Trump’s new government is kinda gay?

New homonationalism and homoeroticism in fascism…

Hi, I'm George Westcott. On January 12th, Durk Dehner, co-founder of Tom of Finland (one of the largest gay erotic magazines) was removed as a judge on International Mr Leather (a leather conference and competition) after an influencer on Instagram revealed that he was well-known for wearing nazi regalia. The conference made a public post on Facebook sharing the news that he would not be welcomed as a judge and reinstating that "nazis were not welcome". This has been an open secret around the international gay leather community. I wanted to share this bit of news, hopefully, to frame something later on.

See, I have wanted to write about the subject of US politics for a long time. I am not American but it has remained a hyperfixation of mine for an incredibly long time. American politics is one of those things that affect the entire world in some way and dictate the way that the rest of the world acts. The all-consuming beast of hyperfixations.

Now, Trump is currently in office and a lot of things are going on. Imminent threats of mass deportations, musk did a nazi salute, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America". Overall, the US is going to shit. Instead, what I want to write about is how the now publicly fascist government is strangely queer, strangely homoerotic. Now, what do I mean by this?

The Republican Party, at least in the US, has been hailed as the party of traditional manhood. This goes double on the back of a traditional gender roles campaign in retaliation against the small advances of trans rights. Overall, "the Republican Party is the party for the man's man" or at least they claim. This is especially what happens when you look at their support base, Trump winning mostly through victories in the white and male categories of voting demographics against the more diverse Kamala voting base. Even looking at the type of people who attend Trump rallies or the most outspoken supporters, they are majority heterosexual white men with a strict belief in traditional masculinity. This is not news. What is news is the way that Trump does not necessarily match this ideal.

I have been fascinated at how YMCA has become a Trump rallying call with Trump's dancing like he's jerking off two imaginary dicks as part of his iconic presence. If you didn't know, YMCA used to be a notoriously queer song with any mention of the Village People being used as an allusion towards someone's queer identity. I find it fascinating that the head of the "traditional masculinity" party is the one coming out to a gay anthem. While some people might claim that this is appropriation, the fact that Victor Willis of the Village People came out to play for Trump's inauguration could say otherwise.

On the other hand (jerking off an imaginary dick), there has been a constant growing homoerotic tension in Trump's inner circle—both in the lead-up and during Trump's inauguration. Let's go guy by guy. First, JD Vance had to face the media in the middle of their anti-drag tirade about photos that had resurfaced of him in drag. Honestly, if you ask me, he looks great. I think that what is more striking is the amount of constant eyeliner and mascara that he wears is almost unrecognizable from the photos that were revealed of him in drag. Of course, wearing drag or eyeliner does not make one gay, but in the context of everything else, it seems to represent something greater.

Elon has been the rising star in the new government. Aside from the nazi salute (it was a Nazi salute), there are some aspects of Elon's rise to power that seem overly homoerotic. I think that there's something needlessly homoerotic about sucking up to a superior, in an abstract way. Going out of your way to please a man and putting him on a pedestal has always seemed needlessly erotic in workplace culture. Elon is very clearly guilty of this. Almost everything that he has done in the presence of DJT has been in an attempt to suck up to Trump.

Now, for the Donald. Trump is the most gay of the bunch if you ask me. Of course, there's the entrance to the YMCA with his dance, as previously discussed. However, his relationship with Melania was on full display during the inauguration ceremony. The Faux-kiss was the highlight of the evening, Trump leaning into a kiss with his wife but being able to only kiss air with the cheek. This, at least to me, is the cherry on the cake of vaguely "non-traditionally masculine" activities that have been going on. Of course, I would have to mention that the kiss probably doesn't come from some beard relationship the two are in but instead from her (most likely) hating his guts.

Now, why has this been so fascinating to me? Well, they're the new fascist regime. I'm very comfortable calling them that with the whole Nazi salute, mass deportations, expansionist plans, etc. Regardless, why is the new coming of fascist Jesus so coded as so queer when they hold these views on traditional views on masculinity.

Now the gut instinct in some people might say that a lot of queerness has intrinsic fascist coding. That's an understandable gut reaction in response to a claim such as the new Trump cabinet is gay. This goes double in concerning the years of conditioning from the right wing claiming queer activists as authoritarian. Again, I'll have to disagree. What I'm trying to posit is not that queers lean towards fascism (a ridiculous statement in the way that they have been persecuted by most fascist governments) but that fascism has a distinctly queer element to it, a masculine homoerotism.

