Maybe We Need Strong Men and Fathers After All
Family is important! Men are essential! Boys need strong male role models! These are hardly groundbreaking truths, but they have been cast aside and savaged for so long that they feel like they are. More and more people are realizing this has had catastrophic effects. Some recent articles in the mainstream press make the point:
Dads are better than smartphones: The left-leaning Guardian, of all sources, argues in an editorial that to save masculinity among boys, we need to replace the smartphone with the family. It notes that boys are now more likely to own smartphones than live with their fathers. It calls for investment in families to foster resilience and empathy. It says boys need consistent, positive male examples—not algorithms or grifters—to build character and navigate a world obsessed with wealth and status.
The biggest determinant of economic disparity: The absence of male role models in more and more households has created a significant societal void in the UK, Fraser Nelson argues in Saturday’s Times. Fatherlessness is creating one of the nation’s most dramatic disparities between haves and have-nots: 60 percent of children among the poorest have no father in the home; 95 percent of children of top earners do. He notes that raising fatherlessness often sparks accusations of blaming single mothers, yet insists ministers must break the taboo to address its deep-rooted impacts.
If marriage had been invented in 1970s Scandinavia, it would be hailed as a progressive superweapon—the first, best and cheapest source of health, wealth and education. Anti-poverty activists should be sharing this more broadly. But somehow, being pro-family has ended up seen as moralistic, judgmental and old-fashioned.
Such commonsense thinking is all too rare. But it underscores the wisdom of the Bible and of the Creator of marriage and family. Read Philip Nice’s article “Covering the Effects of Fatherlessness.”
Even fiction writing has been taken over by women: Opportunities for young white male fiction writers in the U.S. have drastically diminished over the past decade, Jacob Savage notes in “The Vanishing White Male Writer,” for Compact. He points to a sharp decline in their presence on prestigious literary lists—such as The New York Times’s “Notable Fiction,” where white male millennials dropped from seven in 2012 to just two of 72 since 2021. He notes similar trends in awards and fellowships like the National Book Award and Stanford’s Wallace Stegner Fellowship, where representation has evaporated. Savage attributes this shift to a feminized publishing industry and a cultural pivot away from traditional literary narratives. It’s a stark picture of an Isaiah 3 world, where masculine “eloquent orators” are gone and women rule.
A peek into Trump’s deal-making: Steve Witkoff, real estate mogul turned key diplomatic envoy for President Donald Trump, gave Tucker Carlson a 90-minute interview on Friday. It was fascinating and deeply revealing. Carlson called him “the most effective American diplomat in a generation.” Witkoff’s explanations about his efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire in January, his optimism for a 30-day truce in Ukraine, and his personal interactions with leaders like Vladimir Putin, underscored Trump’s belief in pragmatic deal-making and his naivety on complex geopolitical issues. He is quite trusting and believes everyone is generally good and acting in good faith—Putin, Barack Obama’s peace envoy, the Qataris—even Hamas is misunderstood. Human nature is basically good, and poverty and miscommunication are the real cause for war. Richard Palmer is working on an analysis of the interview—watch for that on theTrumpet.com. This perfectly illustrates the point Gerald Flurry made in his recent feature article, “Does Donald Trump Know the Way to Peace?”
Canada to hold snap election: Yesterday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a federal election to be held on April 28, seeking a strong mandate to address what he described as “the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty.” Carney, a former central banker with no prior elected experience, recently assumed leadership of the Liberal Party following Justin Trudeau’s resignation. His call for an early election—originally due by October 20—capitalizes on a surge in Canadian nationalism and Liberal poll numbers spurred by Trump’s rhetoric. He faces Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in a 37-day campaign for 343 parliamentary seats. Watch our recent Trumpet World episode, “Can Mark Carney Fix Canada?” with Richard Palmer on site in Ottawa.
Germany’s coronavirus lab leak cover-up: The German intelligence service knew COVID-19 likely originated from a lab in China, and informed the governments of chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, German newspapers revealed on March 12. However, that information was suppressed in favor of lockdowns and vaccines funded by the German government, Josué Michels reports in this morning’s feature story.
Guttenberg wants to bring back the draft: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who suspended compulsory military service when he was Germany’s defense minister, now believes it should be reinstated. To provide the necessary deterrent potential, Germany must “position ourselves in such a way that we are capable of war, both nationally and at European level,” he added in a FAZ podcast on March 20. Leading up to World War II, Winston Churchill recalled that Germany created a small army of 100,000 leaders to then add the millions of followers. Watch for Germany to again become a country of warriors.
Turkey remains gripped by widespread protests after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The largest demonstrations since 2013 have erupted across more than 55 of Turkey’s 81 provinces; hundreds of thousands are defying bans on gatherings to protest what they call a politically motivated attack on democracy ahead of the 2028 presidential election. Riot police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, and have arrested more than 1,100 protesters. Will this provoke Erdoğan to turn even more authoritarian? How will Europe, which is prophesied to remain allied with Turkey, respond?
Pope Francis was released from hospital yesterday after a five-week battle with double pneumonia, the most severe health crisis of his 12-year papacy. The 88-year-old pontiff had faced life-threatening respiratory issues. Doctors have prescribed at least two months of rest and rehabilitation. The global Catholic community and Vatican watchers remain watchful and uncertain about the future leadership of the church.
