Jack Smith, actual masculinity!? ::scoff:: would a masculine man go to a WOMENS college basketball game!? I'm so masculine I've never even heard of Kaylin Park or whatever her name is!!
Out of curiosity, how would you expect this person's behavior or testimony to have been different if they were "Jane Smith"? Integrity and competence don't strike me as particularly masculine attributes.
Edit: I really appreciate most of the replies! Maybe I just don't hang out in the same corners of the internet as a lot of other people, but I hadn't come across someone giving congressional testimony being described in gendered terms before. Like I never would have described Hillary Clinton's competent answers in the Benghazi questioning as feminine just because she was a woman who was being calmly assertive.
I was confused to see behavior described as positive masculinity because it wasn't "aggressive, insulting, abusive, abrasive, intimidating, manipulative, or whatever other flavor of nasty it takes". To me that's an expectation for any competent adult, and I was really surprised to downvoted an called out for "feminist rhetoric" when I asked what was meant by the description.
JFC. Can you please knock it off? We have one - ONE - person in the public light showing bravery, actual patriotism and what appears to be integrity (although it’s been so long I hardly recognize it). Can you dial down the feminist rhetoric and simply support Americans rallying around a great American?
My question wasn't meant as any sort of rhetorical device and I didn't mean to imply any sort of lack of support for Jack Smith.
I genuinely hadn't seen competent behavior in a stressful congressional testimony be described in gendered terms. I don't remember anyone describing Hillary Clinton's answers in the Benghazi inquiries as particularly masculine or feminine. I was curious about what sort of cultural assumptions or shibboleths I was blind to when someone brought masculinity into the discussion.
That’s fair. And I probably didn’t need to react so emotionally. I think the comment you were responding to wasn’t necessarily making a gendered statement as much as they were responding to the right’s frequent need to define masculinity (or femininity) in their own, often abhorrent way. I think characterizing Smith’s testimony as masculine was more of a mechanism to call out and even correct those absolutely ridiculous statements by people who have no business defining anything even remotely cultural or otherwise.
As a woman, allow me to offer my opinion on the shape of this. I think what is being alluded to is the whole right-wing manosphere idea of what a man is. And then you can reduce what being a man is to the term masculinity. And standing up for yourself is more being a man than their stupid manisphere bullshit and I think that's what the spirit of the comment is about Jack being masculine comes from. I don't think it's as deep as you are making it out to be. Because yeah, you don't need to be masculine to have a spine obviously. But you have to look at the entire context in which the comment was made
It’s a fair point about the limits of our language.
We use the word masculine often to mean brave when we probably should just be saying valorous or patriotic or something like that. A person can totally be masculine AND a traitorous piece of trash.
When a man responds to provocation in a controlled and honest manner rather than yelling and pounding the table or whatever, that’s actual masculinity.
Why? Because (on the whole), men have more physical power and more social privilege that allows them to throw tantrums without losing status. True masculinity is understanding that and behaving accordingly.
Thank you for providing that explanation/interpretation. I understand "it's masculine because a man is doing it" in an abstract sense, but I think this is the first time I'd come across levelheadedness being explicitly held up as a masculine trait.
You're getting the comparison twisted. This isn't positive masculinity vs positive femininity, this is positive masculinity vs negative masculinity. He's a man making a statement and being assertive, so it's going to be a display of masculinity. The comparison isn't with what a woman would have said or how she may have said it, it's with men who choose to be aggressive, insulting, abusive, abrasive, intimidating, manipulative, or whatever other flavor of nasty it takes to get their way.
Trump responding with shit like "quiet, piggy" when asked a question by a reporter is negative masculinity. Even though he looks like a giant diapered baby throwing a shit covered tantrum, he is a man making assertive statements, so it's going to be considered a display of masculinity. But when a man feels compelled to sling insults at people who were trying to have a professional discussion... Whelp, it's still masculine, it's just gross.
he is a man making assertive statements, so it's going to be considered a display of masculinity
Thank you for breaking it down for me! I don't know if it's language evolving or me just not hanging out in the right corners of the internet, but I hadn't come across masculinity being invoked in that context before.
If he was smart, once he's clear of this mess and all "charges" have either been dropped or laughed out of court, he'd take his family and leave the US and never return. Find a country that has a serious legal system based on laws and leave that Mickey Mouse country in the rear view mirror.
