ONE PART OF WHAT REMAINS: "Effeminate, gay," the children cried!

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2026

You're already in a failed state: As we've suggested in the past, the historical record suggests a conclusion:   Sexuality has always been challenging. Sexuality has always been challenging—within the male sex drive. 

Forget the news reports you read every day about the misconduct of fellows in charge. European literature, let it be said, starts with a story about the behavior which may emerge from the bit of imperfect human wiring to which we've already alluded.   

King Agamemnon, lord of men, has kidnapped the daughter of a priest to Apollo. He's employing her in the standard ways—and when her father comes to beg for her return, the lord of men is of course offended.

Professor Fagles presents the translation:    

And all ranks of Achaeans cried out their assent:
"Respect the priest, accept the shining ransom!"
But it brought no joy to the heart of Agamemnon.
The king dismissed the priest with a brutal order
ringing in his ears: "Never again, old man,
let me catch sight of you by the hollow ships!
Not loitering now, not slinking back tomorrow.
The staff and the wreaths of god will never save you then.
The girl? I won't give up the girl. Long before that,
old age will overtake her in my house, in Argos,
far from her fatherland. slaving back and forth
at the loom, forced to share my bed!
                                                              Now go,
don't tempt my wrath, and you may depart alive." 

Right there, at the dawn of the west, he refused to give up the girl! Slaving back and forth at the loom, the girl would also be forced to share the conqueror's bed!

"The old man was terrified," the war poem now says. "He obeyed the order, turning, trailing away in silence down the shore where the battle lines of breakers crash and drag."

To his credit, Agamemnon doesn't try to disguise the shape of his motives. But this is where western literature begins, with the Argive forces under this lord of men ten years into a brutal campaign in response to an earlier sexual insult—in response to the (willing) flight of Helen from Greece to Troy, where she now lives as the wife of feckless Paris, son of that city's King Priam.    

That's where the culture begins! Centuries later, the children routinely become upset when related versions of "masculinity" are perhaps referred to as "toxic." 

In modern times, the process of democratization has made it easy for boys and girls of this type to find each other and join forces as a societal subgroup—as a tribe. Before, it would have been very hard. Today, such outreach and bonding come easy.

It's in that context that the latest essay by Helen Lewis has appeared in the Atlantic. In her lengthy essay, Lewis is describing the world Where The Podcasters Are—but also the children of Fox:  

The Men Who Want Women to Be Quiet
A virulent form of misogyny has become the single most important force holding together the American right.  

There you see the dual headline which sits atop her lengthy piece. As Lewis starts, she says she'll be describing a movement which is no longer fringe—a movement which "is sometimes called 'masculinism.' ”

Masculinism? As an inkling of where democratization has taken us, she offers this example, among many others, of the way the human project may now take form if you go Where The Podcasters Are:

The Men Who Want Women to Be Quie

[...] 

The male podcasters who got behind Trump in 2024 now host outright misogynists: Consider the career of the Christian debater Andrew Wilson, who in January appeared on arguably the most popular podcast in America, The Joe Rogan Experience—the manosphere-influencer equivalent of singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

Wilson, who appeared on Rogan’s show to promote his online debating courses, originally became famous for appearing repeatedly on Whatever, a dating podcast with 4.6 million YouTube subscribers.

In one episode, Wilson told a female fellow guest that she was too stupid to understand him, so she raised the fact that Wilson’s wife, Rachel, has children with three different men. He went thermonuclear. “You lick snizz,” he barked. “You’re a fucking dyke. Don’t talk shit about my wife, you stupid bitch.” He added, “I’m better than you.” It was an extraordinary display of uncontrolled aggression. In another clip, he mocked a female guest for being unable to open a pickle jar. She handed it to him, and he failed too. “Your hand greased the whole top of it,” he complained. Wilson has one of the most unpleasant internet personas I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve been on Bluesky. (He did not reply to my request for an interview, which was a relief.)  

