Mein Gott in Himmel the amount of work being done to gas up the DeSantis balloon is huge, even by the corrupt standards of the DC Press Corpse, but gather round children, and I’ll tell you why this no-charisma fucker isn’t going to win: he’s too short.
It’s a hard fact to find — which is, in itself, telling — but my extensive 90 seconds of Googling tells me that Ron is 5′ 9″. Which means he’s 5′ 8″, right? Let’s look at the tale of the ex presidents: St. Reagan, 6’1″; GHWB, 6′ 2″, Bill, 6′, 2.5″, Bush the Lesser, 5′ 11.5″, Barack, 6′ 1.5″, The Donald, 6′ 3″, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr, 6′ even. Jimmy Carter, in hospice, has a good half inch on Ron and is the shortest president since Truman. LBJ was a majestic 6′ 4″ as he sat on the toilet and harangued his advisors.
Here’s the other thing: Ron conducts himself like a short man. I was honestly surprised to see Carter’s height — he’s a towering individual even at his just-a-bit-more-than-average height. Biden looks tall. Obama is almost exactly my height and I’d have guessed that he was at least an inch or two taller than me. Trump, hate him as we all do, at least acts like he’s 6′ 3″. Meatball Ron’s impression, to me at least, is 5′ 7″ on a good day in elevator shoes.
Look, I don’t make the rules about men and height. It’s something that nobody can control, but ‘Murica likes its politicians tall. I also don’t really care about height, but have only come to realize its importance when meeting men with short man’s disease, an affliction that Ron shares with Napoleon. The puffed-out chest, the absolutely perfect posture, the constant look upward, and the insecure, hateful bullshit that streams out of his mouth are all signs that he’s deep down the SMD rabbit hole.
On the other hand, you know who else was 5′ 9″? Hint: he was also a vegetarian and wrote a book about his life that I’m sure Ron keeps on his bedside table. So maybe my theory isn’t 100% yet.
Baud
Little Napoleon Bonafart!
twbrandt
@Baud: think toothbrush mustache
craigie
Also the only reason I will never be President.
oatler
Sawdust Caesar
Hildebrand
His nasal whine of a voice is not going to play well, either.
That and he looks far older than his chronological age. I was gobsmacked when I realized he is but 43.
The Moar You Know
It is a rare thing that the shorter man wins a presidential election. And I agree with your take: Meatball ACTS like a short man. This and a couple of other reasons make me think he’s not going to be acceptable outside of Florida to voters.
Plus, there are numbers. The runaway favorite with the GOP electorate is still Trump. Rage Munchkin is not anywhere close to even being competitive.
WaterGirl
@Hildebrand: Damn, you beat me to the comment about his voice.
He sounds petulant and whiny, no matter what he is talking about. It screams “don’t take me seriously.”
Baud
@The Moar You Know:
Plus, does DeSantis have even one branded consumer product?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Also completely humorless.
ETA: in an era before Trump, I can see is laughing at a fictional movie character in the Trump mold. Probably a mistake on our part, but those were more innocent times.
Jeffg166
Short guy over compensating persona.
fancycwabs
Sure, but Trump isn’t 6-3 any more than he is 235 lbs, which you can tell by googling any image of him standing next to Obama.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think your browser dropped a word.
You meant to write completely humorous prick, right?
RedDirtGirl
I’ve been watching mindless tv lately. Keifer Sutherland (5′ 9″) is on Designated Survivor and every time he is standing next to other men I think, “He could never be president!”.
Also, too…I just learned that his daughter played Selina Meyer’s daughter Catherine on VEEP!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
it surprises me that trump hasn’t capitalized on those videos that show how much Little Ron imitates his stage mannerisms. Just plant the seed with Maggie H et al: “Have you noticed that? Have you seen how he imitates me? He wants to be me”
Probably because it makes The Beast self-conscious to see his own schtick analyzed that way. “Do I really do that with my hands?” Flashing on a quote from Uta Hagen, something about the hands are a stage actor’s worst enemy
WaterGirl
@fancycwabs: Agree. But some people see him and think “big” – of course, I look at him and think disgusting.
The Moar You Know
@fancycwabs: had to look at the miserable bastard far more than I ever wanted to, he’s a solid 6′ 1″ and just shy of 300 by my estimation.
NotoriousJRT
He’s just a prick of the first magnitude. That a lib like me thinks that will plays well with the MAGA crowd that devoutly wishes to own the libs. I keep hoping that they will recognize one day that the only people that jerks like DeSantis truly own are the schmucks who vote for them. By the time they cotton on to the fact that the leopards are eating their faces, well, you know.
WaterGirl
@RedDirtGirl: I think most actors are tall, too. At least the men.
Though there are some exceptions. Chris O’Donnell from NCIS, for instance.
Leslie
@RedDirtGirl: This reminds me that I am often a bit startled to realize that some people in the showbiz world have aged sufficiently to have grown children of their own. I suppose it’s like anybody else, if you haven’t encountered them in a while; they get stuck in your memory at a certain age. And I don’t pay much attention to that world, so I have a lot of people stuck back in their youth.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Tom Cruise is short.
