Even at the risk of reigniting the “height supremacy” debate, I am compelled to direct your attention to this reporting at Defector by Chris Thompson: “Is Ron DeSantis Wearing Hidden Platform Heels Inside His Stupid Ugly Boots? An Investigation.”
@spamellina slay queen ✨ #hiddenheel #mallgothfashion #2016fashion #y2kaesthetic #wildpairshoes #mandees #wetseal #rainbow #lifting #cute #foryou #ron #desantis #drag #edit #capcut #lookbook #whatarethose #parisfashionweek #plump ♬ Demons – Doja Cat
I urge you to read the whole thing, which is meticulously reasoned and illustrated. But the answer to the question in the title is: Yes. Yes, he is.
The report convincingly makes the case that DeSantis is walking around in wedge heels that are deceptively encased in cowboy-boot wrappers. The photographic evidence strongly suggests the toes of his pointy cowboy boots are empty, and DeSantis’s real tippy-toes appear to support his weight from the boots’ arch area while the heels of his feet rest on wedge platforms located about where normal boot shafts would enclose the wearer’s ankles.
Thompson says it’s stupid that candidates are judged by their height. I wholeheartedly agree. Basketball point guards notwithstanding, height is utterly irrelevant for most jobs and certainly shouldn’t be attached to a social stigma. DeSantis is credibly described as standing 5’9″, which is about average for an American male, so it’s especially bewildering that he would go to such an extreme to appear taller.
But extremism is a throughline in the flailing DeSantis campaign — this is simply one of the weirder manifestations. As a person who tottered around in high heels exactly once and swore them off forever, I hope DeSantis is every bit as uncomfortable in those cruel shoes as I was.
I also hope that at some inopportune moment the footwear adds a literal face-plant to the metaphorical stumble that is the entire Ron DeSantis presidential campaign.
Open thread!
Karen S.
They’re just ugly boots. I mean, what an eye sore. Add another nickname to the rotation: Ugly Boots.
frosty
That would definitely be worth watching.
waspuppet
On one hand: This doesn’t matter. Ron DeSantis is an actual fascist, and it’s so stupid that anyone should care about his height, and I kinda feel bad that he has to deform his feet over this.
On the other: It’s obviously important to Ron DeSantis that people not know he’s really short, and he would feel bad if people found out, and also if he was a Democrat this would lead CNN for a month. And also not talking about this would not make Ron DeSantis not a fascist.
So shout it from the rooftops.
Geminid
I saw a picture of DeSantis and Ramaswamy at the last Republican debate. Their pants were so long they looked like they were on stilts.
UncleEbeneezer
What in the Cotton Mathers is going on here, lol?
West of the Cascades
You won’t see Volodymyr Zelenskyy walking around in high heels, and yet it doesn’t seem to make him any less effective as a leader.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
Ken
To add to the list, I was at Aldi last night and one of their employees who was about 5’4″ was trying to rearrange boxes of canned goods on the top shelf.
For the other list, I will make the obvious nominations for astronauts and fighter pilots.
OzarkHillbilly
He’s insecure. Like all the men on twitter who feel the need to say they are “Alpha Males.” If you have to tell people you are, no, you aren’t.
ps: I am 5-9 and never felt myself to be short, just not tall.
Another Scott
Yeah, the boots look weird.
I’m reminded of his infamous “beach” picture (the one where he’s on tip-toes next to is wife, and leaves no footprints in the “sand”). He does have toes, so there’s something else going on with his footwear.
He’s about as authentic as a $3 bill.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
I’m surprised they don’t just fill in/’stuff’ the toes of the boots? Wouldn’t that make it less obvious?
Anyway, from standing on tippy-toe like that, he must have “calves the size of cantaloupes” (h/t Steve King for the first and only time ever). =)
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott: He’s Barbie!
Daoud bin Daoud
@Karen S.: I know “Caligula” means “little boots.” Anyone know the Latin for “ugly boots”?
Doug R
Is this why he’s such a gender warrior? Because he’s the only one besides ballerinas that walks around en point?
