Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson welcomed journalist River Page of The Free Press to discuss his viral essay, “How the Democrats Lost Men Like Me.” The conversation delved into why so many young men—especially those once energized by progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders—are abandoning the Democratic Party in droves, and why recent efforts to win them back have fallen flat.
The segment began with a sharp critique of a 2024 Democratic campaign ad aimed at male voters. The ad, which proclaimed its target audience with a repetitive chorus of “I’m a man,” came across to Page as inauthentic and patronizing. “It sounded like a pharmaceutical commercial,” he said, suggesting that it appealed more to Democratic-leaning women than to the men it was ostensibly designed to reach.
Page argued that Democrats are making a critical mistake by relying on “man-branding” campaigns that feel condescending rather than crafting a compelling, broad-based economic vision. “You don’t have to cater to men in a pedantic way,” Page said, noting that people—especially younger voters—aren’t stupid and can easily detect pandering. He pointed out that what energized him politically in 2016 wasn’t marketing or identity politics, but the economic clarity of Bernie Sanders’s campaign.
Page, who was a Sanders supporter in both 2016 and 2020, recalled working two jobs to get through college without health insurance. Sanders’s focus on healthcare, student debt, and corporate accountability spoke directly to his lived experience, and to those of many other young men. According to Page, the authenticity and economic focus of Sanders’s message resonated with men across racial and cultural lines in a way that recent Democratic campaigns simply haven’t.
He also took aim at the party’s shift away from that kind of economic populism. Page said Democrats now appear more interested in symbolic identity politics than in fighting powerful interests. He described the party’s embrace of “deification” over “respect” when it comes to race, gender, and sexuality as not just ineffective—but actively off-putting. “General respect for minorities is one thing. Deification is quite another,” he said.
This disconnect, Page argued, is fueling not only the defection of straight white men, but of working-class Black and Hispanic men as well. Instead of addressing economic challenges or naming powerful enemies—like pharmaceutical companies or insurance giants—Democrats are focused on narratives that feel alien to many voters. Page emphasized that authenticity matters, and that attempts to rebrand career politicians with beards or scrubbed bios are unlikely to reverse the trend.
The interview also touched on Joe Rogan’s influence, particularly in the 2020 primary when the podcast host endorsed Bernie Sanders. Page pointed to the backlash against Rogan as the moment many young, male progressives began drifting away from the Democratic Party. “They started attacking him for very normal opinions,” Page said, noting that when Bernie refused to disavow Rogan, the campaign faced internal pressure. It was a moment, Page believes, when the party showed it valued purity tests over coalition-building.
While Democrats continue to talk about the dangers of billionaires like Elon Musk and the influence of dark money, Page sees the critique as shallow and selective. He called out the party’s close ties to Wall Street, Big Tech, and the financial elite, saying the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. In his view, the left’s “class warfare” only goes so far—usually stopping short of calling out its own donors.
Ultimately, Page said, winning back male voters won’t come from cringeworthy ads or attempts to out-macho Republicans. Instead, it will require a return to the kind of message that propelled Sanders: a clear, unapologetic economic platform that challenges concentrated wealth and power, no matter which side of the aisle it supports.
As he told Proft and Jacobson, “People catch on too quickly now. You can’t run the same scam on this generation.” If Democrats want to reclaim the loyalty of young men, Page suggests, they need more than slick rebranding—they need a real revolution in substance and strategy.