VOR
Supposedly Harry S. Truman (5’9″) was unimpressed when he finally met Stalin. Apparently Uncle Joe was something like 5’5″, despite all the propaganda pictures of him as a big physical presence.
I was amused in Netflix’s “The Crown” when they cast 6’4″ John Lithgow to play 5’6″ Winston Churchill. He spent a lot of time hunched over. Or in bed since Churchill had a serious health issue during the time period of the season. Of course they also cast 5’7″ Vanessa Kirby to play 5’1″ Princess Margaret.
Cameron
I’m not sure being vertically challenged is an impediment to power. Vladimir Putin isn’t exactly a giant among men.
Although I did find it grotesque that Tom Cruise was cast to play Jack Reacher. WTF?
NotoriousJRT
@WaterGirl:
He sounds petulant and whiny, no matter what he is talking about
Alas, so does Tucker Carlson. Go figure.
Mike in NC
We all know that Trump was a douchebag who wore 2″ lifts in all his shoes. Like everything else about the stooge, his real height and weight are a closely guarded secret. The creepy thing on top of his head was teased to add at least another inch to his alleged height.
DeSatan is short and stocky and the more he tries to mimic Trump, the less his appeal is going to be. Turning Florida into North Korea with palm trees is the best he can hope for. Does Floriduh have term limits for governor? Sadly, he could well follow Batboy Scott to several terms in the US Senate.
Betty
My husband at approximately 5’7″ is one of the shorter men I have known who does not suffer from the complex. He doesn’t seem to know he’s short. Bless him. DeSantis on the other hand …
West of the Rockies
@Hildebrand:
Yes, he does have a shitty voice. He is also utterly humorless. Even Trump got laughs (from his insults and dreary impressions).
SMD, pissy voice, no-laughs Ron will fade like a Fart in a February storm.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Exceptions prove the rule!
cain
@WaterGirl:
He might be those things – but his voters don’t care. Trump is also whiny and petulant and he won – and he won with almost a lot less effort than Hillary. Remember how he didn’t even open up offices in the various cities.
Racism and resentment is a powerful drug that can transform even a short, whiney, petulant man into something else.
WaterGirl
@NotoriousJRT: Yes. Tucker Carlson is the worst. How can people be influenced by him?
RedDirtGirl
@Leslie: Not just people in show biz. I’m 58, and somehow I still think of my older sister as 17.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: Did you mean *YOU MUST take me seriously, ‘cause I’m the BOSS!* At least that’s what I hear with his insistent whining.
Shalimar
@WaterGirl: Actors are a lot wider range than you would think. Who is cast with them and how they shoot scenes can create optical illusions. Tom Cruise is the most famously short actor, but you rarely notice it in his movies.
Delk
Is he taller than Little Marco?
Freemark
cain
@VOR:
John is one of my faves – he was brilliant in the Perry Mason HBO series.
WV Blondie
Jimmy Carter wasn’t short – he was actually fairly tall for his chosen profession, working on nuclear-powered subs (where space is at a premium).
And while he was shorter than Gerald Ford, Ford had the weight of Nixon dragging him down several inches (LOL).
Anoniminous
Pew Research
“The transition of news from print, television and radio to digital spaces has caused huge disruptions in the traditional news industry, especially the print news industry.”
The NYT desperately needs to gin-up hysteria a la Hearst “You provide the pictures and I’ll provide the war.” It doesn’t matter if scumbag is a worthless little shit. It’s all about the eyeballs they can sell to advertisers. As long as stories about Little Ronnie accumulate eyeballs they’ll keep running them.
FastEdD
Sylvester Stallone is also short. Amazing that he is famous for the enormous powerful Rocky character. I met Stallone years ago and I looked down on the top of his head. I’m 5’ 10”. I doubt he’s grown any taller since then!
VOR
@cain: Lithgow is brilliant and made Churchill work, despite the physical similarity issues.
West of the Rockies
@Leslie:
When I think Sutherland, I usually recall the Lost Boys version. That was 35 years ago.
Baud
@FastEdD:
I think Schwarzenegger is fairly short too.
NotoriousJRT
@WaterGirl: How can people listen to that whine AND look at that resting/not resting terminally perplexed face? I can’t even do clips played to criticize him.
Tony G
@NotoriousJRT: Well … it should have been obvious to the MAGAs that Trump was screwing them for four years — but more than 74 million of them came out to vote for Trump in 2020. These are not intelligent people.
Baud
OT: Lefties are really coming after Buttigieg. You are forewarned.
Leslie
@WaterGirl: These days, probably true, though there are a fair number of counterexamples: Bogart, Pacino, Michael J. Fox, Tobey Maguire, Tom Cruise, Billy Crystal, Jonah Hill, James McAvoy, Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood, etc. It may limit the types of roles they’re offered, of course, depending on other factors.
Cameron
It’s probably just me, but whenever I see pics/clips of Governor DeSantis, I get a mental image of him darting in and out of a burrow somewhere in the woods.
Delk
A lot of short male singers. Roger Daltrey is 5’6”
West of the Rockies
DeSantis is our own Kim Jong-un: short, plump, bad hair, and despotic. Slightly better dressed.
RedDirtGirl
@Baud: I guess they make up for it in width!
West of the Rockies
@Delk: Is that why he smashed so many guitars? (What a stupid thing to do.)
