The Hawk Tuah Girl Is Authentic Red State Culture

There’s a vibe shift going on–and right-wingers may not like it

America has a new folk hero–and it’s a young woman who described a sexual act in colorful detail. Hailey Welch, a 23-year-old Tennessean, went viral last month after she replied to a question on what makes a guy go crazy with: “You gotta give him that ‘HAWK TUAH’ and spit on that thang.” It inspired millions of memes and made Welch an overnight celebrity. She’s now making a decent profit from Hawk Tuah merchandise and is looking to trademark her phrase. 

Her folk hero status was confirmed last weekend at a Zach Bryan concert in Nashville. She was brought on stage by the popular country singer, who gave her the mic to shout “Hawk Tuah” and sing along with him. The crowd loved it. 

The concert appearance proves that the Hawk Tuah girl is authentic red state culture. The phrase itself has a folksy quality to it, especially when delivered in a southern drawl. It’s like someone saying “kinfolk.”  Her merchandise is primarily aimed at a red state demographic, with many of the hats and shirts coming in hunter camo. “Hawk Tuah” shirts have already been spotted at Trump rallies. Welch herself has a southern accent. The majority of the crowd that cheered on her Zach Bryan appearance is voting for Trump in November. Welch herself says she wouldn’t hawk tuah on Trump–but that’s open to a lot of interpretations. 

Some bitterly lament this girl’s popularity. Others deny she has any connection to real middle America. According to some on the internet, authentic red state culture is Eastern Orthodoxy, anime, and “third positionist” economics. In the real world, we all know that’s not the case. But in the fantasy bubble many craft on the internet, these delusions are allowed to thrive.

It’s worth understanding what middle American culture is like without wishcasting. It isn’t woke, but it can be vulgar. It’s low-brow, but it’s also white. It’s made peace with some of America’s cultural changes, but it doesn’t want any of them to interfere with their fun. This cultural style is getting more popular, as evidenced by country artists topping the Billboard charts and the massive success of the TV series Yellowstone. I call this “Morgan Wallen whiteness” after the country star who overcame cancellation.

The vulgar style of the hinterlands isn’t new. The Scots-Irish horrified other colonists with their rowdiness and open sexuality. They weren’t ashamed to “roll around in the hay.”  Even though their evangelicalism checked some of this, it never went away. The content of country music carried on those uncouth traditions. In modern times, these are the people who loved pro wrestling, “truck nuts,” and wearing “Git R Done” T-shirts. They aren’t puritans, which explains why they loved Trump. Despite being a New Yorker, he spoke their language.

Trumpism reflects this style. The base loves shouting “Fuck Joe Biden” and even putting FJB decals on their trucks. In 2016, “Trump That Bitch” shirts were popular. Similar attire is easy to find at a MAGA rally. It’s even a place where you can find women wearing shorts that declare on the back: “Fuck Me Great Again.” The Hawk Tuah girl fits right in.

Liberals and Never Trumpers love to insist that Trump would vulgarize our politics. But that’s not really true. His movement simply reflects the tastes of much of his base. Some, such as Lauren Boebert, take this too far and go full Insane Clown Party. But Trump himself at least keeps this populist style focused on important issues rather than being a total clown.

This style isn’t all vulgar. Compared to rap culture, it’s almost wholesome. The average pop song describes sex in graphic detail now. Country songs are more subtle about the birds and the bees and more appropriate for family listening. 

It’s difficult to fully define this style. While country is its soundtrack, it’s not exclusively southern or even rural. It’s basically the culture of middle- and working-class whites outside of the major metropolitan areas. It’s bro-y, but not exclusively male. (See the Hawk Tuah girl). It’s largely apolitical outside of being anti-woke. This cultural attitude does not want public figures declaring “Black Lives Matter” or celebrating Pride Month. It simply wants them to sing or throw the football. Barstool Sports and ESPN commentator Pat McAfee could easily be included in this sphere. It makes sense the Hawk Tuah girl did her first interview since becoming famous with Barstool. 

The audience is even fine with some left-wing themes being incorporated into its favorite entertainment–so long as it upholds a red state style. Yellowstone features lectures about white privilege, but the audience still loves it because it celebrates ranchers and rural life. Zach Bryan is a liberal, but the audience still loves his authentic country music. The culture is bigger than politics. That said, the audience overwhelmingly leans right.

The culture isn’t exactly socially conservative. It doesn’t like the trans stuff and finds the Pride Flag cringe. Yet, it’s not wanting to adopt the agenda of the old Religious Right. Adherents swear a lot and aren’t prudes about sex. They get tattoos and are fine with marijuana legalization. (Several red states have decriminalized the drug.) They mainly don’t like wokeness telling them what to do. They don’t want to check their white privilege, they don’t want to pay reparations, they don’t want to list their pronouns, and they don't want the third world pouring into America. They like their men to be men and their women to be women. But their women do engage in some unlady-like behavior. See the Hawk Tuah girl.

This is the audience for this cultural style–not the culture itself. Its entertainment products largely steer of overt politics, besides being pro-flyover country. “Try That In A Small Town” is a notable exception. 

The culture is clearly white, but it has adopted some black influence. This was illustrated by the Hawk Tuah girl’s famous sentence (“that thang”). The audience is okay with rap and likes country artists incorporating elements of it into their music. But the audience remains overwhelmingly white. You don’t see much diversity at Zach Bryan concerts or at NASCAR races. The whiteness, however, remains largely unacknowledged by its people. 

The exemplar of this style is Morgan Wallen, hence the name I give it. The country star is a right-coded figure who still eschews politics. But he is beloved by many red state Americans. He is a very white figure. He has a southern accent and doesn’t speak in AAVE. The one time he did, he was canceled for it.

In early 2021, he drunkenly called one of his friends a “pussy ass n***a” on tape. The release of the video resulted in him being dropped from the airwaves and his label. It looked like his career was over, but he quickly bounced back from it. His 2021 album eventually broke the record for the number of weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard chart. Wallen’s overcoming of cancelation was an early indicator of woke in retreat. Despite using the n-word (the “a” variant), he’s collaborated with multiple rappers. Wallen’s use of the word reflects rap influence rather than racial animus. He didn’t use the “hard R” version. Calling someone a “pussy ass n***a” is repeating rap slang. A klansman would never say something like that. The language reflects the black influence on modern red state culture.

This is not the ideal right-wing culture, of course. Many aspects of it are stupid and crass. Greerheads won’t like the tats and weed use of its adherents. It doesn’t quite reject multiculturalism or wokeness. It simply goes a different way instead of being a backlash. However, it is the culture of much of our base. It is white, it upholds traditional masculinity, and it is better than the alternatives. Normies need to be pushed in the right direction. Getting country on Top 40 radio and making westerns popular again is still a positive thing, even if we wish the country and westerns were more KEYED. 

We don’t have to embrace the vulgarity of the Hawk Tuah girl; we simply need to understand that our base likes vulgarity in a folksy twang. It’s something Trump got and why he became the champion of middle America. We can wish for a better culture for our people, but this is what we have. It’s not great, but it’s better than them going full wigger.