After Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) defeated Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate last month, it wasn’t surprising that Republicans launched a barrage of attacks against Democratic nominee James Talarico.

What was surprising, though, and troubling, is that they attacked not Talarico’s record or past rhetoric, but his masculinity.

Paxton got things rolling on election night, calling him “Tofu Talarico,” “James Tala-freako,” and “low-T Talarico.” Trump aide Stephen Miller piled on, suggesting that Talarico was transgender.

Others insinuated that he was secretly gay and that his girlfriend was fictional. (This is a bold strategy, because if politicians start getting disqualified for having imaginary girlfriends, a couple of Republican senators might be in trouble.)

Next, Fox News co-host Jesse Watters weighed in with questions he wanted local reporters to ask Talarico. Among them: Do you own a gun? Are you a Dallas Cowboys fan? Do you know the Spurs are playing tonight? Do you own a truck? Do you believe in premarital sex? Do you wear women’s underwear?

There is no evidence that Talarico is gay, transgender or vegan, but why are the Republicans taking things in this direction?

The obvious explanation is that Paxton’s nomination has created certain challenges for Republicans. When your nominee is so scandal-plagued that the Republican-dominated Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach him, the campaign becomes less about making voters respect him and more about casting savage and unfounded aspersions on the opponent.

The strategy is simple: If you can’t make your candidate look better, ugly up the other guy. And how do you dirty up a squeaky clean seminarian who appears to be something of a Boy Scout?

American politics increasingly operates on the principle that voters can forgive almost anything except being culturally unacceptable. Corruption? Maybe. Ethical lapses? Possibly. Being the kind of guy who orders tofu? Now you’ve gone too far.

This is especially potent when you consider that your average Texas voter is probably dying for an excuse to justify voting for Paxton.

Ironically, some of the very qualities that make Talarico a ripe target today — the way he talks about his faith, his youthful and wholesome vibe, his advocacy of servant leadership — were once traits that many conservatives would have regarded as virtues.

Then again, masculinity once meant things like humility, fidelity, responsibility, sacrifice, and service. Somewhere along the line, we seem to have replaced those attributes with a model more suited to professional wrestling.

Today’s masculine ideal involves dominating opponents, never apologizing, constantly boasting, and treating every disagreement as if it were a cage match (possibly taking place at the White House for America’s 250th birthday).

Miller, President Trump’s adviser, recently summarized this worldview by explaining that the “iron laws” of the world are governed by strength, force, and power.

This is certainly one theory. Another theory is that what Miller has described is the law of the jungle, and that man should rise above his natural, carnal state — that civilization was built largely by men doing unglamorous things such as raising children and loving their mothers, showing up for work on time and resisting their primal urges as best they could.

To his credit, Talarico has responded by championing this more civilized — more Christian — worldview. He tells a story about how his dad would mow the family’s lawn and then quietly mow their elderly neighbor’s lawn too, without seeking attention or praise.

“Nowadays our culture tells young men that greatness is tearing other people down, trolling and owning and dominating, but my dad showed me what real greatness looks like,” he said.

Talarico argues that real manliness comes from service rather than domination, and predicts this campaign will become a referendum on selfishness versus service.

Sadly, he might want to be careful what he wishes for.

Sure, we admire the old fashioned masculine virtues like sacrifice and heroism in theory. But in practice, we increasingly find ourselves attracted to politicians who err towards selfishness.

This isn’t a uniquely Republican phenomenon. Decades ago, I was baffled that voters twice chose Bill Clinton over heroic and decent men like George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole. Every generation discovers, to its horror, that voters are not necessarily looking for a saint. Sometimes, they’re looking for a fighter. Sometimes, they’re looking for lower gas prices or a higher stock market.

Sometimes they’re looking for a candidate who owns a truck and eats barbecue.

In Talarico’s case, the sad thing isn’t merely that Republicans have decided to question whether these cultural signifiers say he’s a real man. The sad thing is that it just might work.

After all, we are a nation that elected Trump twice, and where what passes for political debate can now include the phrase “Tofu Talarico.” That should probably concern all of us, regardless of our testosterone levels.

Matt K. Lewis is a columnist, podcaster and author of the books “Too Dumb to Fail” and “Filthy Rich Politicians.”

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