As with Agamemnon's fury, so it may sometimes go with these modern lords of men. Or you could have watched yesterday's edition of The Five, the most-watched "cable news" program within our modern failed state.   

Sexuality has always been challenging! For the children the Fox News Channel sends out on the air each day, the boundaries of masculinity will be defended in the soul-draining ways the children displayed on yesterday's pitiful program.  

Where did Mediaite go to come up with Willa Pope Robbins? Wherever they went, they need to go there looking for others like her. 

As Robbins reports today, James Talarico is running for the Senate in Texas, and the children on our most-watched "news" program now hurried to call him gay.   

Robbins' report starts like this:

Jesse Watters Mocks James Talarico’s ‘Totally Not Fake Girlfriend’: ‘Does She Exist?’

Fox News host Jesse Watters mocked Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s love life on Wednesday, heavily implying that the state senator is lying about having a girlfriend by asking, “Does she even exist?”

The host made his remarks on The Five during a segment on Talarico in light of Tuesday night’s primary that saw Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeat Senator John Cornyn (R). The scandal-ridden Paxton had snagged President Donald Trump’s unexpected endorsement last week, a move that triggered widespread backlash from many within his party. Paxton is now set to face Talarico in November, and both have already gone on the offensive.

Watters went on an extended rant against Talarico, calling him “effeminate” and mocking his attempts to beat back allegations of being a vegan. He then turned to the candidate’s dating life, noting a recent interview Talarico gave in which he discussed his partner and his choice to keep her identity private.  

That's the way Robbins' report began. She provides videotape of some of what occurred, along with an extended (though incomplete) transcript.  

At this point, we'll take a guess:

We'll guess that Robbins' frankness may have been curtailed by editorial standards at Mediaite. Presumably by editorial dictum, the site doesn't ever report the astounding conduct which occurs on the Gutfeld! program.

That includes the ludicrous imitation of a news discussion which we ourselves surveyed in yesterday's report.  

(Just a guess! The editors have decreed that Gutfeld! is a comedy show, and that its various players are therefore "performing artists." Stating the obvious, Gutfeld! is not a comedy show, but we'll guess that some such editorial judgment explains the program's total absence from the posts at Mediaite.)   

At any rate, sure enough! With the battle lines finally drawn—it will be Talarico versus Paxton—The Five's gay-baiting got started.  

Inevitably, the ludicrous Jesse Watters took the lead, with Dana Perino—she's supposed to be the sane one—passive-aggressively helping him along. Here's some of what was said:

WATTERS (5/27/26): Jesse, I know you are, you are just ready to go on Talarico, so take it away.

WATTERS: Correction, it's "Tala-Freako." They nominated someone more effeminate than Beto, and I can't wait for this race to get under way. Did you know that he looks prepubescent?   

[...]

WATTERS: He’s also thirty-seven and not married. 

PERINO: [Laughs]

WATTERS: Let’s get into this. 

He says, just recently, that he has a girlfriend. And they have been together for four years. And he called her his best friend, and she was his rock. And he’s not revealing her identity, because he wants to respect her privacy and keep her safe during the campaign.

GUTFELD: Does she live in Canada? 

WATTERS: She lives– 

[LAUGHTER]

WATTERS: Now, if the campaign has only been going on for less than a year, and they have been dating for four years, why haven’t we ever seen this woman before? Basically, what I’m saying is, Does she exist? 

We’re going to find out because, if he wins, are they going to have a coming out party? Or is she still going to stay the secret girlfriend? And is this totally not-fake girlfriend also a vegan? This race–  

This is a great race to cover.

This is a great race to cover! On our nation's most-watched such show, the silly child seemed to think that he was "covering" the Texas race by launching this examination.

He's even more effeminate than Beto was, the silly child had said. Greg Gutfeld now tried to throw to lone Democrat Harold Ford:

GUTFELD (continuing directly): So Harold, I’m willing to bet that Jesse’s strategy of attack will help Talarico win, because none of the things he says has any bearing–like, that’s what the Democrats want. Is–

WATTERS: Yes, a gay vegan is definitely going to win in Texas! Not gay and not vegan, for the record. 

