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From left: Pete Buttigieg and Billy Eichner
Opinion: Bros bombed at the box office, and bros back candidates who like UFC fights, not policy debates, writes John Casey.
Pete Buttigieg is an extraordinary politician. In fact I’ve written previously about his brilliance. He’s whip-smart, unflappable, rhetorically gifted, and an amazing and impressive representative of the LGBTQ+ community.
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He routinely walks into hostile arenas, like Fox News, and emerges not just intact but victorious, coolly dismantling conservative talking points with grace and clarity. His political talents, paired with his historical significance as an out gay Cabinet member, have rightfully made him a leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
At the risk of being passive-aggressive, I'll say I love and admire Pete, but ...
His recent appearance on Flagrant, the fratty, testosterone-heavy podcast hosted by Andrew Schulz and his crew, felt like such a strange miscalculation. Yes, Buttigieg held his own, as he always does, so there’s no surprise there. He was measured and thoughtful, managing to avoid any major stumbles. But the question that lingered for many in the LGBTQ+ community afterward wasn’t how he did — it was why he was there in the first place.
Because let’s be honest: “The bros” aren’t voting for Pete Buttigieg.
Look, I know you can’t put a stereotype on an entire demographic, like the bros, so sure there are some who might go for Pete. I have had bro friends all my life. Presently, I have a group of bro friends who I call my “boos,” and that drives them crazy. Of course, I do that to drive them crazy. They could care less about my sexuality; however, I just don’t see them knocking on doors for Pete if he runs for president in 2028.
This isn’t just about the podcast. It’s about a broader Democratic strategy, one that flirts with the idea of “winning over” the hypermasculine, often apolitical or politically chaotic demographic that’s been flocking to Donald Trump in droves.
These are the men showing up to chant for Trump at UFC fights, standing and saluting him at NCAA wrestling championships, cheering him on at the Daytona 500. They are a cultural bloc as much as a political one, a group that embraces performance over policy, vibes over values.
The bros are not a coherent voting base. They didn’t back Trump because they cared about deregulation or tariffs or tax law. They backed Trump because he talks like them, watches what they watch, and embodies or at least mimics a hyperaggressive version of masculinity that resonates in gym locker rooms and sports bars. To many of them, the MAGA movement isn’t about governance. It’s about tribal identity. About sticking it to the “woke” crowd. About flipping off the establishment, even if it means burning the whole thing down.
And let's not pretend for a second that these bros will be lining up to vote for a gay man for president, no matter how many sports metaphors he uses. It ain’t going to happen, and no one should be trying to make it happen. And adopting this strategy is futile,
Democratic voters, especially LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups, have spent years watching Trump and his base chip away at our rights, our safety, our dignity. To see our most visible political representative, someone who has become a symbol of our progress, essentially doing a media charm offensive to a group that put Trump over the top can feel like a slap in the face.
No, Pete wasn’t “selling out,” but he was taking part in a kind of political appeasement that many of us are tired of witnessing. I wrote about it being OK to be angry at Trump voters, and I stand by that. They, including the bros, are ultimately the ones responsible for the shit show that is the U.S. government.
Democrats have a history of losing the bro vote. Kamala Harris mistakenly made a similar gamble in 2024. She spent considerable time and campaign resources trying to reach young men, many of whom had already drifted toward Trumpism.
It was a calculated outreach to the same demographic Pete is now wading into. And it arguably cost her. That time could have been better spent solidifying the Democratic base, rallying voters who were nervous that the party wasn’t fighting hard enough against hate and talking enough about fixing the economy.
The bros are a fleeting force in American politics. They follow the strongman of the moment, not the policy details or the legislative and personal accomplishments of someone like Buttigieg. Once Trump exits the scene, whether in disgrace or because he’s term-limited or some miracle happens, they’ll likely scatter. Their loyalty isn’t to the Republican Party, and it certainly isn’t up for grabs by Democrats trying to out-bro them.
Remember Billy Eichner’s film Bros? As I wrote, during the summer it came out, the reason it underperformed at the box office, beyond a flawed marketing campaign, was that straight men stayed away in droves. The implication of buying a ticket to a gay rom-com was apparently too much for the fragile ego of the bro. They didn’t show up because they didn’t want to be seen as showing up. The culture of masculinity they swim in makes queer acceptance not just optional but dangerous.
Pete Buttigieg deserves the praise he gets. He is a pioneer. But with that status comes responsibility. He doesn’t represent just himself; he represents millions of people who rarely see themselves reflected in halls of power. When he steps into a bro-coded podcast studio, it sends a message: These guys are worth my time.
Yes, Pete does look out for our community, but as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished, and in this case, Pete thought he was doing good by the bros, while the bros have been punishing our community and our country via their fleeting support for Trump.
The Democratic Party has a base. That base is multiracial, multigenerational, with a strong female presence, all concerned about the future of American democracy. That base is begging for leadership, for fire, for clarity in the face of Trump’s second term.
They want to know their champions are fightingforthem, not wasting time trying to court voters who cheer Trump from the grandstands of a UFC fight.
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