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: [ rofl! ]
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Daoud bin Daoud:
Translate.google.com tells me it’s “deformis tabernus”
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
prufrock
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m five-nine and frankly the world feels like it was optimized for me. Shopping for clothes is easy, washing machines are a snap to load and empty, and even the ever decreasing footprint of airline seats aren’t terrible.
sab
@Ken: I hate having to jump to knock a can or bottle off the highest shelf at the grocery. It happens a lot.
Karen S.
@Daoud bin Daoud: I was wondering that too.
MazeDancer
Ali Velshi and Ayman on MSNBC are doing a masterful job of covering the Israeli/Hamas mess.
No one understands how Israel had such an intelligence failure.
But what if Bibi did know? What if he said. I need a war stay n power.
Total mystery novel speculation from me. But suspicious of anything that makes BiBi, Putin, and Trump smile.
CaseyL
@sab: I am not shy about using the shelves as a ladder to reach the top shelf.
If DeSantis really wants to wow people, he should get a pair of Digilegs. These are a contraption you strap yourself into that effectively gives you satyr legs. Your own actual foot rests somewhere on the “shin,” and you’re about a foot or so taller when you stand up.
That is, if you can stand up! A friend of mine crafted her own version about 15 years ago – she could never get the funding to commercialize them, unfortunately. I got to wear them a couple of times, and let me tell you: the learning curve on using digilegs is pretty steep. But worth it.
DeSantis Digilegs!
BellyCat
Explains the pained look on his face.
I recall seeing a study some 20(?) years ago that showed taller height correlated with higher salary for men.
We live in the collectively stupidest timeline.
— Signed 5’-8”
brendancalling
I’ve said for a long time that Ron is deeply, deeply, deeply in the closet, which he tries to repress with this alpha-male schtick. So yeah, trying to look taller and thus more alpha tracks. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Ron DeSantis spends more time thinking about gay and trans sexuality than most gay and trans people I know.
hells littlest angel
I think a more likely explanation is that DeSantis is AI-generated. Does he always have five fingers on each hand? I’ll bet not.
Parfigliano
Ron’s height is obviously something that bothers him otherwise he wouldnt be lifting. In politics picking the little shits sore spot is fair game.
noncarborundum
@Another Scott: Translate.google.сom has no idea what it’s talking about when it comes to Latin. Tabernus isn’t even a Latin word. I’d go with Caligae turpes.
TeezySkeezy
Shark. jumped.
Geminid
@MazeDancer: I think it is unlikely that Netanyahu knew this was coming. But if he did it will come out. Israel is in ways like a small town where people know what the Mayor is up to.
Opposition and coalition parties will rally around the PM for now, but once this conflict is over, Netanyahu’s chaotic 4-party coalition will likely fall, and former Defense Minister and IDF chief Benny Gantz will be Prime Minister.
OzarkHillbilly
@CaseyL: Drywall tapers all use drywall stilts when they are called for. Whenever hanging drywall we used step ups, a tall bench with a step rail on the sides, or a Baker (rolling) scaffold.
I always looked at tapers on stilts and thought, “If I had to wear those, I’d probably face plaint 2 or 3 times a day.
Frankensteinbeck
@BellyCat:
That’s his default expression no matter what he wears, though.
I don’t know about lifts, but the man’s taste in footwear is strange. He wears these shiny, attention-getting boots that don’t match the suits that are the rest of his outfit. He has to have someone advising him on his clothing, so why are they allowing this? It would be an irrelevant detail, except politicians are performers. If you go on campaign wearing boots that make people go “WTF?” that matters. Hell, Fetterman’s hoodies matter, but his voters like them so thumbs up.
Alison Rose
@West of the Cascades: Yeppp. He’s about 5’7″ and no one gives a damn. He projects strength and competence and confidence. And, permit me for being shallow, he’s fucking hot.
Re: Ronnie’s boots. This to me is fine to poke fun at, because it’s not his height itself (which as BC notes is hardly diminutive) but rather going to these silly lengths to pretend to be taller. No one who likes him (all 9 of them) is going to like him less if they realize he’s 5’9″. And no one who hates him (all 16 billion of them) is going to suddenly start supporting him if they think he’s close to 6′.