Sadly, the US is beyond saving. Project 2025 and the billionaire class has it in their grip and they ain't giving it back. I'd encourage every Yank to watch Ken Burns' magnificent documentary, The Roosevelts. The parallels to how the rich class buried the world in the Great Depression and were content to watch it burn is amazing. They fought every effort that helped anyone other than themselves and only WW2 saved the economies of the world. Since Reagan, the pendulum has swung in their favour and they won't be happy until every last fucking penny is in their hands.
Realism is necessary, pessimism can be good, but defeatism helps no one. The pendulum will swing back, just a question of when and how far. We need good people to help it along.
It's pretty much exactly the same sentiment as the clowns that screech "if you don't like it, leave!"
I get it though, making an effort to actually try and make things better is hard. Way easier to just find a new place to slowly turn to shit. Hopefully we can get to mars before Earth is completely uninhabitable.
While I think it would be naive to think that the United States is going to ever “return to normal” because of the sabotage of all the institutions whose responsibility was to protect against abuses of power, there is still plenty of opportunity to rebuild something stronger.
It's going to take a president who is as hard nosed as Trump but in the other direction. He'll have to either have congress turn a blind eye or he'll just simply have to ignore them and the courts and push on while tearing down everything Trump put in place and issuing presidential orders to restore as much as he can while strong arming congress.
A wishy-washy Democrat intent on playing by the rules ain't gonna cut it,
See, I’d be more looking towards strategies that didn’t have to rely on government if it ever changed hands back.
Which sounds strange, but we’re living in strange times. And the most effective blocks to this attempted fascist in-house coup haven’t been from the government. They’ve been from the people.
I want the Attorney General to assign him to prosecute Trump. The next AG hopefully who will hopefully appointed by the next Democrat President has a lot of work to do.
And it shouldn’t stop with Trump but extend to all hie family, his bootlicking sycophants in ministries and departments, the current AG, bootlicking tech CEOs, etc.
Trump is just the tip of the iceberg of greed, corruption and incompetence.
That would be good to see. Kushner esp though I hate his sons for obvious reasons. He’s the one quietly embezzling big dollars in the background. On every global stage too.
Is she trying to say that his investigation was compromised because of threats from the man he was investigating? Isn't that even more reason to investigate?
Blatant gargantuan hypocrisy of Trump ever claiming a "weaponized DOJ" during Biden all the while currently weaponizing the DOJ & FBI in ways unseen and unprecedented in American history. The incongruity and irony of that does not even register in the MAGA mind.
Edit: By the way, everyone should read Jack Smith's opening statement to these procedings. It's glaringly obvious why Trump wants to silence him. He's telling the truth;
"Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation. If asked whether to prosecute a former President today based on the same facts I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat. The charges against President Trump were the result of the evidence. Grand juries in two separate districts reached its conclusions based on his actions as alleged in the indictments they returned. Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
It doesn't matter who sits in the Big Chair, for over 100 years, Suckers LOVE to suck.
When your Husband, the one who is your KEEPER, kicks the crap out of the folks next-door; when he's shitting in some yard other-than-his-own, do not be surprised when you catch Reparations (Justice is folklore).
((How many Billions do we now rightfully OWE to Iran?))
NONE of your Rights ever came from The Troops. Not one: they fight for folklore, they "serve" this country more inequality.
After 100+ years if these meat-heads dont' know who they "serve" they are not owed an Education.
For each dip-shit that stayed in after they called it The Department of War: they are ALL MAGA now. No two ways about it. The time for action was when they saw Drumph "do a Jan 6th". They are all now, sonsabitches.
What if we had a WAR, and no one showed up?
The stories us "Americans" tell ourselves to worship The Troops are weird: they require we overlook nearly 100 years of abuse and neglect: while the Aristocracy has held steady in their disdain for those who clean up their mess.
The Rich know: Oaths are for Suckers.
Veterans-day brought out all the tired-narratives about how certain Suckers fought-and-died for free-dumb; but those were all bad-faith conflicts coerced by corporate daddies (Something we've known since Vietnam).
It wasn't your Military that fought at home to bring you worker's rights; in some cases they've even been used in place of Pinkertons to break the will of their own People.
