Ep. 5: Men, Hipsters and the Democratic Party

Why are so many men drifting away from the Democratic Party? In this episode of El Speakeasy, the hosts debate whether men have been politically sidelined by the Left — or are reacting to long-overdue shifts in power. From party messaging and education gaps to the rise of hipster masculinity and countercultural rebellion, the conversation traces how identity, culture, and grievance intersect. The episode asks whether today’s political divide is less about policy — and more about where men feel they belong. The three amigos take the gloves off and square off, delving into how these forces shape our conversations around male agency and our conception of the gender divide.

In the essay How Hipsters Gave us Trump by Matthew Schmitz in "First Things" Schmitz argues that Trumpism didn’t come out of nowhere, it grew out a long cultural shift where “rebellion” stopped looking like left-wing bohemia and started looking like white, masculine defiance of liberal norms.

In the article, Have Democrats Given up on Men, by Daniel A. Cox, in "Survey Center on American Life," Cox argues that Democrats are facing a growing, and largely self-inflicted, problem with male voters. The DNC’s own “Who We Serve” list, he points out, includes sixteen groups but not men, a symbolic omission that reflects deeper cultural assumptions within the party.

El señor Bill Kelley Jr. has been re-reading and adamantly recommends The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Díaz narrates the major campaigns of the conquistadors, from the early Yucatan expeditions through the march on Tenochtitlan, offering vivid descriptions of Indigenous cities, leaders and religious practices, often mixing admiration with fear or misunderstanding. His portrayal of Moctezuma and tense diplomatic encounters provide the richest eyewitness window into the fall of the Aztec world.

Don Francisco Ortega feels passionate about his re-reading of Love in the Time of Cholera by the late, great Gabriel Garcia Márquez. Widely considered Márquez's masterpiece, it's a story about longing and becoming a way of living, and about how the heart, even in old age, can still surprise us with its stubborn, foolish, beautiful hope.

Music lover Juan Fernando Devis has been captivated by the music of Zoe Gotusso and has been particularly touched by the album Cursi. Gotusso leans into tenderness without irony, singing about affection, longing, and emotional transparency with a kind of soft bravery. The song, and the album it anchors, celebrates being unabashedly sentimental in a world that often treats sincerity as a risk.