What a smile might mean in politics
People in politics do all sorts of things to sell themselves -- sometimes to make money, but not always
Before and after photos of the Governor of South Dakota, from the Smile Texas dental clinic web site.
When I was a kid in South Dakota, our governor was an undeniably homely Republican farmer named Archie Gubbrud. The state’s current governor is like Archie Gubbrud in party affiliation, but not much else. Kristi Noem is undeniably not homely, a point she makes in an infomercial she recently posted, bragging about “my beautiful new teeth.” In the video, she plugged the Houston-area cosmetic dentistry firm that so improved her smile that, according to the governor, when she first looked into a mirror after the procedure, she cried.
Imagining that moment, I’m thinking about all the governors I’ve known, including the two named Cuomo who led New York for half the years I’ve lived in the state. I can’t picture either Mario or Andrew weeping upon seeing themselves in a mirror — at least, not with joy.
But back to Kriti Noem. You may think it odd for a governor to behave like an Instagram influencer, but Noem is said to be on Donald Trump’s shortlist of potential vice presidential candidates, and we know that the former beauty pageant owner who aspires to return to the White House considers physical appearance to be a qualification for political jobs: He has used the term “central casting” dozens of times in reference to selecting players for public roles, and he has described himself approvingly as “so great-looking and smart.” So it’s likely that Noem is just eager to shore up her Trump-perceived qualifications to stand 270 electoral votes and one heartbeat away from the world’s most important job.1
If the goal is to win votes, she’s apparently onto something. Social scientists say that voters pay attention to physical appearance, the success of Mitch McConnell and Chris Christie notwithstanding. Attractive candidates are in fact more electable, according to research not only in the United States, but also in Australia, Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom. The benefit is not evenly distributed, however: Rodrigo Praino, an Australian political scientist, has found that conservative politicians benefit more from physical attractiveness than liberals. “In other words,” he wrote, “right-wing politicians are better-looking than left-wing politicians and, therefore, benefit more from the beauty premium at the ballot box.” (The professor did not offer a statistical analysis to back up his “righties are hotties” claim.)2
But for voters, the effort to look good ought to matter less than the ethical questions raised by Noem’s endorsement of the dental practice branded as Smile Texas. She’s not the first celebrity to offer an online endorsement of the dental clinic; indeed, the facility features a film studio for the happy patients’ use. What we may wonder, though, is whether Noem got anything other than an improved smile from her trips to Texas — that is, whether as a public official, she drew a financial benefit that ought to be disclosed to the public. The dentists pictured in Noem’s promotional video are Republican donors, which makes you suspicious that a prominent Republican officeholder might have gotten a gratis grin-lift. But that’s just one troubling question among the many that surface continually around the central role of money in politics.3
Even if the Governor of South Dakota got her bright new smile for free — which might be viewed as an unreported campaign donation, or a violation of federal trade laws — she would be a piker by contemporary political standards. Consider, for example, the senior senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, a Democrat, who is accused by federal prosecutors of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars, cash and a Mercedez convertible for his current wife. The payoff came from three New Jersey businessmen who were acting on behalf of the government of Egypt — which presumably benefited more from Menendez’s role as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman than Texas Smile did from Kristi Noem’s video.
If what the prosecutors allege is true, Menendez’s behavior was clearly illegal, and society sets penalties for that. What’s less clear is how we ought to deal with the ethical standards that politicians breach all the time in pursuit of financial gain or political power.
Consider Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump. Six months after leaving his job in the White House, where his portfolio included relations with Mideast nations, Kushner landed a $2 billion payout into his brand-new private equity fund from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In the Trump White House, Kushner was key to protecting MBS after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the prince had approved the murder and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, who lived in Virginia.
To be fair to Kushner, we ought to note that it's not illegal for a family member to profit from a public official’s work. That notion is seemingly ignored, however, in the nearly farcical Republican drive to impeach Joe Biden based on suggestions that the president’s son Hunter somehow brought Biden into criminal activity — none of which has been uncovered, despite years of effort and innuendo, and despite the perjury conviction of the key witness.