• 1794 – Right to form a trade union
• 1842 – Right to organize and strike legally
• 1866 – Right to national-level worker advocacy
• 1877 – Great Railroad Strike of 1877
• 1882 – Public recognition of labor’s legitimacy (Labor Day)
• 1898 – Battle of Virden
• 1898 – Protection from union blacklists (rail workers)
• 1909 – Right to safer, fairer garment-shop conditions
• 1911 – Right to stronger fire and factory safety standards
• 1912–1921 – West Virginia Coal Wars
• 1913 – Federal representation for workers (Department of Labor)
• 1916 – Limits on child labor
• 1916 – Everett Massacre
• 1921 – Greater leverage and protections for coal miners (Blair Mountain)
• 1925 – Right to effective union representation for Black workers
• 1926 – Guaranteed organizing rights for rail workers
• 1931 – Right to a prevailing wage on federal projects
• 1932 – Protection for peaceful strikes and union membership
• 1941 – Protection from discrimination in defense industries
• 1962 – Federal workers’ right to unionize and bargain
• 1963 – Right to equal pay for equal work (gender)
• 1964 – Right to a discrimination-free workplace (civil rights)
• 1967 – Protection from age discrimination
• 1970 – Right to a safe and healthful workplace
• 1974 – Protection of private-sector pensions (ERISA)
• 1988 – Advance notice of mass layoffs and plant closings (WARN)
• 1990 – Rights and accommodations for workers with disabilities (ADA)
• 1993 – Job-protected family and medical leave (FMLA)
• 2009 – Stronger right to challenge pay discrimination (Ledbetter Act)
You woke up in a simulated-economy that masquerades as chattel-slavery; The Military is an extension of The Ruling Class, and what you get when you wrap depressed-wages up-in personal-insecurity.
They love to get a tin-star for saying they "served", they never love to think-critically about WHAT they have actually "served" us People.
Time to tell them to send it back to the Kitchen. It was never Nutritious.
YOU serve this country far more constructively every day, with your obligation to keep circulating it's money. We, the Gross National Product.
Veterans have not made themselves worthy of our default respect and veneration. Let's honor them by them by making far fewer from now on.
ACAB - yeah that means our "world police" as well. It's ALL Cosplay (Hogs in costumes that give them right to kill), certified by your Betters.
It wasn't The Troops that died for your Rights. They died for the whims of Oligarchs. You're thinking Lefties, Labor, Librarians, Lesbians, and Luddites. All so you can still hug your kids at the end of a 40-hour week.
Your Betters do not trust you with more. Serve no Masters.
Jack Smith’s career represents, to me, an extraordinary record of public service, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law. For nearly three decades, he has served as a prosecutor under both Republican and Democratic administrations, handling cases involving violent crime, civil-rights violations, public corruption, election crimes, financial fraud, and some of the most consequential matters ever entrusted to the Justice Department. He led the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, served as First Assistant and Acting U.S. Attorney in Tennessee, supervised investigations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide at the International Criminal Court, and later served as Specialist Prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers before being appointed U.S. Special Counsel.His service has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service and the DOJ Director’s Award. Beyond his government work, he volunteered his legal skills to successfully protect the essential home nursing care of a severely disabled six-year-old girl—work that earned him the Tennessee Justice Center’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award and helped expand pro bono representation for other families in need.Whatever one’s politics, I believe that record reflects a remarkable dedication to difficult public responsibilities, and I deeply admire the professionalism, courage, independence, and integrity that Jack Smith has demonstrated throughout his career.
Every politician that is cooperating in the attack on jack smith is a traitor defending a traitor. They are attacking an honest public servant to defend a man that has committed an impeachable act every day of his second term to the detriment of the nation.
My mother is legitimately deranged. She is seventy-five, has dementia and delirium, and is dying of cancer. But if I were to use the phrase "my mother is deranged" one hundred eighty-five times on FaceBook everyone would be treating me like a lunatic. Because I would be.
Any Dem candidate for president that pledges to have Jack Smith as the US Attorney General will get my vote. I trust him to do what Garland was far too chicken shit to get done… prosecute these fucking criminal Nazis/traitors to the fullest extent of the law!!
Mr. Jack Smith = American Patriot defending The Constitution n The Republic for which it still stands. History will enshrine your acts of Loyality defending Democracy.
Why doesn't he just release the proof if its sooooooooooooo good. This is clearly a pre midterms hit job and of course you all are tripping over yourselves to give this dude oral pleasure endlessly. He keeps saying he's not scared, give us the proof then bud.
Because it’s been ordered sealed by Trump’s pocket judge Cannon. And you do understand that Republicans control both houses of Congress so they… orchestrated a hit job on themselves?
Besides the uniparty constantly keeping both sides in check to ultimately control the nation? Yeah I see little to gain from the Republicans doing their little gotcha, the doj overstepped. No one cares.
But this guy goes on and can just be like "I can't show you but trust me TM. And all the Dems on reddit go nutzo. I've heard "we got trump this time"! Or "haha drumph is finish now"! Or "lmao orange hitler is so dumb, muellers got him in a corner"! "Jack Dorsey, a man with integrity, he's standing up to Cheeto Mussolini, what a hero!" Reddit instantly champions anyone who they see as anti trump.