It’s similar to TIFG with his bullshit claim of weighing 215. He clearly doesn’t, but to me the mockery is not over his actual weight because who fucking cares, it’s the inanity of someone trying to insist he weighs what’s probably at least 40 pounds less than his actual weight.
OzarkHillbilly
@Alison Rose: I look at him and I see 270 or 275, but I’m a pretty horrible judge of such things.
m.j.
I think I have a copy of, “Cruel Shoes,” in the basement.
I was young and I thought Steve Martin was hilarious.
Alison Rose
@OzarkHillbilly: I am, too, and it’s especially hard with weight because you can have two people with the same numbers and yet different looking bodies.
I’m worse with guessing age, though, especially kids. If your child is at least fully ambulatory, I’m just gonna be like “Uhhh I don’t know, 6?”
hueyplong
DeSantis is in a party dominated by Donald Trump, who despite being at least 6-0, almost certainly wears lifts of one kind or another to claim his 6-3, 215 lb comic book hero physique. DeSantis can’t afford to be a full half foot shorter than Trump in a party that considers height a determinative stat because its Daddy figure does.
I like the height story purely because it shows the media is still disinclined to write any DeSantis comeback stories. They’re still piling on, and that’s good.
Danielx
@Alison Rose:
Indeed – the shadow of his ass weighs fifteen pounds by itself.
Carlo Graziani
@noncarborundum: Apropos of Latin, and to viciously and with malice aforethought exploit the openness of this thread:
My son took a year of Latin in high school. One day the class got a homework assignment to choose some modern song, translate it into Latin, then come to class and in turn write the translated lyrics on the blackboard until the rest of the class recognized the song.
I can report with enormous parental pride that my son Rickrolled his entire Latin class. As nobody really knows or remembers most of the lyrics of Never Going To Give You Up, nobody had any idea of what was happening until the translated refrain started to go up on the board. Then, Pandemonium…
Delk
LOL
Brachiator
It’s not just the potential shoe lifts thing. DeSantis looks like somebody who is uncomfortable in his own skin. You know, like an alien creature who takes his human suit off at the end of the day.
Alison Rose
@Carlo Graziani: Glorious. They should’ve made him valedictorian just for that.
Another Scott
@noncarborundum: I took some Latin back in the neolithic, but have forgotten almost all of it.
Book from 1882.
But, in fairness, that seems to be German Latin. Rather than proper American Latin.
🤪
Cheers,
Scott.
cope
A deeper dive into DeSantis’ footwear choices could involve video analysis of his walking and standing patterns compared to computerized models involving different foot/bone/shoe/boot configurations.
But I don’t really care how tall he is or what he tries to convey by his appearance, he is a vile, disgusting example of a human being. I am totally enjoying the current dearth of news stories about this asshole and hope he just quietly slides into oblivion
ETA: I read the whole thing and added Defector to my bookmarks, thanks for the lead, BC.
steverinoCT
I was in the supermarket and my choice was on the top shelf all the way in the back: the front boxes had all been taken. I’m 6′ even and so was able to reach a box, and then grabbed a bunch more and moved them to the front. My wife asks what I’m doing, and I tell her, “Not everyone is as tall as me.” Just then someone came around the corner: he must have been 6’7″. Talk about timing!
Geminid
@hells littlest angel: DeSantis is probably an alien. I noticed how last winter, when DeSantis was on tour in the West, his appearance at Roswell, New Mexico was changed to Las Cruces. I figured his handlers were worried that another alien might say, “Hey ‘Ron’, remember me?” and Desantis would give him one of those winks where the eyelids come in from the side.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@steverinoCT: I wind up asking for help in reaching the high shelves. People are nice about it.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly:
Those weights make sense. I dated a guy who was 6 foot four and weighed around 220, and I think TFG is around 6 foot two or three. There is no way in hell TFG weighs 215.
Alison Rose
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They usually are, yes. Tall people often love using their height advantage to help short people.
Although I did have a dude once tell me “I don’t work here” when I asked him for help getting something down in Target. I was like…oh well, fuck you very much, too. I wasn’t asking him to shadow me around the whole store, for God’s sake.
