CUCKSERVATIVE

Cuckservative is a portmanteau of “cuck,” which is an abbreviation of “cuckold,” and “conservative.” Similar to the acronym RINO (Republican in Name Only) or the term “race traitor,” the term is a pejorative epithet for people that are purportedly conservative but oppose white supremacy or otherwise are perceived to compromise on far-right values. ¹ It began circulating widely on the internet in 2015 in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

The word cuckold has long been an insult that implies that a man is weak, but cuck has specific fetishistic connotations. It is a genre of pornography in which married women reject their weak and emasculated husbands for sex with stronger, more masculine men. The husband is “cucked.” There are also racist implications, because often the cuck fantasy involves a white woman cheating on her husband with a black man, reflecting a deep anxiety over the far-right male’s sense of ownership over the female body as well as a fear of black men. ²

The insult insinuates that the cuckolded man perversely enjoys his own betrayal and resulting humiliation. In the same way, internet trolls use the term cuckservative to express contempt towards Republicans who abandon far-right ideals and suggest that these people are both degraded and thrilled by their own betrayal of their moral values. ³