To use an example, I think that queers, who erotize power in this specifically homoerotic pursuit, have a seeming leaning towards fascism due to fascism's ingrained homoeroticism. This goes for Durk Dehner who found so much in common between fascist aesthetic pursuit and elements of the queer leather and kink scene's pursuit for aesthetics. As Mr. Sister Leather 2024's J.L. Carter has stated "It's complicated and troubling that so much of our 'aesthetic' in the leather community comes from ToF drawings which glorify the Nazi uniforms". What I mean in this specifically is that there is a commonality within certain sections of the queer community and fascism in general. The pursuit of aesthetics and having a direct interest in the aesthetics of power specifically seem to have interesting commonalities. It some essence, there is something shared by this new wave of fascism and this specific section of the queer community.

Durk Dehner

Now, in most circles, these elements have been heavily questioned. The fact that this story comes to life and having he was removed from the board shows that there is a direction towards removing this link towards fascism. Of course, the fact that this is only happening now and not years ago as an open secret. I also want to reinstate that this is an issue but it is fringe, most queer people don't fetishize power in this specific way.

Instead, what I mean is that in this specific pursuit of power, there's something particularly homoerotic. The pursuit of power, at least under this hypermasculine idea, seems to idolize other men, which in some sense links itself to homoeroticism. This might explain why so many of these men feel so comfortable performing in certain elements that fall out of traditional masculinity. Explaining why in his pursuit of masculine power, JD Vance's use of eyeliner might go unquestioned, why Trump's lack of physical contact with his wife or coming out to the stage with YMCA go unquestioned. In some way, there are some ways that Homoeroticism is socially accepted within the fascist pursuit of power when it would otherwise be looked down upon. This means that within fascism there are certain queer attitudes towards other men that are seemingly accepted in a way that would not have been in previous nationalist movements.

It seemingly works like a venn diagram where queerness and fascism share a homoerotic appreciation of power and other men. This is why certain men like Durk Dehner fall into this intersection where they lean into fascist imagery and Fascists like Trump or his cabinet fall into Homoeroticism. It is a shared attribute. Again, only a fringe part of the queer community falls into the intersection but the kink scene, as said earlier, has had this issue for a long time coming.

This is what I call the gym bro effect. Have you ever noticed how certain portions of people who bodybuild or are intensely passionate about the gym begin edging into homoerotic territory? The men who begin going into minute detail about the figure of certain men and describing their almost religious love for certain men. These are men who are obsessed by the aesthetics of power, the aesthetics of the powerful. This goes the same for the new right wing, where the Center of power is Donald trump. I think this explains why certain portions of Trump’s team reflect homoerotic behaviour. But what about Trump?

I always think about this clip by Caleb Hearon when he went on Ziwe’s interview show. He specifically described how Trump is “one of the gayest men ever” or “an old school gay”. I think that there is something specifically about his position of power he is allowed a lot of wiggle room when it comes to what the Republican Party would describe as “traditionally masculine”. I think that his proximity to power allows Trump to move away from certain elements of what is expected of him as a man. Regardless, I think that there’s a performance of someone who has worked in media and TV that is queer in nature, something Trump Channels. I think this is why he reads as queer in certain elements. It’s how certain heterosexual theatre kids will be confused for queer due to the culture that they inhabit being so deeply influenced by queer culture. I think that Trump entering into the White House, forming his own political party, has given space for this specific signifiers of queerness that would be not accepted in other fascist movements. I think that is why this specific Trump cabinet, outside of the homoerotic nature of fascism, feels so queer. I think these two elements combine into something that just feels queer in nature.

Disclaimers and PS

Now, a disclaimer, the idea for this essay is not new. During my days at university, I read a book called Terrorist Assemblages. At a very reductive level, the book posits the way that queer rights are utilized by governments to frame other cultures as inferior and justify violence towards them. In essence, how nationalist movements (who would have otherwise opposed queer movements) attack using their queer rights. This book has always stuck with me in the way that nationalism and queer movements are interconnected. What I wanted to do instead is to explore the queerness in nationalism but I thought I would list it as reference and inspiration for pursuing this essay.

Finally, I also want to make the distinction that there is no issue with queerness. I can’t believe I have to make this statement but it's better safe than sorry. The goal of this essay is to explain why the new right wing is so queer, not to problematize queerness. For fuck’s sake, I am queer myself. I don’t care if Trump kisses a man on stage, he has more than enough issues and is the current world villain. That is what I’m trying to problematize, that he is a villain. The interest in this essay is to question exactly why they behave in a way that would be understood as queer in any other context, while being held as the new “traditional masculine party”.