Old Man Shadow
I think what it attests to is the deep nagging insecurity about himself and his inability to deal with it in a healthy fashion and hence his need to be cruel to prove how “powerful” he is which disqualifies him
eclare
@Carlo Graziani:
Awesome!
kalakal
It’s odd that he’s so concerned about it.
I think it’s the dreaded ‘optics’ thingie, he needs to be dominant and is desperately trying to make sure he’s not noticably shorter than his opponents in photographs/videos.
As it is he just looks weird. Those things must be hell to walk in.
Napoleon, the poster boy for “short” men with attitude was 5’7″ – average height for the time. The short bit comes from him being escorted by his Imperial Guard – minimum height 5′ 8″- who were topped off with those bearskin hats that you see outside Buck House these days. Anyone looks small compared to them
The funny thing is the tallest and biggest people in political meetings are nearly always the guards, who in practice are the least dominant people in the room
Danielx
Something I have to share with y’all – you hear about people getting a second chance, all that? I’m one. Week ago Thursday I was diagnosed with subdural hematoma and subarachnoid hemorrhage both after a fall. The odds go like this: one third come out more or less okay, one third seriously debilitated (paralyzed and/or brain damaged, one third dead. I walked out of hospital- okay, wheelchaired out – after three days with everything working and all my faculties intact, albeit with minor headaches and a shitload of bruising. Moral of the story: live every day for all you’re worth, you’re not guaranteed another and FFS, be careful, specially for all you olds.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
eclare
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
That’s what I do, but sometimes it’s hard to find someone tall enough. I usually shop early, say 7:30 AM. Usually it’s a bunch of little old ladies.
eclare
@Alison Rose:
Wow, I’ve never gotten that response!
kalakal
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Mrs kalakal, 4’11”, has to ask for help a lot. She says people are nearly always helpful.
hueyplong
@Danielx: Very glad you dodged that bullet.
eclare
@Danielx:
Holy moly! Glad you made it through OK. How did you fall?
kalakal
@Danielx: That’s very scary. Glad to hear you made it ok
RaflW
Vanity is DeSaster’s problem. That’s the height-masking issue.
And the track record for excessively vain people seeking high office isn’t good (wether Trump, or Sinema, or many others).
His lifts should be mocked because he has a character trait that bodes ill for the nation (certainly his need to preen has been bad for Florida).
twbrandt
@Carlo Graziani: That is wonderful!
TheOtherHank
I’m 5’10” and I too feel like the world is designed for people no taller than I am. I generally fit into an airline seat. In almost every car I’ve ever driven having the seat back as far as it will go is perfect. I’m tall enough to get stuff of high shelves for our more diminutive friends, etc.
WaterGirl
@steverinoCT: I am 5’3″, I can say that I really appreciate that you do that.
Geoduck
Already covered, but no, height is not “utterly irrelevant” to any stocking job, or conversely, any job that involves squeezing into small spaces. But yeah, being a politician is not on the list.
Geminid
@Geminid: Roswell is actually a nice town to visit. The Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is on the outskirts, and people come to see the migratory birds who stop over. There are also pecan groves that are watered by the same aquifer.
And don’t let anybody tell you there are no aliens in Roswell. I saw one who was green, 15 feet tall and holding up a Dunkin’ Donuts sign!
RaflW
@Danielx: Wow. So glad you’re basically ok. I took an insanely scary fall last winter on glare ice in our HOA driveway. Cartoon-like sensation of floating in air for a nanosecond, then wham flat on my back, hips, etc.
I was fine, but thought of a friend who has lived a decade now with the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury.
WaterGirl
@Danielx: We are glad you are here!
frosty
@Carlo Graziani: That’s the best RickRoll story ever, hands down. He can get free beers at the bar for the rest of his life with that one!
twbrandt
@Danielx: Yikes, glad you are OK after that.
Ken
Or a demon. The boots hide his hooves.
