• StereoTrespasser@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Wonderful. This is what the American electorate is talking about. Not climate change, healthcare, guns, income inequality, or a billionaire tax.

    No, the biggest drama is whether a candidate is wearing lifts.

    We deserve the politicians we get.

    • Actaeon@artemis.camp
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      8 months ago

      It’s not about the lifts.
      It was never about the lifts.
      It’s about masculine insecurity and the deceit that surrounds it.

      One end of the political spectrum doesn’t care to understand climate change, healthcare, guns, income inequality, or a billionaire tax, so if we want to engage on those topics one side is left yelling into the void.

      However, if there is one thing the right does understand, it is masculine insecurity and deceit. So we get to talk about that.

      • Hairyblue@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Plus Ron discriminates against other people who do things to make them more comfortable with themselves. So DeSantis can can wear heals to make himself the tall man he wants to be, but others can’t make similar changes to live the life they want? It is despicable and he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

        And we can do more than one thing at a time. We also talk about his bigoted policies too.

        • Cjwii@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Also I read somewhere he is 5’11 which is like perfectly normal height for anyone. I’m 5’11 and I’ve never in my life felt any insecurities about my height. Though I do always laugh when some guy tells a woman or group that he’s 6ft and he’s obviously shorter than me. I usually let it slide but it’s funny how often that happens.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Nah, it’s not about insecurity or making himself feel better. The man’s a robot and he’s acting on data that shows the taller candidate always wins the Presidential race.

          He’s making a calculation, but it’s so ridiculous in this case, LMAO.

      • Blackbeard@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Absolutely. If they want to play a game where boisterous but fragile narcissists are the only ones they trust to run the country, then we’ll show them very clearly that they’re voting for paper tigers.

      • Wilibus@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        It’s not about the lifts.
        It was never about the lifts.
        It’s about masculine insecurity and the deceit that surrounds it.

        Do you know what it’s also not about? Any of the issues that should matter.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The American electorate can talk about more than one thing a time. If you want discussions about climate change, health care, guns, income inequality, etc then they are all out there, and you can jump in right now.

      If you are only seeing discussions about lifts then it’s because you’ve filtered your sources to show you new topics, and this is new.

    • SeedyOne@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Dan Quayle misspelled “potato” and it tanked his presidential run. We’ve been like this for longer than you can imagine…

  • will_a113@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    Because of course Bootgate is the thing that will bring the DeSantis campaign down – not all of that fascism or corruption stuff.

    • Fisk400@feddit.nu
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      8 months ago

      Yeah, he is running to be the leader of a fascist party. The GOP voters are ok with fascism but the boots are a sign of insecurity and weakness and fascist hate that.

    • ChrisLicht@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      To be fair, the boots are part and parcel with fascism’s over-focus on idealized body perfection

    • chunkystyles@sopuli.xyz
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      8 months ago

      His campaign was already in the shitter.

      His complete lack of charisma or ability to speak to other humans like a human is what killed it.

      Bootgate is just hilarious.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Political campaigns have turned into gossip wars, and I kind of want to know if this is because journalists can’t be bothered to talk about issues, if their audience can’t understand anything deeper than “ha ha elevator shooz”, if journalists have to fill so much time that they’ve exhausted issues, or if their audience just doesn’t care about issues. I don’t think it’s a particularly new phenomenon - I remember mockery of Jimmy Carter for his peanut farm - but it sure does seem a lot louder now.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Journalists have tried to ask him serious questions. He just evades them.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      There’s so much to unpack though. He’s only doing this farcial thing because he’s read the stats that the taller candidate wins. This is true! So, like a robot, he’s digesting that data and acting on it, no matter how dumb it makes him look.

      And this really is important! This thing sounds dumb, but it speaks deeply to his character.

      • Do we want a President that appears to be an insecure twit?!
      • Do we want a President who is so damned clueless that he finds obvious, and ridiculous, lifts a smart idea?
      • What other idiot choices would such a President make, based on appearances vs. what actually works?
  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    This is amusing, but there are many more valid reasons to reject the fascist. It’s funny to use the right’s toxic masculinity against them, though.

    • jtk@lemmy.sdf.org
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      8 months ago

      When we complain about the evil he does, his base gets off on it and end up liking him even more. Focusing on this is the better move, it at least has a chance at turning them against themselves. They’re never going to change sides anyway.

    • Hikermick@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Agreed that this stuff is ridiculous but it’s not exclusive to America. Once you learn some of the tricks of image conscious politicians and business types you’ll see it all over. Remember the photos of Putin slouched in his chair next to Obama? Putins a shrimp compared to Obama, he tried to look disinterested and disrespectful rather than be compared next to him. It’s more than a height thing too. Placement of the hand when being photographed is a big one.

