A desire to reclaim this psychic masculinity is why Mr. Trump fetishizes a specific (and specifically white) kind of rough-hewed American maleness while embodying an envy-inducing lack of obligation. The white working men of Trump speeches have the kind of dirty-fingernail jobs so revered in the American imagination: coal miners, firefighters, autoworkers. In real life, more Trump voters work in cubicles than in coal mines. But the point was never Mr. Trump’s understanding of reality. It was his grasp of white male aspiration and identity.

Mr. Trump’s own life and actions paint an appealing picture of masculine entitlement for those who want power without the shackles of responsibility. He may not be the smartest or most qualified guy in just about any room, but his money allowed him to marry and reproduce with a succession of models, star in a reality television show, live in vulgar gold-plated glory, say whatever offensive thing danced through his brain and still make a successful run for president. It was a plus that in the three Trump marriages, there have been no “power couple” partnerships of equals, just Mr. Trump on “The Howard Stern Show” talking about his wife’s breasts and bragging that he never changed a diaper.

Most American men are unable to actually achieve this level of authority minus accountability; as a result, admiration for men like Mr. Trump gets paired with an “if I can’t have it, no one can” nihilism. White male power remains a dominant force in America, but it is no longer the only force that matters. For many men, this is not a leveling of the playing field, but a plundering of what was rightly theirs.

Resentful of the changing order of things, some men have simply leaned in to chaos: If the system no longer serves them, it will at least be fun to blow it all up. Which is exactly why the old rules of political engagement don’t work with Mr. Trump or his base.

The president is a perfect figurehead for this bizarre moment: a man who carries all of the negative characteristics of stereotypical masculinity while adopting almost none of the virtues, occupying the most powerful and exclusively male seat of power in the nation (and perhaps in the world), who ascended in large part because a yawning fear of female power kept one of the best-qualified candidates in history out of office. He is ego unchecked, narcissism in place of dignity.

In a 1961 essay for Vogue, Joan Didion wrote that people with “self-respect have the courage of their mistakes. They know the price of things.” The piece went on to say, “In brief, people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character.” Character, she wrote, is “the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life.”

Our current president, who can’t even accept responsibility for his own social media use or admit that all-caps tweeting might suggest he’s angry about continuing criminal investigations and low poll numbers, may indeed be a new low. Mr. Trump has ushered in a fresh era of noxious manhood wherein bullying is conflated with toughness and self-interest is more important than self-respect. But all is not lost. Every generation believes it is uniquely observing diminishing standards of behavior, even while by most measures, life improves. Plenty of American men are doing exactly the opposite of Mr. Trump and embracing the more productive characteristics of masculinity while rejecting the malicious ones. And the virtues of self-respect — toughness, moral nerve, character — have never been, unlike the presidency, male-only business.