Leslie
@Cameron: Cruise as Reacher was a travesty. The film was well made, as are most Cruise properties, but it was necessary to pretend the books didn’t exist to watch it.
Alan Ritchson, on the other hand, is practically perfect in the role.
@RedDirtGirl: Time really is a very strange thing.
@Baud: Dafuq? What for?
Delk
@West of the Rockies: that was Pete not Roger.
Cameron
@Baud: That’s not cool. AFAIK, he’s never claimed to be a lefty. I think he’s pretty honest about where he falls on the political spectrum.
Leslie
@Cameron: Thanks for the laugh.
@Delk: Just saw that Marc Anthony is around that height, too.
WaterGirl
@Jackie:
If you have to tell people to take you seriously, you have already lost.
If you have to say “I’m the big dog”, you’re certainly not functioning like the big dog.
I always think of my dog AC. Twice as big as my cocker spaniel, and they would race after the ball together. Sometimes when AC got the ball first, Murphy would take it out of his mouth.
AC didn’t care; he knew he was the big dog, and on the rare occasions that something mattered to him, he always won.
DeSantis would have been whining “not fair! I’m supposed to have that, I’m in charge” if Murphy had tried to take his ball.
AC was my hero, a real role model for life.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
In the mythology of the Cult of Bernie, he is the Great Betrayer who derailed the 30% strategy that could not fail.
Steeplejack
@Cameron:
The two Reacher movies are pretty good action movies, but the Tom Cruise character has fuck all to do with the Reacher of the books. Zoomy car chase? Reacher doesn’t drive. Etc.
Burnspbesq
Americans’ preference for tall leaders goes all the way back. Depending on which account you believe, Washington was between 5’11” and 6’2,” which was really tall in the late 18th Century. Again, accounts vary, but Jefferson has been described as between 6’2” and 6’5” (6’5” would make him the tallest President, surpassing the 6’4” Lincoln).
scav
Napoleon at 5’ 6” or 7” was at least average for France at his time. (random-ish link with illustration)
Brachiator
All this is funny, but spurious as fuck. Napoleon was not particularly short. People are confusing political cartoons of the era with historical reality.
Short Man Syndrome. Not really a thing.
The stuff about American presidents is an interesting anecdote, but again, not necessarily social or political reality, and has no predictive value. Also, how do governors and senators compare?
And the elephant in the room is that you have to leave women out of the equation, or admit that this is a confounding factor that renders even judgments about male candidates worthless.
But it’s fun.
ETA: I don’t watch much TV news, and have never heard DeSantis speak. But he looks like someone who is perpetually constipated and filled with rage. None of the faux self-confidence of Trump.
I have no idea how he has succeeded in Florida, though I pay attention to Betty Cracker posts on him. However, he has skillfully pandered to and paid off a certain degree of idiot white rage in a sector or the electorate. This makes him dangerous despite whatever faults he may have.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They have never forgiven him for beating Magic Grandpa in Iowa and then dropping out of the primaries.
narya
One of Joe’s greatest strengths is that he genuinely likes people and wants to help them, and a second strength is that he actually does have a sense of humor. And he has compassion. I realize that the cruelty is the point for the MAGA crowd, but I think that also wears thin for normies, no?
WaterGirl
@Baud: Why? What are they attacking him on?
Leslie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, fuck that noise.
PJ
@West of the Rockies: Sigh. Roger Daltrey was the singer in the Who. Pete Townshend smashed his guitars because it made a good show.
Ken
But that was over 70 years ago, when men were smaller in, ahem, every way.
(As shown by a recent study, which some valued commenter was noting, repeatedly, in the comments sometime last week.)
WereBear
@Leslie: Yes, and Reacher is not a runner, while Cruise is.
Ruckus
@Betty:
I was the shortest kid in my all boys Catholic high school. By a noticeable amount short. Two weeks into freshman year the shits in charge had an entire school assembly in which they called for the shortest kid in each shop up to the stage, and yes it was to make fun of their height in front of the entire school. My class of course chose me overwhelmingly. I told them to fuck off, if I stood up I was walking out the door behind us with one finger raised. I won’t go into what I told them I’d do if anyone grabbed me. And I was dead serious. It of course turned out that I was 100% correct about why they wanted the shortest kids on stage, it was to make fun of them in front of the entire school. I did eventually grow and am just over 5’10”. But I fully understand being short. I fully understand about being picked upon. It also helped me to understand conservative humans at a rather young age. Their world revolves around the huge stick stuck up their ass. Which is just a more colorful description of completely selfish ass.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Something different than what they were coming after him about last week, or still the Ohio train derailment?
Cameron
@Steeplejack: I’ve been told the Amazon series is good – at least they chose somebody who’s physically more like the Reacher in the novels. Haven’t checked it out yet.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It breaks my heart
to see those stars
smashing up perfectly good guitars
I don’t know who
they think they are
smashing up perfectly good guitars
sdhays
I just want to gently push back on the idea that 5’9” (or 5’8″) is “short”. According to the Google, the average male height in the US is 5’9″.
Maybe that’s not tall enough to be President (I’m skeptical), but it’s not “short”. Now, being a whiny, joyless piece of shit – hopefully that’s a significant impediment to national political office.
