Tom Nichols, a U.S. Naval War College professor and staff writer for The Atlantic, once said: “One thing that genuinely mystifies me, Trump is one of the least masculine, least adult, people in public life. Needy, whiny, defensive, pleading, scared of women, terrified of more powerful men. I am at a loss as to why his base sees him as manly or strong.”
In August 2025, a rumor circulated on social media platforms that U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols once said of U.S. President Donald Trump: “One thing that genuinely mystifies me, Trump is one of the least masculine, least adult, people in public life. Needy, whiny, defensive, pleading, scared of women, terrified of more powerful men. I am at a loss as to why his base sees him as manly or strong.”
For example, an Aug. 19 Facebook post (archived) receiving more than 22,000 reactions and 2,800 comments, as of this writing, read:
There has never been anyone in the history of American politics who whines as much as Donald Trump. Everything is unfair, everything is rigged, no one gives him credit, the media is mean, he’s such a whiner!!! How can anyone think this whining, complaining, little coward is tough?
(Truth & Accountability Project/Facebook)
The post included an image featuring photos of Nichols and U.S. President Donald Trump alongside the quote attributed to “Tom Nichols, Professor, U.S. Naval War College.” Another Facebook post (archived) and an Instagram post (archived) also attributed the quote to Nichols. A Snopes reader also asked via email, “Is this quote correctly attributed?”
Snopes contacted Nichols directly to verify the claim. As a result, we have rated this attribution correct.
Nichols — who is a professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College — told Snopes via email the quote definitely came from him, though he could not confirm the exact point in time he made it. He explained that he shared it on social media around the time he wrote a May 2020 article (archived) for The Atlantic titled “Donald Trump, the Most Unmanly President,” which contained a version of the quote. Because he has deleted much of his old posts on X (formerly Twitter), the post was no longer visible in searches.
In that article (archived), Nichols wrote (emphasis ours):
“But since his first day as a presidential candidate, I have been baffled by one mystery in particular: Why do working-class white men — the most reliable component of Donald Trump’s base — support someone who is, by their own standards, the least masculine man ever to hold the modern presidency? The question is not whether Trump fails to meet some archaic or idealized version of masculinity. The president’s inability to measure up to Marcus Aurelius or Omar Bradley is not the issue. Rather, the question is why so many of Trump’s working-class white male voters refuse to hold Trump to their own standards of masculinity — why they support a man who behaves more like a little boy.”
Nichols used nearly identical language to the quote shared in August 2025, describing Trump as “the least masculine man ever” in his 2020 article.
Nichols also noted some of the people sharing the quote after he’d removed the original post were his social-media followers.