Op-Ed: Tomi Lahren Is The Female Embodiment Of Toxic Masculinity

Well folks, I’m not going to sugarcoat this past week for you. Donald Trump took his penchant for misogyny and toxic masculinity to epic proportions, and he did it with an unsurprising amount of grammatical errors.

No, I’m not talking about that time when germy Don bragged about sneaking backstage to gawk at semi-naked teenage beauty contestants. I’m referring to our delusional president waxing poetic about feeling “fantastically” and for “having really a protective glow” that apparently accounts for his God-like immunity to COVID-19. You remember COVID-19, the deadly virus that our prez recently contracted and may still have? Now, DT is ready to “kiss everyone,” including all the “guys and the beautiful women.” And I’m sitting over here with a barf bag ready to put to good use.

Luckily, there are some conservatives out there spouting talking points with far more intelligence and respect than Trump possesses in all of his teeny tiny fingers. Take this quote for instance:

“Gay and transgender employees should be protected from workplace discrimination, and I truly don’t understand why anyone — conservative, liberal, or otherwise — would argue any differently.”

Understandably, I felt a bit shocked and even impressed when I read this statement. It’s one of the first times I’ve personally seen a right-wing public figure speak with this kind of bold reverence for LGBTQIA rights.

But then I found out who actually said these words, and I got my barf bag out again.

Tomi Lahren, considered by me to be our generation’s female Tucker Carlson, is one of those political commentators who leaves many scratching their heads in infuriating confusion. She’s a hot mess of contradictions wrapped up in the exact kind of aesthetic Fox News lives for — super blonde, super white, super young, and super paranoid about someone taking her guns away.

Lahren has publicly bashed Obamacare while directly benefiting from it by being on her parents’ insurance. She’s torn down funding for Planned Parenthood while being vocally pro-choice and happily purchasing birth control through her parents’ insurance plan. And while she has gone on record to support workplace equality for Americans, regardless of their sexual or gender identity, she also just tweeted to Joe Biden that he “might as well wear a purse with that mask” in response to the presidential candidate’s dedication to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Remember, it’s that pesky global virus that our current president contracted by not wearing a fucking mask?

According to this blonde heap of laughable contradictions, it’s apparently okay to turn mask-wearing into A) a gender-based issue, and B) liken the act of wearing one to being weak. So in essence, Lahren — who is literally a cisgender woman — has decided that it is weak to take action to prevent the spread of the coronavirus — and worse, that being weak is a sign of being a woman. This assumption on her part is not only idiotic, it also reeks of gender discrimination. And this is why we cannot believe any of the words that reactively spill out of her mouth.

Could you imagine if a male doctor walked into a patient’s open heart surgery refusing to wear a mask or wash his hands because it was a “girly” thing to do? Or if a man working in a bio lab with hazardous substances ripped off his protective gear so he didn’t seem weak? How about a firefighter forgoing his suit because battling the blaze without protection was the ultimate act of dude-like courage?

You can’t. Because this would not only be unacceptable behavior, but taking the necessary and scientifically sound precautions during a time when they are required is not a gender-based issue.

I cannot believe I have to explain this next part, but it seems that Tomi Lahren is living in a self-made bubble of embarrassing hypocrisy that needed to get popped yesterday. Supporting gender equality isn’t an all-you-can-eat buffet. You don’t get to pick and choose what aspects of it you support. It sure is swell that Lahren shocked us all when she said “gay and transgender employees should be protected from workplace discrimination,” but it holds zero weight when she also discriminates against Joe Biden’s gender on the basis of wearing a mask while on the job.

I’m also wondering why Lahren hasn’t piped up about Donald Trump doing a $70,000 tax write-off for hairstyling expenses and wearing so many layers of bronzer on his face that there’s a visible line of it across his forehead. It seems to me if she’s going to embark on being the ultimate female poster child for gender discrimination and toxic masculinity, it should at least be done in a bipartisan way (insert sarcastic grin here). But I know that Lahren will never be bold enough to do this, because that would make her reliably consistent. And if we’ve learned anything from the political commentator, it’s that her views will blow wherever the Fox News ratings winds take her.

I couldn’t resist adding one more Tomi Lahren gem into the mix. In case you missed it, I will point out that she said this back in 2017 and is still an avid Trump supporter even after he took an antibody treatment made from the stem cells of aborted babies to fight off his COVID-19 diagnosis.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if Planned Parenthood weren’t allowed to wheel and deal fetal tissue from abortions it performs?”

Yep, these are her words. And yep, she is the worst.

But seriously, folks. I feel like this year is just a pathetic highlight reel of all the right-wing adults who never grew out of being middle school bullies. And why would we ever listen to middle school bullies as if they were the voice of reason? Do not — and I repeat, do not — listen to Tomi fucking Lahren, and certainly don’t listen to Donald fucking Trump. Reject the baseless narrative that wearing a mask is anything other than the right thing to do. And for the love of public health, please vote for the only presidential candidate who has successfully avoided getting corona-ed.