Politics and Punchability

DeSantis is Doomed by His Own Face

As a politics geek, I appreciate the academic studies that identify effective candidates and leaders. I mean, if it’s possible to measure something like this I’d rather have the the information than not. In this case the science says that you need to be charismatic, authentic, and relatable while communicating both genuine empathy and strength.

In layman’s terms, you better be the opposite of Ron DeSantis who has, what we in the game would call an eminently “punchable face.”

Does this look like a man who wants to be there?

“Punchable” describes, in a single word, someone whose default facial expression signals condescension, arrogance, smugness, and superiority. It’s a quality that we sense even when looking at a picture and it’s the kiss of death for anyone in the public eye. (This includes media types like Lawrence O’Donnell, of MSNBC, who knows it all, and Tucker Carlson, formerly of Fox, who lies about what he knows. A third punchable media personality, writer Glenn Greenwald, communicates disdain without uttering a word. Stephen Miller, Trump advisor, hates you and loves himself.)

O’Donnell

Carlson

Greenwald

Miller

Punchable Face isn’t a new term. The German version — Backpfeifengesicht — has been around for more than 100 years. I’m not sure when it came into current vogue. (Maybe in the last decade?) But I do know that it was accelerated by the press imagesof the so-call pharma-bro, Martin Shkreli, who built a huge business out of cornering the market on certain drugs and jacking up prices by as much as 5,400 percent. In interviews he dismissed concerns about sick people who couldn’t afford the medicine and defended his evil business model by saying, essentially, “That’s capitalism baby.”

When Shkrli was eventually arrested, prosecuted, and convicted on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy you could almost hear the cries of, “That’s justice baby!” rippling across the country.

In politics before DeSantis, you’d have to put Donald Trump’s blank-facedson-in-law Jared Kushner in the punchable column along with Rep. Matt Gaetz. For a long time Senator Ted Cuz of Texas was considered the most-punchable-face-in-politics award for a permanent sneer, which was only occasionally obscured by an attempted smile. I say “attempted” because whether it has been in person or the media, the best I’ve seen his do is the kind of a dead-eyed smirk that a cartoon snake might flash before striking and making a meal out of mouse.

DeSantis looks more like an apex predator, like a wolf, with a belly full of a fresh kill than a snake. It’s like all the blood has rushed to his stomach, in service to digestion, and none of it is available to the muscles of his face. No matter who he’s interacting with, he looks bored and disengaged. He likes to play the tough guy, as evidenced by his fights over issues like gay rights and race, and this has been enough to win support from Florida’s voters. However, his culture war issues don’t play very well on the presidential trail, where, sadly for him, he has to bring his face wherever he goes.

In contrast to DeSantis, every candidate who has won the presidency in my lifetime has been the very opposite of punchable. Think about:

Ronald Reagan — a warm and kindly face combined with a temperament of decency and strength.
George H. W. Bush — a bright, intelligent face along with worldly smarts.
Bill Clinton — A face that radiates interest joined with political savvy.
George W. Bush — You’d want to spend time with him and you knew he cared.
Barack Obama — A big smile that made up for his professorial persona.
Donald Trump — You can criticize him (I certainly do) but his base finds him hugely charismatic and he senses their frustrations and resentments.
Joe Biden — With a grin that lights up his eyes Biden may be the most sincere-looking president since Eisenhower and his “Uncle Joe” style is deceptively effective.

None of presidents I name above were perfect in their leadership style. Obama, for example, failed to reach out when I was one of very few Republicans who backed him on the Syria crisis, which showed there were flaws hiding behind that smile. But he was, like the others, a leader who had charismatic appeal and communicated that they had the strength to get things done.

DeSantis has shown himself to be insufferably weak as a communicator and as he campaigns he looks like a man who would rather be anywhere other than shaking voters’ hands. Watch as he asks a voter his name and responds by saying, “Okay.”

It all makes me ask, who told him he could play national politics?

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