>> Right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool went on a viral rant saying Republicans are hotter than
Democrats. >> You go to the RNC and what do you typically
see? The dudes are all tall, chiseled, rugged. The women are all slim and busty and attractive.
You go to the DNC and what do you see?
The guys are all short, frumpy, overweight, and unattractive. And the women are overweight
as well. And I was reading something about why that is. And the general idea that I've
come up with cuz I was reading something about the trend being true generally, Republicans
have a skew slide towards more attractive.
And whether or not it's true because of one study is not the point. I will say, anecdotally
I've witnessed this. And so my conclusion is it's really simple actually. If you're
a very tall, deep-voiced, attractive, man, you're gonna get through life easier than
a short, weak, out of shape man.
And you are going to then think if I could do it on my own, everyone else can too. Or
at least you'll be like, I wanna be left alone and succeed on my own because I've done better
on my own. You take this other people who are unattractive and out of shape and they
struggle.
So they band together and form collectives and then vote for collectivism because life
isn't easy. >> That is the definition of a lot going on
there. Ana, I wanna get your reaction first, just your guttural, gut punch reaction to
that clip. >> I mean, look, I'm definitely not offended
by it.
I think it's silly. And it's especially rich coming from a guy who's wearing a hoodie in
120-degree weather. It's so hot, right now. It's just, he will not take that beanie off.
>> The beanie, yeah. >> Yeah, I said hoodie, right? No, I meant
beanie, my bad. >> Yeah.
>> Look, so he says, I'm just basing it on anecdotal evidence but he doesn't give us
any of that anecdotal evidence. He says that people at the RNC are chiseled and ripped.
>> Chiseled- >> I mean-
>> Just like the abs glistening- >> Yeah.
>> Through their Brooks Brothers Oxford.
Ana, you and I are both veterans of the RNC. You've had some run-ins with certain very
overweight, sweaty pig-looking right wing hosts at the RNC. Would you describe that
man as a chiseled square-jawed, just muscley, veiny guy?
>> No, I would not. >> Okay.
>> And if you wanna go back and watch that interaction, I make it very clear that I do
not find him to fit that description in any way.
>> And I stand by that because the description was accurate the way I described him, but
okay- >> So give me more, I'm curious.
>> Okay. >> Where did this come from?
>> So it's coming from this study, obviously it comes from his anecdotal evidence, just
him staring at the chiseled men.
But also there's a study that was conducted in 2017. It was published in the Journal of
Public Economics, and it concluded that the attractiveness of a candidate does correlate
with their politics. They find that politicians on the right are more good looking in Europe,
the United States and Australia.
And it starts by pointing out that Republicans are in fact quite shallow. In that sense,
the researchers found that Republican voters are more about appearance than Democratic
voters do. And it also says that the good-looking Republicans don't care about people because
they care so much about themselves. It says our explanation is that beautiful people earn
more, which makes them less inclined to support redistribution, the right look, conservative
politicians look better and voters reward it.
But this is the part that Tim Pool conveniently left out. The study also points out that voters
choose good-looking politicians only when they know little about the candidate. It says
that our model of within-party competition predicts that voters use beauty as a cue for
conservatism when they do not know much about candidates and that politicians on the right
benefit more from beauty in low-information elections.
>> Of course- >> Yeah.
>> That makes a lot of sense. >> Yeah, yeah.
>> That makes a lot of sense. Look, unfortunately looks do matter and there are certain-
>> Yeah. >> I don't know there's a certain aesthetic
that leads people to believe that a candidate is more trustworthy, whatever.
I mean, there have been studies on this. But I do wanna note, I'm gonna be the annoying
person commenting on studies by pointing out that in the very first graphic you mentioned,
Nando, the word correlate comes up. And cue the annoying YouTube comments that you usually
get- >> Yeah.
>> When you talk about a study. Correlation does not equal causation, okay?
>> Yeah. >> But no, but aside from that, I mean anecdotal
evidence means nothing. And I don't, there are some pretty good-looking right wingers.
There are good looking right wingers- >> Yeah.
>> That I can't stand politically speaking, but let's keep it real.
>> Yeah, like Donald Trump. There are some pretty good-looking left-
>> He's hot. >> I think Kristi Noem is very attractive.
I think she's a beautiful woman. >> Yes, yes.
>> And so and I think Sarah Palin was also very attractive. Someone pointed to me that
despite despising Chad Wolf, that Chad Wolf is also attractive.
I hadn't seen it until this was mentioned to me.
>> Yeah. >> And even though he's a fascist prick, he's
objectively good-looking, so I'll be fair. But there's some serious hotties on the left.
>> Yeah. >> He looks like David Dole. I'm sorry, David.
I'm sorry, don't hate me.
You're wonderful person. I love David Dole. You should watch his show. But he does look
like David Dole. >> Yeah.
>> And David Dole's a looker, he is. I've said that on the show before.
>> Yeah. >> Sorry.
>> No, there's some hotties on the left. This weekend on Jacobins show, we interviewed Matt
Karp.
He's super hot. So yeah, anecdotal evidence, I mean, I don't know. When I was at the RNC,
I saw a lot of barbecue sauce stained shirts with people who just like to, they twiddle
their fingers before they eat something- >> They get a box of doughnuts and they're
like, ooh, jelly-filled.
>> My god, So look, I think we're fair. I think we acknowledge that that anecdotal evidence
certainly exists. I'm glad that you got into the study.
>> Yeah. >> But it would have been more palatable to
hear this argument from someone who's not unattractive.
>> Right, yeah, >> I'm just keeping it, it's just-
>> Okay, we're bad people, we're bad. >> This is
>> So he does take the beanie off time to time. Yeah, it is mean, it's okay. I can't
stand this guy so- >> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> All right. >> Just chiseled, very chiseled men just walking
down the corridors of the RNC.
>> Yeah. >> It couldn't be further from the truth.
It just couldn't be further from the truth. Anyway
>> Let's just acknowledge that- >> The DNC either.
>> No, that's the point though. I think most people in the political world are either average
looking or not so attractive.
That's why the attractive ones stand out, right? I mean, I don't think I'm saying anything
offensive here. >> That's why they become actors and celebrities.
I mean, that's why they used to always say like politics is really just, it's Hollywood
for ugly people. All the hot ones went to Hollywood and became rich and famous and they
don't have to deal with lobbyists and fundraising and all that stuff.
It's demeaning, horrifying work only ugly people would do.