Bupalos
I think it’s just generally a bad idea to be applying (or especially relying) on traditional rules of American politics just now. As noted, there are enough historical examples of leaders of authoritarian revanchism to draw exactly the opposite height lesson. The GOP isn’t after the 4?th American presidency, they are after the 1st American soft dictatoeship.
I’m not in to the nostradamus stuff, retired from that line of work in 2016. But Desantis is exactly as dangerous as his culture war act has resonance.
WereBear
Tall girls. Mail order shoes. That relentless “norm.”
frosty
@Betty: I’m shorter than your husband and I don’t notice it … except trying to get stuff from the kitchen cabinets. Or in pictures with my six-footer friends, then ugh.
The picture I got with me and John Fetterman is a hoot. It came out just the way I thought it would.
Cameron
The worst damage DeSantis could do is if he floated on a red tide into Washington. Since the SC is already compromised, a wingnut legislative majority would mirror on the national level the situation he enjoys in Florida. And we’d probably get the same results nation-wide. Screw that.
And….I just got a pop-up news item that – wouldn’t you know it – the red tide is starting to roll up on Sarasota beaches….
Steeplejack
@Cameron:
It’s on my “maybe watch” list.
scav
Would actually be interesting figuring out where the secret deciding factor (of comparative height) was smuggled out to all those voters who generally never saw the candidates in person, let alone side-by-side. “Tippecanoe is Five Point Two!” “Ma Ma, How tall’s my Pa?”
WereBear
@sdhays: I weeded out the insecure by wearing heels. One use for them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ha!
SFAW
@Baud:
Unpossible! Were that true, he could never credibly play Jack Reacher, who is 6’5″ and weighs about 250.
Next you’ll be trying to tell us that Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are short.
Heidi Mom
Fortunately Ukrainians were willing to elect a short President.
West of the Rockies
@PJ:
Sigh. And Moon blew up drum sets and drove over his chauffeur (accidentally).
Yes, they were a great band. Half of them were shitty people.
Citizen Alan
@Baud: There were so many times during the trump regime that I thought we would have been far better off with President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in office. For all his supposed idiocy, President Camacho, when confronted by a national crisis, assembled a think tank of the smartest people who could be found in the country and listened to their recommendations.
FelonyGovt
@cain: But Trump had the advantage of having been on national teevee as a supposedly successful businessman and leader. People thought they “knew” him.
Citizen Alan
@Baud: There were so many times during the trump regime that I thought we would have been far better off with President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in office. For all his supposed idiocy, President Camacho, when confronted by a national crisis, assembled a think tank of the smartest people who could be found in the country and listened to their recommendations.
Citizen Alan
@RedDirtGirl: To be fair, Sutherland only become president in that show through process of elimination.
Leslie
@Ruckus: My dad was about 5’2″ until his senior year of high school, when he shot up by a foot. But I don’t think his school (in Los Angeles) ever did anything that cruel. Some people should not be allowed anywhere near children.
@Cameron: It’s quite good. The actor not only has the right physicality, he captures a lot of Reacher’s character.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: Most actors are skinny guys with oversize heads. That physical body/head type makes them look skinnier and taller than they really are.
scav
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait, this one’s real: “Make your wet dreams come true.” — Al Smith, 1928
Paul in KY
@Cameron: I think Tom Cruise cast Tom Cruise to play Jack Reacher.
patrick II
Often the funny thing about short lead actors such as Tom Cruise or Keither Sutherland is that they build the whole cast around the height of the lead — short girlfriend, short friends, etc. In Star Trek they had a platform for Shatner to stand on when he kissed beautiful alien girls. In “24” all of the main people at headquarters were, by Keifer’s unofficial contract, not tall. Keifer’s semi-trustworthy assistant Tony was 5’8″. There are a bunch of character actors who are very happy about short lead actors. Sometimes I think of movies as short-people movies and tall-people movies.
In the old days, they went so far as to build cowboy towns and bars that were undersized so that all of the cowboys looked taller.
Paul in KY
@Cameron: He’s a Sackville-Baggins for sure!
Brachiator
@Baud:
Also coming after Kamala Harris.
And they claim that Bernie Sanders’ Magic forced Biden to pivot more to the left.
These idiots cannot help themselves.
kalakal
@scav: The image of Napoleon as short owes a lot to James Gillray. Napoleon himself considered Gillray’s caricatures did more damage to his than a dozen generals. Gillray portrayed Napoleon as a tiny many in ridiculously oversized boots, hats etc, a tantrum throwing little man who wasn’t even big enough for his own clothes
Gillray Boney
Suzanne
I don’t think his height is the disqualifying (appearance-related) factor, at least not in particular. He has this mildly too-into-his-look look, and that is not cool. Like, he seems like the kind of dude who gets Botox or uses expensive moisturizer. On women, that kind of fussiness reads as kind of pretentious or high-maintenance-y, maybe even desperate. On men, it reads a bit “coastal elitist” and is definitely not strictly hetero.
Trump managed to be the sort of dude who looks like he uses expensive moisturizer and manages to look like dogshit anyway.