Danielx
Right knee gave out going upstairs, next thing I know I’m ass over teakettle at the bottom of the stairs not knowing up from down. Spent three days in hospital, two without food or water for fear they might have to lift my topknot for a look-see. Four head cts in three days, surprised I don’t glow in the dark. Also a back mri which told me a lot of shit I would rather not have known. Then to cap the whole thing off, discharge papers said no caffeine, nicotine, alcohol or uh, other substances. Three out of four okay, but no coffee? Fuck that noise.
Miss Bianca
@Carlo Graziani: Gotta admit, as a multi-year high school Latin student, that my heart swells with non-parental pride in your son as well.
Steeplejack
@Frankensteinbeck:
Doesn’t he sort of have to wear boots to disguise the lift technology? In regular shoes his heels would be pooching out the top at the back.
Trump supposedly wears (less extreme) lifts, and his “regular” dress shoes also look pretty weird.
WaterGirl
@Danielx: Yikes. Scary all around.
EVER?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Danielx: Holy cow. So glad that turned out as it did.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … ProPublica.org:
We have to keep these charlatans away from power. Lives are at stake. Progress is at stake. Humanity is at stake.
Grr…,
Scott.
kalakal
The latest on my flooded library looks like it’s going to run to over $5 million in repairs and we’ll be lucky if we reopen by the end of November. On the good side we may have lost only a few 1000 books.
I’m allowed in with a hard hat next week for a short time to get some stuff so I may have a better idea then.
, Major flooding was caused by a failure in the fire-sprinkler system, according to officials. It caused millions of dollars in damage to the library. https://www.fox13news.com/video/1287352
eclare
@Danielx:
Oh wow, that must have been terrifying! Stairs, of course. Again, glad you are basically ok.
Steeplejack
@Carlo Graziani:
Excellent!
Danielx
@WaterGirl:
Nah, for a few weeks just to make sure things heal without leaking. I’m told that if things go south I’ll only know because I’ll have the headache from hell for about ten seconds and then be off to never never land.
So yeah, enjoy every sandwich as Warren Zevon said.
CaseyL
@Danielx:
Wow and holy shit. I’m very glad to hear you came through intact.
I have a floating staircase of poured cement steps. Falling down them would be Very Bad. I make damn sure to hang onto the rail.
Alison Rose
@Danielx: Jeez. Very glad you’ve come out of it relatively unscathed. How frightening :(
Alison Rose
@eclare: It was the only time I ever had someone be anything less than helpful. It was very weird.
Baud
@Danielx:
Powerball is big tonight. You should play.
Bex
@Alison Rose: He’s one of the few world leaders who seems comfortable in his own skin.
PaulWartenberg
There is an insult among male athletes: You are so 5’11”.
That you are not able to reach an even six-foot becomes demeaning, belittling. Being average height does not make you stand out, literally stand above all the other lessers who swarm about you.
There’s a reason trump likes to brag he’s 6’4″. There’s a reason our history books are replete with imposing Presidential figures like Washington and Lincoln – they were tall and we perceive them to be taller than that – standing heads and shoulders above the poor mediocre types who stumbled through the White House with their 5’9″ selves.
It’s a form of bias, and it’s not healthy to anybody’s psychology to think like that.
(spoken by a man who’s had to cope with being 6’2″ and getting yelled at by shorter co-workers for being helpful with the tall shelves at the library)
Alison Rose
@Bex: The acting background probably helps there. But he also just seems very sure of himself, yet not in a pompous way at all.
Steeplejack
@kalakal:
I thought the “Napoleon is short” thing was mostly English propaganda.
Danielx
@Baud:
The idea has merit (in Gilbert Gottleib voice).
JPL
@Danielx: Oh my! I can’t imagine how scary that was and in order not to repeat it, give up the coffee for a few days.
Geminid
Yesterday I intended to mention a CBS radio news report about the new Nobel Peace Prize winner. It’s a jailed Iranian human rights activist. The news reader said that “she was sentenced to 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.”
Alison Rose
@Geminid: Yes, Narges Mohammadi. She sounds like a total badass. Glad to see this recognition of her fight.
Villago Delenda Est
Mocking the vile little shit is the way to go. More about his ugly boots! What an imbecile, what a ultra maroon!