  • Rhoeri@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It’s good to see the media going after the important things about his campaign. This is fucking embarrassing.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      The problem is that his supporters care more about this than they do just about anything actually meaningful. Focusing on petty bullshit is going to be more effective at undermining his presidential campaign than any actual crime or ethical dilemma he gets caught in.

      Fascist will excuse any level of hate, but they won’t abide by weakness.

      • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        And if he’s adding heels to his shoes, that means he’s insecure about his height. And don’t tell me he doesn’t deserve to be ridiculed for faking his height. He deserves every second of it.

  • paprika@infosec.pub
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    8 months ago

    Does anyone remember the story about DeSantis going to underage parties when he was a high school teacher (which was weird ass behavior and no one seemed to care)?

    https://media.snopes.com/2023/02/trump_desantis_truth_social_1.jpg

    He’s a little taller than these girls, and the average height for a teenaged girl is 5’4". He’s about 5’6" and he’s packing about 4 inches of heels into his ugly fucking boots.

  • carl_dungeon@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Of course it’s true. I looked at a dozen pictures and watched like 5 vids of him walking badly in heels. He can deny it, but then I’m gonna wanna see him barefoot next to a mugshot height chart.

    • o_oli@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Exactly lol. He is really going to let his campaign die over not taking his boots off? It’s quite obviously true and he can go in the high heel club with Trump and Putin.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 months ago

    hate him with the fire of a thousands suns but also hate how the media done the typical thing like “oh he’s closeted” or “oh he’s a cross dresser” as if either of those things are negative.

    it’s the same as calling lindsay graham closeted or accusing ann coulter of being a trans woman.

    (i’m not addressing y’all mostly just commenting on the media)

  • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 months ago

    The release noted DeSantis’ appearance on a recent podcast where he was pressed on the topic. The governor said he hadn’t been made aware of the allegations but insisted his boots were standard, off-the-rack Lucchese, a statement the Trump campaign called “major brand damage to a great American footwear company.”

    lol

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      If it were untrue it would be so easy for him to disprove. Go on a talk show, stand back-to-back with the host, take off his boots, stand back to back again, let the host look at his shoes. Done! He could laugh at how his opponents were so insecure they were accusing him of using lifts instead of focusing on the issues. He could ask if the “libs” had a foot fetish. He could take a dig at trump by saying and showing he also has normal-sized hands, unlike some people.

      It’s possible he isn’t addressing it because his strategy consultants think it’s better to just let it blow over and not engage. But, it also could be that he’s not addressing it because it’s true.

      • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 months ago

        This is like the Obama birth certificate thing, except whether Desantis wears lifts has even less to do with his suitability as a political candidate.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          In some ways, sure. But, the character of a potential president is important, and secretly using lifts is relevant to someone’s character. It either says they’re insecure about their height, or that they don’t think people will vote for them unless they appear taller than they really are.

          • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            8 months ago

            FDR worked hard to conceal the fact that he couldn’t walk. What sort of character flaw was that indicative of?

            • merc@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              He didn’t think that Americans could accept a disabled president. He was probably right. DeSantis may also be right that Americans wouldn’t accept a short president. In both cases, the fact that they lied to the electorate is bad.

              • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                8 months ago

                In both cases, the fact that they lied to the electorate is bad.

                I will concede that.

                Abraham Lincoln grew a beard because an 11 year old girl Grace Bedell wrote him a letter.

                I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.

                Appearances are important to people, even if they ought not be. I don’t think recognizing that is necessarily evidence of a character flaw or some failure of personal integrity.

                On the other hand, Douglas MacArthur was vain, a jackass, and a gloryhound. I think that was reflected in his appearance.


                Brigadier General MacArthur in the center in his unauthorized WWI uniform. He never wore a helmet, even in no man’s land, and he would always wear that modified hat. His uniform was completely different from his four subordinates in the photo.


                Douglas MacArthur, seen here as a brigadier general, cleaned up after the Germans left and restored what he could of the original splendor. He is seated in the original chair of the old lord of the chateau. St. Benoit Chateau, France.

                • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                  8 months ago

                  I understand that people are vain. But, Lincoln’s beard was hardly a secret. It’s not really the vanity that’s an issue, it’s the dishonesty.

                  Look how much trouble Nixon caused trying to keep his involvement with the scandal at the Watergate a secret. Or, how much trouble resulted from Bill Clinton not being honest about his affair(s). If DeSantis is going to lie about wearing lifts because revealing the truth makes him look bad, what might he want to hide as president that makes him look bad?