Male Vanity as Political Weakness

If vanity is the soft underbelly of maleness, a vulnerable area between the armor of masculinity and the kill zone, it appears it was Donald J. Trump’s famous self-regard that was the target when Nikki Haley ramped up her attacks on her opponent in New Hampshire this week.

Soon after Mr. Trump appeared to confuse Ms. Haley in a speech with the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a Friday night rally in New Hampshire, Ms. Haley pounced. Using a strategy out of the “Mean Girls” playbook (chapter heading: “The Underminer”), Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, wondered aloud at a news conference whether the former president would be “on it’’ enough to lead the nation.

“My parents are up in age, and I love them dearly,’’ said Ms. Haley, conjuring an image of doddering geezers rocking on the porch. “But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That’s a fact — ask any doctor, there is a decline.’’

It’s well established that many factors, both social and genetic, affect how and when we decline and even at what rate. Yet few barbs have more consistent power to sting the vanity of men at any age than the ones that cast doubt on their potency — real or imagined, mental or otherwise.