LIBBY EMMONS: Is anyone listening to American young men?

Was Charlie Kirk the last person in America who would speak up for young men, give them courage, tell them to stand tall with their shoulders back? It's no secret that America needs her young men to take on challenges, come up with new, visionary ideas, work hard, do hard jobs, father children, and be leaders.

But our culture, across the board in entertainment, politics, art, family, tech, sports, and even gaming has been running them down and snuffing out their light. Our culture calls our young men toxic, but the only toxicity is in telling our sons they are not worthwhile because of their sex.

We’re now in the gruesome age where mothers lament when they have sons. Young men are vilified for not having jobs, for having the wrong kind of jobs, for making too much money or not making enough, for dating a lot, not dating at all, trying to look good, not trying hard enough, taking care of their own kids, not being home enough, working too much—pick a thing and young men are told they’re doing it wrong. They're not. They're doing what they are supposed to do and while they're not looking for praise, they're not looking to be diminished and talked down to either.

The fight over sexual equality, gender parity, feminism, and all the rest of it has left men out in the cold. When the push for parity began, I think women wanted a seat at the table next to men, I don’t think they imagined kicking men out entirely. Looking out at the world as the mother of a son it’s clear the opportunities seem far less than they did when I was a young woman looking out at the world with my own options.

I knew from an early age that there was no door closed to me except the ones I didn’t open—and for sure there were plenty I did not. I never walked through the door to NASA, or to being a ballerina, I never became a CEO or wandered into the world of tech. Even so, I have done exactly what I wanted, pursued what I wanted to pursue. Not to say it all turned out exactly as I wanted, but I gave it all a try and there was no monolith of men standing in my way. This was an effort not just by women but by men, an effort by my own father who instilled in me values of hard work and drive.

Young men are told what to think, who to vote for, how to act, mostly how not to act, and from my vantage point, with a son who will cast his first vote in the presidential election in 2028, the messages they are getting are not landing and are not at all useful. They don't want handouts, they don't want AI everything (it's a tool, they know that, just like a hammer), they don't want to live in their moms' basements. What do they want? Well, someone should listen and find out.

Speaking on Jesse Watters after the GOP’s midterm defeat, Tim Pool was asked “How do Republicans win back young men?”

Pool responded, “I’m not sure they do. And it’s worse than people realize.” He said that the young men who turned out for Trump in 2024, many of whom did so under the inspiration of Charlie Kirk, voted Democrat because they wanted to “burn the Republican Party down.”

Young men between the ages of 18 and 29 who have not been to college voted for Democrats, and it’s likely, Pool said, that this was not because the Dems are promising something better but because bringing Dems into power is the fastest way to just destroy everything.

“Politics is not this world where every 2 to 4 years we try to switch this guy from Democrat to Republican. The young generation built these views over the past decade, when they were 10 years, when they were 14, 15, 16. A first-time voter was 12 during Covid. They did not have a formed political view," he said.

“As these young voters enter for the first time into politics they are bringing views into the fray that we have not seen before and their views aren’t changing with the argument, their views already exist.” They came out for Trump in 2024 over immigration, jobs, the promise to start no new wars and to end the ones underway. What they've seen since the start of the Iran war is the betrayal of that.

Is anyone out there voicing those views? Is anyone out there listening to these men? I think the answer is probably, sadly, not really. And when no one is listening, people start burning.

This originally appeared in Libby Emmons' daily newsletter, subscribe here.