Alison Rose
Hey, for any North Bay Area folks (or anyone else) — a local rescue is in great need of food for the kitties. This post has links to their wishlists on Chewy, Amazon, and Walmart, if anyone is able to help out.
Villago Delenda Est
@Alison Rose: 5’9″ is average height for American males. I’m just average, myself, even though my dad was 6’2″ and his brother (who was so short as a early teen, he got the nickname “Shorty”) was 6’1″.
raven
@Steeplejack:
I have never met Napoleon
But I plan to find the time
I have never met Napoleon
But I plan to find the time, yes I do
Cause he looks so fine upon that hill
They tell me he was lonely, he’s lonely still
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago, oh yeah
I stepped up on the platform
The man gave me the news
He said, “You must be joking son”
Where did you get those shoes?
Where did you get those shoes?
Well, I’ve seen ’em on the TV, the movie show
They say the times are changin’ but I just don’t know
Gravenstone
@MazeDancer: Hardly the first time a political leader has allowed something to occur to get a desired casus belli.
trollhattan
“Don’t be short with me.”
Fashion tips from li’l Marco, it would seem. Now let’s revisit those dreamy white things he crammed himself into.
Torrey
@Daoud bin Daoud: I can’t resist a pedantic question, especially with my Latin dictionary sitting over there giving me accusatory looks.
Translation of “ugly boots” gets a bit complicated, since there are a few different kinds of boots in Latin and a few different kinds of ugly. Fortunately, the choice allows for some rather nice indirect commentary on DeSantis himself, so here goes. I’m going with cothurni turpes, cothurnus being the boot worn by a tragic actor in order to to look taller when he’s on stage. Seems on point. Turpis is specifically the kind of ugliness that reflects, well, turpitude, indecency, shamelessness. Deformis would also work, since it covers a lot of the same territory.
Disclaimer: I had some years of Latin, but it’s been a while. On the other hand, I occasionally need to revisit the language. And on the gripping hand, I’m not an expert, so I yield to anyone with better knowledge.
Cameron
Ron DeSantis: If Mickey Rooney were a Nazi.
Bill Arnold
@BellyCat:
This paper is pretty funny, and also well done. Bold mine.
What Beauty Brings? Managers’ Attractiveness and Fund Performance (Chengyu Bai, Shiwen Tian, September 10, 2023) (bold mine)
Ruckus
I’m 5′ 10″ and I thought for years that I was short. Working once with 3 guys that were 6′ 10″ didn’t help. But then I also know guys that are 5′ 4″ so there is of course an average and I didn’t grow for 5 yrs (7-12) as a kid and was the shortest freshman in my HS class. I have a story about that.
kalakal
@Steeplejack: Gillray’s cartoons are to blame. They tended to show French Revolutionary/Napoleonic armies as being poorly equipped and fed. Initially Napoleon was portrayed as a ridiculous little man, wearing an ill fitting uniform that was too big for him, huge hat and epaulettes( the English saw the French as theatrical overdressers).
When he was a junior officer his nickname was Puss-in- Boots among his fellows as he wore huge cavalry boots but they didn’t comment on his height just that he was scrawny.
Later English propaganda went into the short insults. It didn’t help that his horse, Marengo, was small at only 14.1 hands. The wonderful portraits by David of Napoleon on Marengo led to stories that he needed a small horse to look big. I think there was also the “I expected someone taller” effect, people felt Napoleon had to be a giant to have achieved so much. English people who met or saw Napoleon during the Peace of Amiens often commented on how they were surprised he wasn’t bigger.
https://www.historyhit.com/how-did-james-gillray-attack-napoleon-as-the-little-corporal/
kalakal
To be fair Honest Ron makes up for his self-perceived lack of stature with his bite radius. 20ft pythons tip their hats in respect when they see him distend his jaws.
Sure Lurkalot
@PaulWartenberg:
Agreed. And there’s the gender divide…”society” disdains a short man more than a short woman. On the other hand, the converse is true as to overweight women vs. overweight men.
Another Scott
@raven:
Elvis Costello – Watching the Detectives:
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Cameron:
If Mickey Rooney were a Nazi.
He isn’t one?
