WaPo’s Rampell: Doug Emhoff Is a ‘Sex Symbol’ and Women’s ‘Fantasy Man’ Despite Cheating Scandal

The Washington Post published an opinion piece Friday calling Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff a “modern-day sex symbol,” “fantasy man,” and “ideal partner” despite reports that he impregnated his children’s nanny while married to his ex-wife. 

Catherine Rampell, a political columnist at the Post and CNN commentator, wrote, “Move over, Ryan Gosling. The modern female fantasy is embodied by the man who might soon become our first First Gentleman.”

Rampell argued that Emhoff is “sexy” because he is “secure enough with his own masculinity to sometimes prioritize his wife’s ambitions over his own.”

Prior to President Joe Biden selecting Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020, Emhoff was a partner at DLA Piper, ranked as America’s third-largest law firm by revenue in 2021 by the Wall Street Journal. 

Emhoff left his job in November 2020 to work on his role as Second Gentleman in the Biden administration, a spokesperson told the Associated Press.

He later began teaching courses at Georgetown University Law Center.

Even though he remained in the law field, Rampell said that his sacrifice made him a “hunk” and dismissed the previous affair he admittedly had while married to film producer Kerstin Emhoff.

“Whatever his previous marital drama, that makes him the working woman’s ideal partner today: He’s a high-achieving alpha but isn’t threatened if his wife is, too,” the Washington Post columnist wrote.

She then cited several television shows like “Jane the Virgin,” “Younger” and “GLOW,” in which “male suitors prove their worth by agreeing to walk away from their own professional accomplishments to prioritize their partner’s.”

“Hence, the Emhoffian ‘wife guy’ fantasy. Which, needless to say, sharply contrasts with conservatives’ portrayal of manliness,” Rampell remarked. 

Another label given to the second gentleman was “progressive sex symbol,” said to be his “most appropriate title.”

The opinion piece ended with a jab at former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), with Rampell saying he “peacocks” as a patriarch with “retrograde views on gender” despite having a professional and educated wife. 

“Vance has publicly espoused retrograde views on gender… And yet his wife, Usha Vance — by all accounts a brilliant, high-achieving attorney — had her own demanding career,” the columnist wrote. 

She also highlighted that Usha Vance left her role at another prominent law firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson, when her husband decided to run for vice president in July, Bloomberg Law reported.

Rampell did not characterize Usha Vance’s sacrifice as “sexy,” but did close out the piece with “Emhoff looks like a dreamboat.”

Breitbart