Paul in KY
@Burnspbesq: I think LBJ was at least 6′ 4″. Tallest English monarch still Edward IV at 6’5″. Died in 1483.
Paul in KY
@Ruckus: That is Catholic HS in a nutshell. Some real jerkwads I met in college went to Catholic HS. Also, some really cool people too.
Cameron
@Leslie: I’m hoping that somebody will make a movie out of one of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books. Unfortunately the only person I can think of who might do that (and do it well) is Guillermo del Toro, and he’s got enough projects of his own.
Paul in KY
@West of the Rockies: One time I read about Alice Cooper discussing his old young days and the stuff he’d done. He said that you could take everything he had done and for Keith Moon that would have been a random Tuesday.
trollhattan
“DeSantis-Rubio 2024: We’ll be running things, shortly.”
Florida’s A Team
JoyceH
I’ve never seen the Cruise Reacher movies – the trailer was all I needed to know. Tiny Tom Cruise, strike one. Car chase, strike two. And then – the leather jacket. Strike three. The two most obvious visible characteristics of Reacher the book character are his massive size and his cheap clothes. Reacher famously shops thrifts and dollar stores, buying the cheapest stuff that will fit him. He wouldn’t dream of spending even thrift store price for a leather jacket that he’s only going to discard a week or two later.
And if Trump is 6’3″, then Barron is 6’5″ or -6″, which he’s not.
twbrandt (formerly tom)
@Brachiator: that, plus DeSantis got lucky with his opponents. I don’t follow FL politics much, but even I knew that a recycled Crist would get smoked by almost anybody.
Leslie
@Cameron: I love those books. It would be great to see someone do a proper adaptation of them.
Anonymous At Work
Height may be one thing but I think it is the other two dimensions which will sink him more: he’s not a slim-built person (width) and he acts very insecure (depth). Trump’s a tub of lard but uses bravado and dyes to seem healthier (width) and is all bravado about his “depth”. GOP voters will pick up on that, and Trump will surely capitalize on perceived weakness.
Biden won’t play those games on DeathSantis, but, if DeathSantis makes the general election, he will try and fail when he tried those games on Biden.
JoyceH
@Suzanne:
I was amused by the commentary when Paul Manafort went to some hearing from prison, and pundits talked about how prison had ‘aged’ him. Uh. Pre-prison, he lived like a millionaire. Lock him up, away from his hair stylist-colorist, his masseuse and expensive facials, and he starts looking his age.
Brachiator
@Cameron:
I always found Jack Reacher to be a ridiculous character. He is bigger and stronger than almost anyone, almost a fantasy hero. If he obviously can beat everyone up, how is his heroism remarkable.
I once watched some old 1930s films featuring William Powell as the sophisticated and intelligent detective Bulldog Drummond.
Powell was suave, handsome and slim, and 5 ft 11.
Then I read that the fictional Bulldog Drummond was a “large, very strong, physically unattractive and ‘apparently brainless’ hunk of a man.” Nothing like the debonair Powell.
I still prefer the movie version, but find the original great in his own way.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Well, at least he still has the support of the ambidextrous among us.
Leslie
@JoyceH: I watched the first one, only because a friend assured me that it was well made and good entertainment. It took me a while to finally do so, and as I said upthread, I had to put the books out of my mind entirely and pretend the movie had nothing to do with them. And in that light, it was like one of the Mission: Impossible movies (most of which I have not seen either, however) — a not-unpleasant way to spend a couple of hours. But as an adaptation of the books, it was of course ridiculous.
Ksmiami
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love John Hiatt… h/t for the lyrics
Philbert
@Leslie: My HS had one guy who was cherubic but after graduation grew 5 inches. Reunion was, who are you..? wow
artem1s
Height doesn’t factor in much in elections if your opponent is equal size. Both Gore (6’1″) and Kerry (6’4″) seemed a lot taller than Shrub. He always had that hunched over, creepy-lurking Gollum look about him. Maybe that’s why I have a hard time believing he was 6′. TFG seemed really too creepy for prime time and still managed to convince women to vote for him. I don’t think his height or weight was as much of a factor as Hillary not having a penis of any size. Remember when he was pulling that handshake crap on everyone he met? He clearly has size issues if he thinks he has to intimidate someone by crushing their hands and pulling their arm off. Actual height matters a lot less than perceived presence. DeSantos’ problem is he has neither.
JoyceH
@Brachiator:
Oh, I enjoy the Reacher books! Of course he’s a fantasy figure. But the books are really readable and exciting, and Reacher is eccentric enough to make the fantasy forgivable. He’s just roamin’ around, minding his own business, and wanders into a situation where decent people are being treated horribly by awful people, who get what’s coming to them because they pissed off Reacher. The body counts do tend to be high. Someone actually keeps a webpage of the Reacher body count. Do you know that there was one book where he actually did NOT kill anyone?
Betty Cracker
@twbrandt (formerly tom): Yep. DeSantis went up against weak opponents both times in a state where there’s a steady influx of retirees from right-wing states and where the most right-leaning Latino populations live. His win isn’t really much more impressive than Tate Reeves’ reelection in Mississippi.
wonkie
I think DiSantis is a formidable candidate. Republicans will love him. Fascist-adjacent independents will love him. I’m not sure how the MSM will cover him, but I’m pretty sure they will be tactful and minimize the thuggery. He will win the Rethuglican primary, he will be enthusiastically supported by the whole party, and he could win the presidency. We all need to not be naive about this.