In that way, Watters pretended to try to establish the fact that Talarico isn't gay. He did so after signaling to millions of viewers that they should start baiting the candidate in precisely that way. 

Needless to say, the dissection of this "effeminate," "not gay" man didn't end there. 

Eventually, Kennedy spotted her chance to play. Based on her endless performances, the former VJ was made by God for precisely this line of work. 

Kennedy seems to be smarter than the others, but she rarely lets that hold her back. When the cup was passed to her, the wine spilled down her front:  

PERINO: Cornyn said last night that he's gonna, he's like, "I'm on board. I'll get behind Paxton."

FORD: We'll see.

KENNEDY: I think James Talarico has heard, "I'll get behind it" before.

WATTERS: [Laughter]  

For those who are lucky enough not to know, that's a gay joke too. As she continued, Kennedy provided such news analysis as this: 

KENNEDY: He looks prepubescent. He looks like such a beta male... 

PERINO: They'll say, they'll say, "But he's a seminarian! How dare you not support him?"

KENNEDY: He put the semen in seminarian! 

WATTERS: [Laughter]

When this is the shape of a nation's news culture, that nation isn't "in decline." It has already become a failed state.

As The Five went off the air, Watters gay-baited one last time. Two hours later, the baiting continued on Jesse Watters Primetime, our second most-watched "cable news" program:

Benny Johnson was brought on the air to provide the comedy stylings about how low in testosterone (how "low T") the effeminate "Tala-Freako" is.

Johnson is a classic post-democratization figure. His summation for the simpering Watters went exactly like this:

JOHNSON (5/27/26): So once again, the reason why Democrats are failing is they've given up on masculinity. They've given up on testosterone. They've given up entirely for effeminate, astrogenetic, catty and totally embarrassing candidates like Beto O'Rourke and "Beta" here.

We don't know what "astrogenetic" means in this context (if anything). But there you see a form of modern "masculinism" being robustly expressed.

Earlier, Jonson had offered this:

JOHNSON: Clearly, Michelle Obama has more testosterone than Talarico. James Talarico is a guy who could be played by Eliot Page in a new Christopher Nolan move, or a Subaru ad.

This plays on a standard Gutfeld! hook, in which Michelle Obama is said to secretly be a man while her husband is said to be secretly gay. Eliot Page was once the very popular Ellen Page, so you can see where that comes in.

This is who and what these fellow citizens are. You won't learn about the things they say and do in the timorous New York Times (or on MS NOW), but this is the relentless shape of their reactions and of their discourse. 

Johnson is the sort of person who never would have emerged before the democratization came into our lives. The leading authority on his life offers this instant thumbnail: 

Benny Johnson (columnist)

Benny Johnson (born May 27, 1987) is an American right-wing political commentator and YouTuber. He has contributed to several conservative media outlets such as Breitbart News, TheBlaze, National Review, and The Daily Caller.

Johnson was previously employed with BuzzFeed but was fired in 2014 due to several instances of plagiarism, where he used text from sources such as Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia without giving due credit.

Johnson has also worked for Turning Point USA and hosted for Newsmax TV.

How does a fellow like that gain prominence? Later, we're told about the way the discourse currently works:

Johnson runs three YouTube channels: "Benny Johnson," "Benny On The Block" and "Benny Brews." Johnson also hosts a podcast called The Benny Show. His main YouTube channel, titled "Benny Johnson," has amassed 6.01 million subscribers and 4 billion views as of September 2025.

Three YouTube channels, with a podcast to boot! In such ways, the democratization has given life to modern-day "masculinism." 

Lewis describes the movement in her essay for the Atlantic. We'll return to her findings tomorrow, but our literary culture began long ago on the plains outside Troy.

It all began on the plains outside Troy. With Agamemnon's fury concerning "the girl," it all began in this same general way.

Tomorrow: Able to find each other