Jeffrey Gonzalez

Your factory could always up and move. And if you got hurt or if you got laid off, right, there wasn't the security that the mental picture that I think gets conjured by politicians gives us.

And if I can bring up a cultural example, there's a 2010 movie called Company Men with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. And in that movie, you have basically this full-throated sense that manufacturing labor is like a driver of masculine virtue. The film takes place at this company that went from a manufacturing company to this big multinational that has an insurance arm. It has a finance arm.

And if I can bring up a cultural example, there's a 2010 movie called Company Men with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. And in that movie, you have basically this full-throated sense that manufacturing labor is like a driver of masculine virtue. The film takes place at this company that went from a manufacturing company to this big multinational that has an insurance arm. It has a finance arm.

And if I can bring up a cultural example, there's a 2010 movie called Company Men with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. And in that movie, you have basically this full-throated sense that manufacturing labor is like a driver of masculine virtue. The film takes place at this company that went from a manufacturing company to this big multinational that has an insurance arm. It has a finance arm.

And what happens throughout the movie is that they all get this fantasy that they're going to like recreate the manufacturing arm of that company. They go to this hangar where they used to make ships. And Tommy Lee Jones has this long monologue where he says there were 6,000 men who made a good wage here every day and put their kids into college.

And what happens throughout the movie is that they all get this fantasy that they're going to like recreate the manufacturing arm of that company. They go to this hangar where they used to make ships. And Tommy Lee Jones has this long monologue where he says there were 6,000 men who made a good wage here every day and put their kids into college.

And what happens throughout the movie is that they all get this fantasy that they're going to like recreate the manufacturing arm of that company. They go to this hangar where they used to make ships. And Tommy Lee Jones has this long monologue where he says there were 6,000 men who made a good wage here every day and put their kids into college.

Building something they could see, not just figures on a balance sheet, but a ship. They could see, smell, touch. Those men knew their worth. They knew who they were. And what's so crazy about this monologue is those kids were going to college to not work in that hangar.

Building something they could see, not just figures on a balance sheet, but a ship. They could see, smell, touch. Those men knew their worth. They knew who they were. And what's so crazy about this monologue is those kids were going to college to not work in that hangar.

Building something they could see, not just figures on a balance sheet, but a ship. They could see, smell, touch. Those men knew their worth. They knew who they were. And what's so crazy about this monologue is those kids were going to college to not work in that hangar.

And again, like the emphasis is on men. And in that movie, the white collar characters who are resurrecting this manufacturing base, they don't ever do the manufacturing work. And there's not a single manufacturing labor in the movie. So in some ways, those characters seem to me like J.D.

And again, like the emphasis is on men. And in that movie, the white collar characters who are resurrecting this manufacturing base, they don't ever do the manufacturing work. And there's not a single manufacturing labor in the movie. So in some ways, those characters seem to me like J.D.

And again, like the emphasis is on men. And in that movie, the white collar characters who are resurrecting this manufacturing base, they don't ever do the manufacturing work. And there's not a single manufacturing labor in the movie. So in some ways, those characters seem to me like J.D.

Vance and other people who are pushing this manufacturing idea, where it's in fact a white collar way of resurrecting your own masculinity.

Vance and other people who are pushing this manufacturing idea, where it's in fact a white collar way of resurrecting your own masculinity.

Vance and other people who are pushing this manufacturing idea, where it's in fact a white collar way of resurrecting your own masculinity.

Yes. There's this sense that like pushing paper makes you feminine.

Yes. There's this sense that like pushing paper makes you feminine.

Yes. There's this sense that like pushing paper makes you feminine.

Well, I think if we think back to the great Walt Whitman poem, I Hear America Singing, it's actually about work, right? It's about all these people kind of working and doing things and building things. And so I think that there's a sense that America likes to think of itself as full of hardworking people. And the factory was a place where you had to do hard work.