Trump Official Turned Project 2025 Leader Draws Backlash for Joking He Wants 'M-A-L-E' Only Voting

Mar. 15, 2025

Donald Trump and John McEntee on Sept. 11, 2020 outside the White House.Photo:ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/getty

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/getty

With the2024 presidential electiononly days away, a formerDonald Trumpcampaign official has drawn backlash for joking about the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920.

The video begins with McEntee, who the conservative think tank previously said washired in May 2023 to play “a vital role supporting the personnel pillar of Project 2025,“getting ready to eat chili cheese fries.

As he picks up his fork, he looks directly at the camera and says, “So I guess they misunderstood when we said we wanted mail-only voting. We meant male m-a-l-e.” The clip then ends with McEntee taking a bite out of his food after he lets out a big smile.

He continued his remarks in the post’s caption, writing: “Sorry we want MALE only voting. The 19th might have to go. 👨#JohnMcEntee #McEntee2028.”

John McEntee.SAUL LOEB/ap

SAUL LOEB/ap

The clip received backlash from various X users, with one writing, “You’re the most unmanly male that I have ever heard.” Another expressed, “Awww, how cute. He thinks he’s funny 🤭🤭.”

Others called McEntee a “misogynistic piece of garbage” and “a parody of a human being.”

Project 2025 did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

McEntee worked as an aid for Trump before beingfired in March 2018 due to an “unspecified security issue.“He was laterrehired in 2020and worked as the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

Donald Trump.Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty

Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty

After his time with the Trump administration, he co-founded the conservative dating app The Right Stuff, tellingFox Businessin September 2022, “Your only options are left wing. There’s a climate change tag, there’s no Second Amendment tag. There’s a feminism tag … BLM tag, there’s an LGBTQ tag, but there’s no pro-life tag.”

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source: people.com