Liz Cheney, Masculinity, and January 6

Liz Cheney has balls.

She told Republicans to man up.

First, a big apology to women. The notion that moral and physical courage would be associated with masculinity--testicles--is false and unfair. It is also commonplace casual, sloppy, misogynist thinking, and I perpetuate it with my headline. I do so because the idea is out there as cultural shorthand: Having "balls" mean acting with strength and integrity. 

Liz Cheney takes aim at the very idea that men have moral courage and integrity, i.e. balls. She calls men out. It's the women who have balls. She notes that the senior men at the White House are--to use the term Trump used against Pence-- the "pussies" in this story. This happened last night at the January 6 hearing.Liz Cheney is a general in the war to understand the final days of the Trump presidency. She is a Republican leading her troops from the front. Her army is tiny, but she is there, a prosecutor of Trump's crimes against the nation. The January 6 hearings last night took an unexpected turn. It addressed straight-on the notion of Republican balls.

Republican thought leaders have been talking about lost masculinity in the country. Josh Hawley said America should restore "traditional masculine virtues." He said that men are wimps, hiding in their basements, watching pornography and playing video games. Ted Cruz, now bearded, says something similar. American liberal males "never grow balls," he said. Our military is "woke" and "emasculated." Tucker Carlson joins in, mocking weak, woke masculinity. Trump whipped off his mask on the White House balcony. Masks are for 'fraidy-cats and weaklings. Real Americans are fearless in the face of COVID. He called on the January 6 crowd to "be strong." Pence, he said, didn't lack understanding of his constitutional power; he lacked courage.

Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria laid the groundwork for Liz Cheney. Luria presented pictures of House members and senators leaving their chambers in the face of the Capitol riot, including these of Josh Hawley. She first him showed him exhorting the crowd. Mr. Macho.

Then she showed new video images of him running across a hallway and scurrying down an escalator to escape the crowd he had helped rile up. Mr. Phony.

Then, Liz Cheney concluded the hearing by praising the witnesses. They came forward at personal risk, she said. These included the election workers in Georgia and the White House staffers. They are women. Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson knew that people would lean on her to keep quiet and that she would be personally attacked by Trump and his allies. She testified anyway, not like the "50-, 60-, and 70-year-old men who hide behind executive privilege.” Hide behind. She made the gendering of courage explicit: those women are “an inspiration to American women and to American girls.” American girls.

Liz Cheney is showing leadership in two arenas, both political and in the realm of female identity. She is doing it with body language. She is there, up front, head up, erect, direct. She is a woman challenging a dishonest and dangerous man in the political realm. This isn't a #MeToo after-the-fact complainer of past offenses. She is confronting wrongdoing in real time, demanding honesty and justice now. She is an old-school, second-wave Helen Reddy feminist, showing women how to be women, setting an example for American girls. Fifty years ago Helen Reddy sang: 

Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman.

The GOP may not be ready for Liz Cheney in 2024. I expect her to be in the political wilderness for a time, but history will be kind to her. She may reshape the GOP by exposing Trump and turning it away from authoritarian populism. She is also exposing the faux masculinity posturing of Trump's would-be successors. Balls aren't demonstrated by cooking bacon with a hot machine gun barrel, the way Cruz did, and then by being a sycophant to authoritarianism, again as Cruz is doing. It is by standing up for principles. She is an example and symbol for feminism. Feminism is bipartisan. It is also direct, empowered, strong, and invincible.

Cheney has balls.