I’ve started my own personal anti-DiSantis campaign on FB. Remember how Obama won by labelling Romney early in the campaign? Labeled him as rich and out of touch. Romney was never able to overcome the label. We need to be labelling DiSantis as Trump but worse and we need to be doing it now every way possible.
SO I’m doing my part with a steady drumbeat of anti DI Santis posts. Disantis is a neo-fascist thug but not TRump and that’s exactly what the Republican party wants.
trollhattan
@artem1s: Nancy SMASH is tiny, but wields a giant gavel.
JoyceH
@wonkie:
But… IS he though? I got the impression that his trip to New York fizzled. He can’t put it across.
Hoodie
5’9″ is average, but DeSantis is plump, so he looks short. The short actors get away with it because they tend to be thin, so they look proportionally taller. Supposedly, one reason Arnold was so successful as a bodybuilder is that he was taller (6’2″) than most of his competitors at that time. My son says being almost 6’5″ has been a blessing for him because “girls like tall guys and guys leave you alone because they assume you can kick their ass.” He’s about as gentle as a kitten, but he does weigh in at 210 lbs.
As for DeSantis, he’s a pretty repulsive character, with that smarmy face and nasal voice. Nixon was also pretty repulsive, but he got elected, so who knows? Maybe there are ugly, nasty people out there who want someone like themselves.
Steeplejack
I’m sitting in my car in my little neighborhood park, soaking up some (cold) sun, and I just heard on MSNBC that there’s a John McCain Institute. 😳 I’m afraid to look it up, and off goes the radio.
twbrandt (formerly tom)
@Betty Cracker: also a steady influx of right-wing retirees from blue/purple states. I know quite a few of my friends’ parents retired to Florida from Michigan (now solidly blue) who were MAGA to the max.
kalakal
DeSantis is a charisma vacuum. TFG had a sort of self confident air of bravado ( to me he was repulsive, but many saw it differently), Shrub jr had a sort of relaxed amiable air ( “who would you rather have a beer with”). DeSantis comes across as a dumpy miserable little creep with a whiney voice. He’s very careful to operate in a controlled environment, closed speeches, Fox news with no opposition present. He won’t be able to do that on a national scale, the optics in the primaries will be dreadful, and he doesn’t seem to have any spontaneity, he just drones out a script, in a real debate or q&a he’ll crash & burn
Steeplejack
@JoyceH:
As I said above, the Reacher movies are actually pretty good, especially the first one. Just forget that it’s supposed to be Jack Reacher. Substitute Tom Cruise generic action man.
Ruckus
@WV Blondie:
Nuclear subs are a lot roomier than WWII subs. When I was in the navy, at school in San Diego, there was a WWII sub, still commissioned, that was open for tours. After school I would go over there and the enlisted guy who was ship’s captain would let me give tours. The main hatch was an 18 inch hole in the top of the hull with an approx 10ft vertical ladder to a compartment with everything removed which left a room about 5×6 feet with that ladder in the middle. 5 people was friendly. 6 very friendly. We’d talk a bit, they’d always comment how much roomier it was than they imagined, then I’d take them into the actual ship. I’m a slim 5’10” and I had to duck almost every foot of the way and often turn sideways to get around. It was a hoot to hear them when we walked as they saw how little actual room there was for a normal adult human. And then to understand how many men lived/worked in those close quarters always got looks of “Holly Hell, how does anyone do this!” Also remember showers were few and far between. Aw the sweet smell of overly ripe humans…. Been there done that. And no you never get used to it.
Hoodie
@kalakal: Yeah, I think a lot of people discount Trump’s charisma. It doesn’t work for everyone, but Obama’s and Clinton’s didn’t work for everyone either. Charismatic types tend to have that binary quality, some people absolutely love them while others hate them with a passion. That’s why I think DeSantis will have a hard time dethroning TFG unless TFG just mails it in, which is possible given his fundamental laziness. I just can’t see DeSantis inspiring that level of passion among the MAGA types. They don’t call it a cult of personality for nothing.
Suzanne
@JoyceH: Agreed. Looking good as you age requires care.
Marco Rubio is another dude who looks like he spends a lot of time fretting about his clothes and general look. It reads.
TerryC
kalakal
@Paul in KY: Edward the First’s nickname was longshanks, at 6ft 2in in the 1280s he must have towered over everybody
trollhattan
@kalakal: DeSantis is Frank Costanza without the emotions.
If the networks show up to DeSantis campaign events early, then go live anyway with a shot of the empty dais as he runs late, then I’ll worry. Media get bored and Trump was anything but boring. I don’t think DeSantis could get a starving doberman’s attention with a pork chop necklace hanging from his neck.
citizen dave
Still amazing that our tallest president–according to google–is Lincoln at 6’4″. But I thought LBJ was also 6’4″. One source to that question (newsweek, so who knows?) says LBJ was 6’3″. (ETA: Wikipedia list says LBJ 6’3″ and 1/2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_presidents_and_presidential_candidates_of_the_United_States)
Our local Indiana man Mitch Daniels listed at 5’7″, and he somehow generated presidential speculation (and recently for the Senate–he just retired from Purdue President, and is 73. He says he decided against running against the R nutters). Here is a NYT article about Presidents and height (I’m paywalled from it though): https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/weekinreview/29schwartz.html
On another topic, I picked up the Jan 6 Report–New Yorker version–at Costco yesterday for $11 (lists at $17). Epilogue by Jamie Raskin.