Steeplejack
@Alison Rose:
Sent ’em a couple of bags of dry food via Amazon. Should be delivered Tuesday.
Steeplejack
@raven:
DeSantis: “I would love to tour the Southland in a traveling minstrel show.” He’s making the dream happen!
realbtl
My experience is that size comes from within. TIFG is 6’+ and is small, Nancy Pelosi is a bit over 5′ and is very large.
Scout211
FYI, USA Today with a fact check on that photo of McHenry standing on a crate:
Apologies if this has already been posted.
Villago Delenda Est
@Scout211: McHenry remains a short little shit, with or without the crate.
raven
@Steeplejack: They tell me he is lonesome, he’s lonesome still. . .
Ruckus
@eclare:
SFB supposedly also wears lifts in his shoes. But he has so many defects within that thing on top his shoulders height issues seems to be a minor concern.
smith
In modern times, at least, height seems to have had an impact on presidential races, in that the taller candidate usually wins. An exception is 2020, when the nominally 6’3″ (ha!) TFG lost to the actually 6’0″ Biden. I just looked for pictures of them standing side-by-side together, and couldn’t find a good straight-on shot, but did find this of TFG next to 6’1″ Obama. There’s no way TFG is 2 inches taller — he looks about the same height. Factoring in his lifts at 2 inches, I’d guess he’s actually 5’11” barefoot. If that’s true, then maybe the American electorate still picked the taller candidate. At least they correctly perceived him as the smaller man.
kalakal
I will never feel guilty for mocking TIFG for wearing an alien lifeform on his head
Jim, Foolish Literalist
on topic, I guess. In the Gallego-Lake video discussed in the previous thread, I couldn’t help but notice that they’re roughly the same height, which made me wonder how tall Gallego is, and a google search on Gallego height (he’s apparently about 5 7) led me to this
Steeplejack
@raven:
I gotta get back to helping my Mizzou Tigers battle the evil universe Tigers of LSU. Mizzou is 5-0, which means the heartbreak will be greater when the season’s train wreck eventually happens. (Might be against the Dawgs on November 4.)
Bitter experience talking, but 🤞.
Scout211
This is good news, but not boot news. 😉
Leaders of “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing,” who sold toxic bleach as fake “Miracle” cure for COVID-19 and other serious diseases, sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.
Steeplejack
@smith:
Glad you looked up that photo of Trump and Obama. That’s the exact one I found a year or so ago when Trump’s (fake) height previously came up.
kalakal
@Scout211: Splendid news
Ella in New Mexico
I find it incredibly ironic he’s wearing the pointy-toe style of cowboy boot most commenly seen worn by our undocumented, non-English speaking Mexican immigrants here in the Southwest. We call them “vaquero boots” or “Mexican Cowboy boots”.
Head-Scratchingly Pointy Mexican Boots Are Now A Designer Item
Still not popular here among any other US cowboy or rancher types. Mostly seen on the above lower income folks or, even worse, the cartel/drug dealer types that I believe Ron wants to shoot on sight.
Mocking people for their height is mean, but in this case, I think Taylor Swift’s lyrics say it all:
“Cause karma is the thunder
Rattling your ground
Karma’s on your scent like a bounty hunter
Karma’s gonna track you down
Step by step, from town to town
Sweet like justice, karma is a queen…”
Alison Rose
@Steeplejack: Oh, thank you!! That’s very kind of you.
Alison Rose
@Scout211: Weird that they didn’t include the real photo, but this article they linked to does. And yeah…so this thing everyone had so much fun making LOL SHORT jokes over was fake.
Josie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I love a man who can use self deprecating humor.
Tony G
I don’t know whether it’s our culture or whether people are hard-wired that way — but, all things being equal, tall men tend to get more respect than short men. However: DeSantis is apparently five feet nine inches tall, which makes his height about average for American men. With that in mind, if DeSantis is doing anything to make himself look taller then that is just more evidence of the deep strangeness of his personality — the brittle, insecure narcissism of his character. In that sense, DeSantis is similar to the apparent 2024 Republican nominee for president. They are both deeply mentally ill men.
t
Ruckus
@realbtl:
SFB has been said to be using lifts to get to his height and he is a big man because he’s so full of shit.