Consider, then, the unsettling notion that during the Trump administration, Kushner may have prepared a neat post-administration cushion for himself by skewing American policy to benefit the Saudi prince, imagining even then how MBS might help him financially down the road. Hunter Biden, in contrast, had no official position to use in brokering any deals he made. Meanwhile, Kushner is closing in on real estate deals in Serbia and Albania, including plans to build resorts on land now held by those governments — who might understandably be eager to draw the favor of a family that may again occupy the White House. House Republicans this week blocked demands by Democrats to investigate all of that, leaving us with no probe, but with just the shred of public approbation the deal deserves, and the hope that such corruption won’t again find a foothold in the West Wing.4
Of course, Donald Trump himself is the prince of profit from public power. Unlike his predecessors, he didn’t divest from his business once he got to the White House. An analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington concluded that Trump made $160 million from international business dealings while he served as president. Did his many foreign business ties affect American policy? It’s not hard to be suspicious: When he abruptly pulled U.S. troops out of northern Syria in 2019, for example, it was a terrible blow to the Kurdish people who were our longtime allies, but a victory for Turkey, where Trump had longstanding business ties.5
But in the realm of politicians finding extraordinary ways to make money, it’s the ongoing saga of Trump-branded merchandise that is a phenomenon never before seen in American politics. Before his turn to a new career campaigning, Trump put his name on countless products: cologne, steaks, wine, vodka, furniture, a board game, a magazine and neckties, not to mention lots of glitzy tall buildings (where his name has mostly been removed, at residents’ insistence) and a fraudulent business training program, Trump University. More recently, Trump has become a pitchman for a line of sneakers: gold-colored high-tops with an American flag theme sewn on the outide, retailing for $399.6 And true Trump devotees can also buy pieces of fabric cut from the suit he wore when he scowled for his mugshot in Georgia. The suit, according to the website description, is “the most historically significant artifact in United States history.” Pricetag for a scrap of it: $4,699.53.7
There’s nothing illegal about a former president, or a candidate for president, deciding to set up a side gig ripping off consumers with second-rate merchandise at top-tier prices. No, it’s not illegal — just tawdry. But that, of course, better marks the Trump brand than the block-lettered T on the side of those gold sneakers. Tawdry is genuine Trump.
So you don’t need to wonder why Kristi Noem put herself in front of a video camera to tout some Texas dentists. Maybe the new smile is part of a “tactical move… in what appears to be a yearslong makeover,” as the New York Times chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, wrote, which is transforming Noem into the very model of the idealized MAGA woman, making her look like a Fox News anchor, or a member of the Trump family. “If anyone would recognize the value of using power to push product it is Mr. Trump himself,” Friedman noted.8
But it is even more simple than that, I’d say. Noem is just showing that she has no aversion to crassly drawing attention to herself, which is what Trump is all about. More than a desire for money or power or respect, people who display the mental health condition known as narcissistic personality disorder need and seek too much attention. They lack empathy — the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. Their self-worth is inflated.9
We don’t know enough about the governor of South Dakota to understand if that describes her. But it’s a safe bet that her odd video sales pitch is actually less about making money than it is about making one quite dangerous man believe that, except for a prettier smile, she’s just like him. She has certainly convinced the rest of us.
https://factba.se/trump/search#central%2Bcasting
https://theconversation.com/how-a-candidates-looks-may-be-swinging-your-vote-without-you-even-realising-it-107364
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/kristi-noem-dental-practice-video/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/03/21/jared-kushners-2-billion-investment-from-saudi-arabia-what-to-know-after-republicans-delay-subpoena/?sh=7b85a44566f1
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/trump-made-up-to-160-million-from-foreign-countries-as-president/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/20/trump-sneakers-selling-gold/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/donald-trump-mugshot-suit-for-sale#:~:text=The%20suit%20is%20described%20as,%2C%20a%20short%2Dlived%20airline.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/style/kristi-noem-teeth-trump-vice-president.html
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662#:~:text=Narcissistic%20personality%20disorder%20is%20a,about%20the%20feelings%20of%20others.