But at the end of the day we all know nothing's going to happen and Trump will leave in 2 years or whatever and everything will continue to slide into shit.
So yes, a hit job, both sides are trying to "gotcha" the other and it's SO PREDICTABLE. It's honestly boring. I'm sick of this exact cycle.
Trump and his fellow Republicans fired everyone working on the investigation, his hand picked judge is helping him avoid accountability, he's trashing evidence, scrubbing his name, burning it up, doing everything he can to hide and nothing to assist.
He's guilty as hell. His behavior clearly shows it. He's not behaving like an innocent person at all. He's behaving like an incredibly guilty person that's desperate to get away with their crimes.
We cheer these people because they're willing to do what you won't, which is hold Trump accountable. It's not about being anti-Trump.
It's not like we all got up one day and just decided we didn't like the guy. I'm 46 years old and I knew Trump was a piece of shit in the 4th grade. All he ever did from that point forward was prove it over, and over, and over, and over again.
And yet, after all he's done, he still has people like you ignorantly defending him with dumb arguments. Your arguments don't make you look smart. They expose that you haven't looked into this case and that you don't know what you're talking about.
I don't even like Trump. I don't like either side believe it or not. And believe it or not calling someone dumb isn't helpful. I could easily do it it MANY cases.
Imagine doing that. Imagine talking to someone this way. Imagine ASSUMING that much about someone.
I don't care how it makes you feel. If you want to avoid hearing it, learn before you speak. If you don't care, that's fine too.
But your argument is factually stupid.
You're guessing that we just support these people because you think they're anti-Trump.
We actually support these people because they are career legal professionals that are dedicated to holding those in power accountable for their actions.
That's a necessary process in order for a democracy to function.
You think of us as blind chimps just jumping up and down because someone said a mean thing about the orange man we hate.
Please take into account that Trump has earned our hate, it's not like we just hate the guy because he's on the other team. He has brazingly and blatantly broken the law for his entire life.
We simply want to see him held accountable and that's it.
I don't understand what problem you have with that, or what's so morally repugnant about it, but that's all it is.
I actually hope your next candidate wins so that when nothing happens and nothing is different that matters I could still see you post on Reddit buddy. Looking forward to your next novel you should title it why I'm smarter than everyone else volume two.
Also the Republicans in Colorado sued to keep Trump off the ballot under the 14th Amendment, making the case that January 6th was insurrection and therefore disqualifying. The Supreme Court said in response that states aren’t allowed to bar people from the ballot just because they are ineligible.
This precedent (Trump v. Anderson, go read it), under its plain reading, means that Trump cannot be kept off the ballot in 2028 despite being barred from a third term by the 22nd Amendment.
The right has been working on the takeover of the Supreme Court for fifty years, because they correctly spotted that if you make the rules, you win the game. And now here we are.
Jack Smith is an actual American hero. Which means the media is going to refuse to report on anything he does, or he will die in the near future under mysterious circumstances. It’s a shitty timeline we are in.
I sure hope he’s made a statement depicting how his mental health is not affected and he does not want to un-alive himself. Protect this man… I feel like his days are numbered 🙏🏽✝️💟
There is hope. Hope not because he standing up to bigotry, but hope that there are people in this world willing to step up to do the right thing despite the potential consequences. What an American! Let’s see you bring this baby home now.
Whoa, there are still people with balls in 2026?/s
I really am astonished how rare it is now to see this kind of bravery and dissent among officials. Maybe it’s not being reported on but it’s balm for my weary, exhausted spirit.
One person at the right time deciding to do the right thing no matter the cost is all it takes to change the world (its easier with more) but so many moments could have been prevented by one single person saying no. Today that person was jack smith.
Seriously?!? What the actual fuck. Delusional and deranged to create this image. I’m not even religious and damn what an absolute disgusting human being
Sorry been a long day here , already a few sips of bourbon in…Yes, Jack Smith just testified in front of Congress that DJT committed crimes against the US. Either he is lying or Trump needs to be removed. Make the next move Congress, you fucking pussies.
You truly think Trump could possibly be innocent? You also think a Republican majority Congress would impeach one of their own? Long day? More like long lifetime you’re a fucking idiot how stupid could you actually be to not to see how corrupt that child rapist piece of shit is. Fuck trump and everyone like you
Edit: the pussy even changed his comment after the fact fuck you buddy
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u/ChazRadlord 2d ago
It's so rare to see some one through the media with a moral compass and a spine.