this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
943 points (95.2% liked)

politics

19126 readers
2340 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 months ago (24 children)

This sort of story is dumb. Is that really the reason you wouldn't vote for someone? There must be more compelling points. So who is this for?

I think it's just circle-jerky "the team I hate also smells icky" stuff, like when Alex Jones said Obama and Hillary literally smelled like sulfur.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 2 months ago

Okay, but think about the person who would vote for him because he's powerful, won't succumb to that prissy woke-ism, etc.

Like it or not, but people vote on vibes all the time, and thinking he's a cool guy who will drain the swamp (by cutting welfare and social programs) is better for him than being kind of a smelly loser. It undercuts the strongman narrative that Republicans are selling.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 months ago (15 children)

It is a valid line of inquiry if you consider that not taking care of basic personal hygiene is a symptom of mental incompetence. We do not want to elect a mentally incompetent leader. By all visible evidence, the man has working arms and hands that should presumably be able to reach to wash himself. So if he goes around smelling like a toilet dumpster then something is mentally wrong there.

Of course there have been numerous other indications of such issues beyond the reports of stench.

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] Peruvian_Skies 36 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Indirectly, it's a strong indictment of Trump's mental health. A politician's strongest weapon (and a conman's, which he also is) is their image, and Trump knows it. If he's letting himself go to the extent that his odor deserves note, then you can be assured that he's let go of everything else that he considers less important than his image (i.e. everything else that exists) at least as much as he's let go of his hygiene, probably more.

The Donald J. Trump that debated Biden was a bad choice for a set of reasons that did not include becoming incapable of caring for the most important thing in his life. The current DJT has added that reason to the list.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

I think it's more indicative that he doesn't listen to or care about the opinions or feelings of anybody around him, which is a bad quality in a leader unless you want your country run by a despot. Mao never brushed his teeth and reportedly had breath that could raise the dead.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 months ago

I mean I get what you're saying but... If someone can't manage their own personal hygiene, especially with all the resources in the world, how in hell can they manage a country?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (15 children)

I mean if the felonies didn't change your mind... Maybe the smell will? XD

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] blockheadjt 32 points 2 months ago

If a person cannot accept the reality of hygeine and cannot take criticism, they are unfit to lead.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It is dumb, and not the reason anyone should not vote for him. That said, someone who foreign leaders don't want to be in a room with could present a problem.

I hope this article doesn't convince people, but instead they are convinced by the many, many others showing he is criminal and selfish. It is somewhat satisfying to have someone you really dislike have other undesirable qualities.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Another way to think about it, at some point even at McDonald's you'd get fired for poor hygiene if you constantly showed up to work smelling awful. That standard should especially apply to a diplomatic role in government.

But yeah, this is bottom tier reason not to elect him.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

I imagine that inciting a treasonous insurrection would also be grounds for termination even at McDonald's.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

In absolute terms, it would be a great reason not to elect him. In relative terms, he's so awful that it's very far down the list of reasons he's unfit to serve.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is the going low we’ve spent a decade arguing over. Well informed voters with strong morals are all either voting dem or holding out for the Dems to go left. This is us appealing to the common jackass who voted on vibes and thinks strength is more important than policy. The people who think strongman is a compliment. We aren’t even caring if they vote dem, we’re trying to kill their enthusiasm to vote for trump. Because appealing to Americans better nature didn’t work

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

In 2016, up to Election day, I was reasonably confident Clinton would win. I didn't like her, and I thought she was too right-wing, but the other side was objectively terrible and filled with awful people. I betted on American decency...and lost.

This year? If it takes saying the shitgibbon literally smells like shit to convince people to not vote for him, then let's start pointing out the shitgibbon actually smells like shit (and other unsavoury stuff).

[–] lurch 17 points 2 months ago

If elected, he represents you and your country internationally. This could have an impact on negotiations etc. Maybe not with leaders who prefer to sit on the other end of an insanely long table though.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

Part of me agrees and wishes our politics could be more elevated than this, but American democracy is at the point where we're banking on a Taylor Swift endorsement to save us from literal fascists from taking over. That's where we're at.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

You have to remember, anyone voting for Trump is fucking stupid as hell; it might actually work on them.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's unfortunately how you win these days. Campaigns in the past tried to take the high road when Trump went low. That doesn't work. So this is what we get.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

you're getting voted down, but yeah, "taking the high road" didn't do shit, so here we are.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Highly recommend folks check out the podcast Behind the Bastard's episodes "How The Liberal Media Helped Fascism Win" for more information on this topic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I'll add to my list, thanks.

[–] Jax 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

No, I don't think stories like this have anything to do with trying to convince voters to not vote for Trump because he smells bad. There's a pretty strong smear campaign going against him right now, and he doesn't realize that he's the critical piece to the campaigns success. Every time he insists that he isn't weird, or insists that he doesn't smell, suddenly half of the shit that he's talking about ends up being trying to defend his image on the public stage. The reason that silly little things like "he smells like ass, ketchup, makeup, w.e" are actually important right now is that Trump might see it. Someone related to Trump might see it, and suddenly the thought is living rent free in their brain.

Trump can't help himself, he has to respond. What kind of strong leader spends all their time whining about what other people are saying? He could smell like a fucking dumpster as long as he leads the country correctly, no?

Not only that, if they aren't Trump, they could probably make money off of interviews about whatever other weird shit surrounds Trump. It's a strategy that makes them (Magats and Trump) start to point fingers at one another, and honestly that's exactly what needs to happen if we want to prevent a conservative win in November.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Smear campaign? He is and always has been the smear. The dude is incredibly vile in every way possible and always has been.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

You know, first he grabbed by the pussy, and I said alright. Then he stole nuclear secrets for the Russians, and I was that’s ok. Then he attempted a coup, and I still didn’t care. But now… oh now he’s gone too far! He stinks! I can’t vote for a smelly guy!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

This is dumb and odor shouldn't be anyone's last straw with Donald, but I'll take whatever we can get.

You have to at least agree that this one seems to be backed by evidence, and differs from Alex Jones's bullshit on at least that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Bro if he can't even take care of himself how do you think he will take care of us?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

It's the journalistic version of junk food.

That said, I can't imagine he smells good. It makes the thought of Laura Loomer blowing him that much grosser

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

One is weird shit based on fairy tales that is obviously made up. The other is entirely plausible and consistent with other reports I've read about how he smells. It may be frivolous but it's not the same.

Also we're talking about someone who would be expected to meet world leaders and other noteworthy people in person on a regular basis. If he's physically disgusting, that's a very bad look for all of us.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

If true, it could indicate some sort of mental decline, basic hygiene around coworkers is expected when you're competing in one of the largest popularity contests in the world.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

It's gonna piss Trump off so I'm cool.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Jones is a deranged liar though. It’s far more believable that Trump has poor hygiene than his histrionic idiocy about Obama.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

You know doesn't smell like shit?

Kamala Harris. Can tell with your eyes she smells amazing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

For many, yes - this kind of thing is a reason not to vote for someone where open fascism is a non-event. It's dumb, but it (kinda) works.

load more comments (1 replies)