President Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable event at the White House on Oct. 21, 2026, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laughs.

(MADISON, WISC.) Against the backdrop of an unpopular war in Iran, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on July 15, 2026, that the Pentagon would begin testing male service members 30 and older for low testosterone. That, the department later said, would include assessing symptoms of low testosterone such as “reduced libido, loss of spontaneous morning erections, erectile dysfunction, diminished energy and physical performance, impaired concentration, reduced muscle mass, and depressed mood.”

The combination of aggressive masculinity and militarism with the implications of testing for something like “spontaneous morning erections” as necessary for war fighting is emblematic of the administration’s tendency to combine fascist ideas and symbols with outright embarrassing messaging, or what I call “cringe fascism.”

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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