New York Times Runs Piece About Liberal Parents Coping With Sons Supporting Trump

Political scientists were surprised at the rate at which young men turned out to support Donald Trump during the November election. As were some of the parents of those men.

The New York Times ran an article on Sunday titled, "When Your Son Goes MAGA." The author of the piece detailed how liberal parents are struggling to deal with their sons' newfound support for Trump.

The piece introduces readers to a woman named Alex Behr, a 59-year-old Democrat in Portland, Oregon, who "voted enthusiastically" for Kamala Harris. Before November, Behr had described her 20-year-old Eli as a "thoughtful college junior who had a serious skateboarding phase." Then she learned the truth.

Eli voted for Trump.

"[Behr] and her ex-husband were appalled that Eli, 20, decided to cast his first vote in a presidential election this fall for Donald J. Trump," the article reveals. 

"When Eli brought a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat home from college this summer, Ms. Behr threw it into the corner of his bedroom. They argued about guns, immigration and abortion, struggling to do so without permanently damaging their relationship."

Two young men wearing "Make America Great Again" hats watch election results come in during a Dallas GOP watch party on the evening of November 8, 2016. (Photo credit should read LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Behr recently texted her son that "facts don't matter to you" during a heated exchange about Trump’s legal battles. She also added, "I love you. Have a good day."

The mother told the Times that she is concerned that conservative opinionists on YouTube and Instagram are tilting her son's political views in the wrong direction. 

Eli, however, feels like he is simply learning to think for himself, a quality he admires in Trump.

"He’s not afraid to say what he thinks," Eli told the outlet. "It seems like what he says is coming from him instead of coming from a big cabinet behind you, telling you what to say."

The son added that he "loves" his mom and refrains from wearing his MAGA hat around his mother. "I want her to stay a part of my family," he said.

"When Your Son Goes MAGA"

Later in the piece, the Times introduces Chris and Melanie Morlan of Spokane, Washington. Their 24-year-old son (who is not named) used to parrot their political views, but something changed during the summer of 2020.

As Black Lives Matter rioters wreaked havoc across the country in the name of George Floyd, the Morlans say their son was drawn to "an online sphere that affirmed his fears and vulnerabilities" as he was aging into his masculinity."

Per the Times, "As he became more immersed, she said, he began to see the Republican Party as a defender of more conventional notions of manhood. When she tried to push back, explaining how much she was pained by Mr. Trump’s treatment of women, she remembered him telling her that the president’s most inflammatory comments did not reflect who he really was."

Did the Donald Trump inauguration play a factor in CFP ratings? (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

You can read more about shocked parents struggling to understand their son's support for Trump here.

However, the bigger story is why the young have turned their support in favor of Trump. After all, according to The Blaze, 55 percent of men ages 18-29 voted for Trump in 2024, a 14 percent increase from four years earlier.

Put simply, the Democrat Party has neglected the interests and needs of most young males in America. The party doesn't understand them.

Nearly every social concept that the Democrat Party upholds works against young males. For too long, young males have been dismissed, emasculated, and forgotten.

Trump, through a bevy of male-focused podcasts, spoke directly to them ahead of the election. UFC president Dana White shouted out those podcasts during Trump's victory speech the night of the election.

"I want to thank some people. Real quick. I want to thank the NELK Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin’ With The Boys. And last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan," White shouted on stage.

Young men matter, too.

Trump understood that. Kamala Harris did not.