In recent years, and more dramatically in recent months, global politics has seen a notable shift toward ‘masculinized’ messaging —brash, combative, performative, and increasingly authoritarian. This isn’t just a narrative shift away from an equitable, egalitarian, and respectful tone or about who holds office, although that greatly determines political course. It is a dangerous drift of how leadership is enacted: power over empathy, dominance over cooperation. Nowhere has this shift been more visible, or more influential, than in the United States, where the state is employing war language against migrants at home while funding wars abroad. This political tone, set by the U.S., is currently echoing far beyond its borders, reshaping the language and posture of power around the world. I am writing this from the US, where I am visiting my family for the first time in two years and where evidence of this shift in political tone was