NEWSCLIPS FROM THE UPSTATES
Dispatches from our common ground *
Wherein each week we look around what we call the nation’s Upstates — those places just a bit removed from the center of things — to find illuminating news and intriguing viewpoints, which you might not otherwise see.
This week, we share reporting published here:
Wilmington, N.C. (Wilmington Star News, starnewsonline.com)
York, Pa. (York Daily Record, ydr.com)
San Angelo, Texas (Standard-Times, gosanangelo.com)
Truckee, Cal. (Reno Gazette-Journal, rgj.com)
NOTE: The complete “Newsclips from the Upstates” section, and The Upstate American Midweek Extra Edition, which is sent to email boxes on some Wednesdays, are available only to paid subscribers. Thanks for your support!
NORTH CAROLINA
State moving to regulate “gas station heroin”
North Carolina is moving toward becoming the latest state to regulate an over-the-counter nutrition supplement that a legislator describes as “the equivalent of selling heroin in a convenience store.” Sarah Gleason reports in the Wilmington Star News that there’s rising concern about tianeptine, which is marketed under various brand names online and in retail outlets for $30 to $40 a bottle. The FDA warns that tianeptine, which users say leads to europhia, could cause seizures and loss of consciousness. So far, 13 states have regulated the drug. North Carolina lawmakers want to effectively ban its sale in the state. But an addiction treatment expert told the Star News, “Making something illegal doesn’t reduce addiction… we also want to continue to work to destigmatize addiction and addictive medicine and to promote treatment access and treatment opportunities for people. Those things go hand in hand.”
PENNSYLVANIA
Hospital campus grows food to help fight disease
Temperature-controlled greenhouses have been built on a campus of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in West Manchester Township, the latest step in what a physician there calls “a paradigm shift” aimed at creating a program of wellness there. Teresa Boeckel of the York Daily Record reports that Dr. KimberLee Mudge, a breast surgeon who has a small farm, launched the program to provide fresh food to help fight the root causes of such illnesses as heart and renal diseases, and to support healthy women and babies. The high tunnels on the Memorial Hospital grounds will provide vegetables for the hospital cafe and for plant-based options on patieints’ menus, and to offer community-supported agriculture and a farmers’ market at the hospital. Mudge, noting the rise of obesity in America, told the newspaper, “We've lost sight of exercise and being outside. We eat processed foods because they can feed more people in mass production. And we're losing sight of what it means to be healthful.”
TEXAS
Teen raises steer that sells for $1 million
What makes a steer worth a million bucks? Apparently, according to reporting by Brandi D. Addison in the Standard-Times of San Angelo, if it’s the grand champion steer at Rodeo Houston. Yes, the prized Simmental steer named Woozy is a tawny beauty, but the price isn’t just because of the promise of Woozy’s great offspring: 15-year-old Blaize Benson, who raised Woozy, will get $75,000 of the proceeds, with the rest going to the rodeo’s education fund, which covers college expenses for the several show winners. The reserve grand champion brought $650,000.
CALIFORNIA
Plastic bottles drawing bans in Tahoe area
The town of Truckee is joining the city of South Lake Tahoe in banning single-use water bottles, according to reporting by Jason Hidalgo in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Single-use plastic bottles are also among the top five types of litter found in the neighboring Tahoe Basin. “These plastics do not decompose but break apart into harmful microplastics that enter local waterways and are potentially consumed by wildlife or the public,” the town of Truckee said in a statement about the ban. To promote the reuse of bottles, Truckee will also reimburse recipients up to 50% of the cost of installing water bottle filling stations, and will release a regional map showing the locations of water bottle filling stations throughout the Truckee-Tahoe area.
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-REX SMITH
Tawdry. Now there’s the proper term for modern politics. Reflects the culture for sure.