A 20-year-old individual with mental health issues narrowly missed assassinating former President Donald Trump, with the bullet missing him by just an inch. While the media highlights the apparent security lapses, the deeper concern lies in the alarming pattern of another troubled, angry young person resorting to gun violence.
Minutes after the incident, both sides of the political spectrum devolved into outlandish conspiracy theories, blaming each other for inciting political extremism with their rhetoric. However, the incident reflects a broader issue: a troubled young man who could have directed his violence at any other prominent person or innocent people in a school or shopping mall.
Young men responsible for mass shootings
Nearly all mass shootings in the United States have been committed by young men. A 2019 report titled “Mass Murder with Firearms: Incidents and Victims, 1999-2013” provides detailed demographic breakdowns, showing that most mass shooters are male and often in their 20s and 30s.
For most people outside the United States, the gun culture and the ease with which deeply disturbed human beings can get access to highly dangerous weapons is incomprehensible.
The man who fired at Trump, Thomas Mathew Crooks, fits the profile of most other shooters such as social isolation, mental health challenges, and access to a firearm. His political views seem ambiguous. We will never know his motives after he was killed by a secret service agent sniper.
Regression into macho-culture
A breakdown of recent European elections and the MAGA culture in the United States reveals that a large swathe of young men are regressing into an unhealthy demagogic macho culture headed by male figureheads, tapping into their grievances, anger, and lack of self-esteem.
Recent studies and statistics show us that young women in their early twenties are crushing it on nearly all levels from education to job performance while men in the same age group are falling behind with a devastating impact on their mental health.
According to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in 2020, about 59 percent of all undergraduate students were women, while 41 percent were men. In the 2019-2020 academic year women earned 60 percent of all Masters degrees and 54 percent of all doctoral degrees.
Higher education levels mean higher earnings with women in their early twenties increasingly entering high-paying fields in traditionally male-dominated industries like tech and engineering.
Young men in their early twenties typically report higher rates of substance abuse across various categories. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2020, some 53.4 percent of young men aged 18-25 reported binge drinking in the past month, compared to 40.3 percent of women in the same age group.
Young men typically far outnumber women when it comes to violent crime and the number of prison inmates. While over 1.1 million men serve time in prison in the United States the number of women is only 80,000.
A poll by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School revealed striking differences between how young Democrats, Republicans, and independents view the role of men and women in society. Young men are increasingly turning away from the Democrats and adopting more conservative Republican ideology.
In a culture where young men have the feeling they are losing out, macho male political extremists are telling them that the system is rigged against them, that immigrants and minorities are responsible for their misery, and that science is a hoax.
Overly rigid “woke” and “cancel culture” sidelines individuals for perceived transgressions contributing to societal divisiveness.
We have seen a dangerous precedent where fascist movements in Germany, Spain, and Italy during the early 1930s were led by charismatic leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. Fascist movements are male-dominated macho cults, emphasizing traditional gender roles. Project 2025, a plan crafted by the Heritage Foundation and various conservative groups emphasizes the role of men as providers and protectors while advocating for women primarily as caretakers and nurturers within the traditional nuclear family context.
Young men turning to the right, women to the left
A strong gender gap in political affiliation can also be detected in countries such as Germany where young men are increasingly turning to more conservative views while women in the same age group tend to vote for progressive parties. Based on recent data, it can be estimated that around 30-35 percent of young men in their early twenties in France support right-wing parties, particularly the National Rally and similar far-right parties.
In the recent European elections, the upsurge in support for right-wing parties was fueled by young voters, especially young men, embracing hardline anti-immigration views. According to pollsters political allegiances forged in young adulthood tend to last for a lifetime with the trend toward radicalism unlikely to ebb anytime soon.
While political parties on the extreme fringes are propagating the message to young men that external circumstances are responsible, the real issue of their pain is not addressed. A multi-faced approach is needed:
- We urgently need to promote healthy, non-toxic models of masculinity that allow for emotional expression and vulnerability.
- Peer support groups and mentoring programs can assist young men in sharing their experiences
- Community-based programs that offer team sports, skill-building workshops, and social support can help reduce social isolation.
We cannot allow demagogues and political cults to poison the minds of young men with a false sense of meaning and purpose with a regression into a macho-culture, glorifying gun culture and confusing self-empowerment with the use of force.
Reino Gevers – Author – Mentor – Speaker
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