That’s the physical side.
On the intellectual side he’s using the fact that he’s full of shit as his greatness. And if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s carting around that ego the size of at least 12 times a normal human he’d be 5′ 4″ and weigh 120 lbs.
Other than lifts, ego mania, overwhelming stupidity and 175 lbs of bullshit, he MIGHT have been able to be considered within the normal range of humanity. Sure on the very low end of humanity but still……
Steeplejack
@Alison Rose:
I’d never actually used the Amazon gift list/registry thing and wanted to check it out. Very easy!
Scout211
Yep.
And thanks for the direct link to the original photo.
R-Jud
@Scout211: OMFG. I just cheered aloud in my kitchen. A relative of mine tried to give me that stuff to “cure” my daughter of autism. I am so glad they’re going up shit creek.
Tony Jay
Sounds like De Santis is a little bit taller than me, but whereas I’m extremely comfortable being the perfect height ( not to mention ruggedly handsome with a hint of danger, like a chubby Martin Short) he’s got an ego made of spun sugar and all the easy going self-confidence of a 63 year old unmarried librarian thrown into a Mr Sunshine Skinny-Dip competition on Venice Beach.
He probably had his toes bashed off with a steak tenderiser the first time he gave Casey backtalk and the boots are a medically prescribed crutch.
MagdaInBlack
@Scout211: So, Basicly, the FDA told antivax crew not to drink bleach, and they ran right out and did just that.
Alison Rose
@R-Jud: UGH. I am so sorry. It’s so aggravating that people think autism is something that needs to be “cured”. It’s dehumanizing and repugnant.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Open thread? I’m reading the most recent Thursday Murder Club book, and a character said “leads us to whomever murdered Kuldesh.” A second character then said, “It’s whoever murdered Kuldesh, but other than that, yes.” I am so grateful, I could kiss my kindle.
Geminid
@Gravenstone: Hardly the first time a political leader has been accused of that either. Republicans used to claim that Franklin Roosevelt knew that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor but did not warn the local commanders.
But Israel’s IDF, Shin Bet, and Mossad are not run by Netanyahu loyalists. He could never get away with what the commenter suggests.
Mike in NC
Redneck Ron has to emulate the Dear Leader, down to the same clothing (blue suit, white shirt, red tie), body language, and compensation for his short, stocky build. Not a serious person, even within the GQP ranks.
WaterGirl
@Danielx: Yikes that’s scary. Are they checking you out once a week for a few weeks until the window has passed?
LiminalOwl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Was it you who recommended the TNMC serieshere? Thank you! I picked the first book up at the library because of the recommendation and am about to start book 3.
(I also lost track of who recommended the film POLITE SOCIETY. Belated thanks there too; my beloved and I enjoyed it so much and have been passing along the recommendation to all and sundry.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@LiminalOwl: I’m sure I recommended it, but I think others may have too. This fourth book is really good.
wjca
Not bewildering at all. The various psychological explanations notwithstanding, I suspect it’s actually quite simple.
I read an article, some years ago, which concluded that, to predict the result of a Presidential (general) election, the most consistently useful metric was simply: who is taller? Nothing about policy. Nothing even about charisma. Just height.
DeSantis wants to be President. If he read the same, or a similar, analysis then his behavior is entirely explicable.
billcinsd
@PaulWartenberg: OTOH, James Madison wrote the Constitution at 5’4″
evodevo
@sab: Yep…I got used to using a telescoping back scratcher to reach the stuff on the top shelf…you have to be quick in catching the item, however… otherwise I just adopt a pitiful look for the next tall person to wander along, and ask THEM to get it for me lol
The Lodger
@Another Scott: Was the verb at the end of the sentence put?
Another Scott
@The Lodger: [ rofl! ]
Cheers,
Scott.
yellowdog
@prufrock: Rearly? I’m 5’0″ andI have problems with airline seats.
wjca
Mrs wj is about 5’5″. The high point (sorry) of our first year of marriage was me getting a library stool for the kitchen. 35 years and a couple of houses later, it is still in constant use.