Brachiator
@JoyceH:
Oh, I absolutely understand the appeal of the Reacher novels. I don’t put down any fans.
My own preference is for less physically imposing heroes.
I like Henry Cavill, but when I read that he was under consideration to play James Bond, I thought that he was too big, too obviously super strong and tough.
trollhattan
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho is 6’2″.
kalakal
@Ruckus: I remember reading an interview with a WW2 US submariner who after the war had a look around a captured Uboat, he was shocked how cramped and small it was compared to the ‘roomy’ American sub he served in.
For the TV show/film Das Boot they built a full size Mk VIIc Uboat, you can tour it at the Bavaria Studios in Munich. It’s tiny. I’m 5ft 11in and slim and had trouble
RaflW
@Hildebrand: I was gobsmacked when I realized he is but 43.
All that sourness really ages a person. I’m 5 years older than Ted Cruz, but he looks like sh*t warmed over. Marinating in the toxic RW culture is not handsome-izing.
Alison Rose
Height shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately to some it does. But I will just point out that Zelenskyy is only about 5’7″. Ain’t nothing short about that man’s character or persona.
Anonymous At Work
@kalakal: DeathSantis is the guy from the district supervisor’s office who started there as an intern, got a surprise promotion and now visits branch offices to reward brown-nosers and punish everyone else. All to cement his authority as a “district office person.”
Take him outside his bubble, put him against people willing to hit hard and fast, and he crumbles.
kalakal
@trollhattan:
Exactly, Trump was great for ratings, DeSantis is oatmeal
Brachiator
@Hoodie:
Great point. I have even heard interviews with Republican women who noted that Bill Clinton had a certain charisma in person that was swoon-worthy.
Also have often read that Hillary came across much better in person. People consistently noted a personal warmth and charm.
Ruckus
@Leslie:
This was a Catholic all boys tech school. I did not want to attend. One of my parents
thought that theyknew what I had to do for the rest of my life, like it or not. The teachers were catholic priests, brothers and one or two non catholic helpers, there was a seminary next door. I thought of it as akin to a POW camp. I kept trying to figure out how to dig my way out. Or possibly blow it up. I did freshman year. I absolutely refused to return. I may have sworn at my mother. And felt justified.RedDirtGirl
@Citizen Alan: And the plotters also picked him because they thought he was “unpresidential”.
TerryC
I was barely 5′ at graduation in 1965, peaked at 5’10” two years later. High school was mostly not fun and my social presence was nonexistence. Most of time the first year in college was following a route to shake vending machines free of loose change in order to buy food. :
Yep, at the tenth reunion I was voted “most changed.” My model-gorgeous first wife may have had something to do with that.
Kent
The ONLY reason?
For me I like to say that the only reason is that I have too much dirt in my past. When you get to be a certain age, having dirt in your past is actually a point of honor I think!
RaflW
@Baud: Even as VVP marks the one year anniversary of his three day march to Kyiv, one suspects he’s still covertly funding and assisting the US far left with messaging and algorithmically juicy Dem-bashing.
Paul in KY
@Ruckus: There’s a WW II sub where the USS Alabama is moored. I walked though it. Just could not imagine being underwater in this machinery filled culvert pipe with 50 other dudes. Submariners are a breed apart.
Kent
Height doesn’t matter for leadership. But it does seem to matter for elections. His opponent in the 2018 elections was Petro Poroshenko who is listed as 5’11” or 6’0″ depending on the source.
Philbert
There is a Russian B39 diesel sub in San Diego you can tour. Cramped doesn’t cover it, and it is a big sub according to the literature, 300 feet long. The crew got 5 min a day in the air and had a cold salt water shower. After a several-month voyage the crew went to a 30-day ‘rest and rehab’ facility. I can only wonder about that.
Paul in KY
@kalakal: He was a tall drink of water. Heard he had a fearsome temper. Supposed to have scared some churchman to death one time when he was ranting at him.
Alison Rose
@Kent: But in that case, it obviously didn’t. He wiped the floor with the candyman.
brantl
@The Moar You Know: Who can tell with those platform, ski-slope shoes of his?
brantl
@Cameron: Yeah, he wasn’t convincing. They had him screaming into a phone to try to be intimidating, Reacher doesn’t scream, doesn’t have to.
Steeplejack
@Paul in KY:
My RWNJ brother served on destroyers during his time in the Navy, and he said even that was like living and working—pulling endless double shifts—in a dirty, noisy factory. At least they got fresh air.
