Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's 'Department of War' social accounts released a series of workout videos last week featuring the Cabinet member doing training exercises with 'warriors' (members of the military) at Guantanamo Bay. One video showed Hegseth and other men running, jumping, and lifting amid grunts and questionable form, followed by another of Hegseth giving a locker room-style speech about the president having 'got their backs' and being ready to 'unleash' and 'untie' their hands in decision-making. This is not the first time Hegseth or other Trump Cabinet members have released such chest-beating videos; it is the latest example of MAGA-coded 'masculinity theater' associated with Trump's second term.
What Is Masculinity Theater?
Masculinity theater is easy to spot once understood, appearing frequently in social media videos from Trump's Cabinet members targeting the 'manosphere.' Progressives describe 'performative males' who use feminist literature or aesthetics to project a feminine image, while conservative masculinity performances involve men performing for other men's approval. Soraya Chemaly, author of 'All We Want Is Everything: How We Dismantle Male Supremacy,' said, 'We see it with Pete Hegseth. We see it with Robert Kennedy [Jr.]. It's the same kind of display of this militant masculinity of a representative American man who is white, dominant, powerful ... physically fit and attractive.' These qualities get 'knotted into one' preferred macho identity.
Symbolic Displays of Strength
Chemaly noted, 'They are really explicit displays of individual physical strength, but at the same time, they're symbolic: These men represent the government. They represent the nation. They represent Trump's ideal in particular, the right-wing ideals of manhood and masculinity.' These MAGA masculinity displays convey both an aesthetic and a political message, manifesting not only on social feeds but also in internal military policies that shame diversity in gender, race, and body type, as well as in events like a mixed martial arts exhibition on the White House lawn or an IndyCar race for America's 250th anniversary.
Chemaly emphasized that choosing to repeatedly display masculine-coded physical strength and praise a narrow definition of strength is a deliberate decision. Fitness culture itself is a major stage for masculinity theater. A 2016 study from the University of British Columbia Vancouver, published in the American Journal of Men's Health, noted that 'masculine body ideals are 'pitched' or sold to men, men 'purchase,' buy into, internalize, and/or 'perform' these ideals, and perpetuate body ideals that influence their peers.' The performance of masculinity in Hegseth's videos aligns with this: 'Physical performativities that demonstrate athleticism, strength, stamina and competitiveness can be used by men to showcase their masculinity.'
The Real Message: Reaffirming Dominance
Behind the silly B-roll and chest-beating performances, the message becomes disturbing. For Chemaly, this ties to changes in the military since Trump's second term: 'Very clearly the purge of the military, the redefinition, the re-masculinization and the re-whitening of the military ... that kind of reform of the military, it isn't just about the military.' She noted that the military is a lab of social change in America, historically an engine of change. Enforcing rules that 'disproportionately disadvantage trans people, women, Black service members' speaks to the overall agenda: 'They're reaffirming MAGA men's sense of dominance. They're reaffirming and validating the historical centrality and dominance of white men in American society.' This rhetoric and imagery, combined with geopolitical aggression from the 'Department of War,' go hand in hand with fun, jocular social media images that produce cultural wrapping around violence.
Trump Support as Masculinity Theater
Dan Cassino, professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, found in a March 2026 study that men who reported supporting Trump 'were more likely than other men to move towards the maximum levels of masculinity.' Voting for Trump seemed to be a way of asserting masculinity, especially when running against women. 'Just as men who bought a gun or got a raise might consider themselves to be closer to the ideal of masculinity, it seems that men who voted for Trump thought of themselves as being more masculine for having done so.' Conversely, men who were not Trump supporters 'tended to move away from claiming that they were completely masculine,' deciding that masculinity wasn't something they wanted to claim in the Trump era.
Calling Out and Laughing at Masculinity Theater
Recognizing and laughing at these performances can be powerful. The meme-ified nature of these dispatches is part of their power, but there is also power in recognizing the messaging, being critical, and clowning on it. Chemaly said, 'I think there are a lot of really brilliant people who are laughing at it, but being sincere. They are making fun of it, but they're noting how critically dangerous it is. And I think both those forms of content are really important because they speak to different audiences, they produce a pushback.' While it may be too late to laugh this performative energy out of public discourse, naming the absurdity holds value.
