historic support he received from men of all backgrounds. 

He won the Hispanic male vote by one point over Kamala Harris (a massive swing from the 2020 election when Joe Biden bested Trump by a 34-point margin), and he made large inroads with black men (Harris’ 47-point margin in 2024 was significantly less than Biden’s plus-82 in 2020). Trump also improved his showing with white men.

The demographic shifts still have Democrats scratching their heads over what went wrong as evidenced by a new report from NBC News that explored what three prominent Dem governors are planning to do to win back men. What the article actually highlights is how little the left has learned. 

On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Jordan Peterson, co-founder of Peterson Academy and author of We Who Wrestle with God, to discuss the progressive policies that drove men away in the first place and how the Dems are still missing the point.

The NBC News Report

In an article titled “The plight of boys and men, once sidelined by Democrats, is now a priority,” NBC News national reporter Tyler Kingkade spoke to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont about “initiatives geared toward helping boys and men” being rolled out in their states.

Moore, a first-term governor and rising star on the left, told Kingkade “the well-being of our young men and boys has not been a societal priority,” and he wants the Old Line State to “be the one that is aggressive and unapologetic about being able to address it and being able to fix it.” 

Whitmer, who is believed to have presidential aspirations, and Lamont voiced similar concerns. As a fix, Whitmer’s goal is to “boost young men’s enrollment in higher education and skills training” in Michigan. Lamont, meanwhile, announced what he is calling “a DEI initiative, which folks on both sides of the aisle may appreciate,” to get more men into teaching.

What’s Actually Wrong

Peterson believes it is “a little late in the game” for the left to be trying to fix a problem it created. “We’ve had four generations – say, 60 years at least – of targeted demoralization of young men and men in general,” he noted.

That “demoralization,” he explained, starts in school where boys’ “play preferences are verboten.” Generally speaking, Peterson said “boys, on average, are more active than girls and less agreeable, so you could say there is more of a discipline problem compared to what you are trying to discipline them to do.”

As a result, males are “discriminated against as boys in the education system, and then, as young men, they are taught that all of their ambition, their competitiveness… is nothing but a manifestation of the forces that have oppressed women for millennia and also are contributing to the industrial desecration of the planet, that marriage is a patriarchal, oppressive institution, and that propagating the human race in general as a responsible man is the worst thing you can do for the future,” he added.

This is not something that can be changed with a few new social programs. “I don’t really see that a few scattered, half-wit DEI programs aimed at rectifying the consequences of this idiot propagandizing are going after these bit of difference,” he continued. “They are certainly not going to get more men in the teaching system. That ship sailed long ago.”

As the Democrats try to right their wrongs with men, Peterson said they are on track to find themselves with an even larger problem. “The Democrats know perfectly well that they lost the male vote, and certainly the young male vote,” he concluded. “Young men are more conservative than any generation… in living memory… and that is going to happen with young women eventually too.”

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Peterson by tuning in to episode 1,035 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.