The Moar You Know
@West of the Rockies: ALL of them were shitty people. Really hurts to write that about my childhood idols, but it’s true. Moon was a savage drunk who hurt everyone around him (caused Townshend’s deafness). Entwhistle died from a coke/Viagra/hooker overdose (such a bad combo, has killed many an aging rock star). Townshend dodged – narrowly – a conviction for possession of child porn (he purportedly had it for “research purposes, try that excuse if you’re not a multi-millionaire). Daltrey was a serial sexual assaulter of women. They were all fucking horrible, awful, genuinely shitty people who made some really great music.
wonkie
@JoyceH: I wouldn’t expect him to do well in NYC.
THe thing to remember is that for the most part activist Dems aren’t good judges of which Republicans will appeal to Republican voters or independents. Who thought Trump would win? He’s disgusting, stupid, is a self-confessed pussygrabber, and so on and so on. Republican voters like all the things that we dislike. DISantis is a thug. That’s what they want.
El Muneco
@patrick II: Tim Matheson got the part of the bad guy in “Fletch” because it’s a plot point in the movie that he murder Chevy Chase’s character (who is wearing one of Matheson’s suits), burn the body, and leave the authorities to think he’s the one who died while he flees to Brazil with ill-gotten drug money.
Chase is 6’5″. They had to find someone who had the exact same body type for the McGuffin to work, and Matheson was the lucky one
There’s supposition that 6’0″ Geena Davis (assistant) and 5’9″ Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (love interest) were cast so they looked more “normal” in their scenes together with Chase as well.
Tony G
@Hoodie: In fairness, those sexy white Go Go boots that DeSantis likes to prance around in make him look taller.
psychobroad
@fancycwabs: Thank you. He’s 6’1 MAYBE, 280 lbs at least!
kalakal
@Paul in KY: He’s probably the only English king to carry out a bank raid.
He robbed the Knights Templar to fund merceneries so he could bust his dad out of the Tower of London. He was hell on legs
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl:
He’s telling what they want to hear.
Paul in KY
@Steeplejack: I get seasick. I can’t imagine how it would be bouncing up and down and side to side in the North Sea or somewhere like that. Also being down in the engine room at the time.
Sister Golden Bear
@WereBear: I’m a size 13. I feel your pain.
Paul in KY
@kalakal: Jeezus! Another one from that time I’d have liked to meet (and I really would not have liked to meet Edward I) was William Marshal. He was a bigtime jouster and one time after participating in and winning a melee, he had to go to the blacksmith and lay his helmeted head down on the anvil so the blacksmith could beat on his helmet enough for him to get it off. That’s a tough hombre.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
The current DC press corps fluffing of Desantis feels a lot like what they did for Chris Christie circa 2013. But they couldn’t make Christie happen – I mean, he happened, to New Jersey, but he never happened to America and never will.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
Yep. I served in the Navy and for 2 of my years was stationed on a DDG, a guided missile destroyer. Bigger than a WWII destroyer (We had one of those on the opposite side of the pier we tied up on.) But not by all that much. It was crowded. The tables we sat at for eating sat maybe 25 people. There were about 260 enlisted that ate every meal there. So you are looking for everyone to eat as fast as possible and then get the hell out of the way so the rest of the crew can eat. The cooks and helpers got about a 15 minute break between meals and then had to start all over for the next meal, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking…… Every other job also has to be done 24 hrs a day so everyone rotates in and out. The guys that ran the boilers worked 6 on 6 off, eat and sleep as they could. As long as the boilers boiled there was never a break for them. Everything works 24 hrs a day underway.
louc
He claims it but no way is Arnold 6’2″. I met him when he was governor and I’d guess 5’10”. But he knows how to dress to look taller. He had high-heeled cowboy boots with the California seal and combed his hair off his forehead so it stood an inch above his hairline. As a short person myself, I appreciated his height maximization.
At any rate, I was shocked when I met him because I always thought he was tall.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@sdhays:
I’m not convinced that it is. A whole lot of rightwingers are joyless and whiny.
cmorenc
@WaterGirl:
How could Tucker C’s audiece fall for such a whiny jerk?
– same reason why Newt Gingrich gets respctful from many hard-core MAGA types- they are both variations on a stupid person’s concept of a smart person. And true, both Gingrich and Carlson have the ability to articulately express the ball of assorted cultural resentments boiling around in a stew in MAGA heads
Jinchi
This theory finally explains why Dennis Kucinich lost his race for the top job.
Leslie
@Ruckus: I’m glad you only had to survive one year there.
@Alison Rose: For which we (and no doubt Ukraine) are deeply grateful. But if he were an American, the odds against him winning the presidency here would be very long indeed.
Manyakitty
@Hildebrand: that’s what happens when you’re a skin suit stuffed with malice.
Another Scott
@Hoodie:
GettyImages has a picture of Arnold with Wilt and Andre. He’s a shorty! ;-)
It looks like he was “really” around 6′ 0″.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Leslie:
It did make me stronger and even less willing to take shit. And as we all know there are always kids who feel it is their sacred right to fuck with everyone they can intimidate. No one ever tried that with me, and it wasn’t because of my size. I learned early on to glare at bullies, it either scared them or made me seem not worth the trouble. And they left me alone. They were used to having the small kids look at their feet or look like they were going to wet themselves. I also would talk to girls and that seemed to really back them off. I often wonder if growing up is any different today…
Mark von Wisco
Trump wears lifts. He’s at most 6’1″.