Americans have been hit in the last few weeks with a slew of attempts by politicians to show how down to Earth and ordinary they are. First we had Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren livestreaming herself drinking a beer; then we had New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recreating the iconic dance scene from "The Breakfast Club" on a Boston rooftop (which admittedly an attempt by a third party to embarrass her, but which backfired); now we've been treated this Thursday to O'Rourke Instagramming from the dentist's chair.
Beto is Instagramming his dental cleaning pic.twitter.com/BWyncSW3OK
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 10, 2019
This is, admittedly, the weirdest one yet. After all, nobody is at their most attractive in the dentist's chair, and nobody wants to see a close up spotlight shot of someone else's mouth getting cleaned. Which sort of begs the question: what was going through O'Rourke's mind?
Don't worry, though: Twitter's all over trying to answer that one, as well as predict what the next humdrum, "aren't we so much like you?" politician videos will be.
Although O'Rourke lost his challenge to Texas Senator Ted Cruz back in November, the former three-term representative is still seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, and many are speculating about whether or not he'll throw his hat into the ring for the 2020 presidential primary race. However, perhaps with the hygienist's dental picks in his mouth might not be the best time to ask!
Dentist: “Are you running in 2020?”
— Andrew Figueiredo (@CanadianKansan) January 10, 2019
Beto: “Ardhehrirrjnfhfuwbbabaaa” https://t.co/dXNOrGbr6M
Others worried what might be coming at them next.
It's a political arms race that is going to end with Harris on the toilet talking about federal marijuana legalization. pic.twitter.com/WgNgmWMBfW
— SharkHand (@SharkHand) January 10, 2019
US President Donald Trump wasn't even involved in this, but some folks won't pass up a chance to diss him too.
If Beto has to go his dentist to show he is a man of the people, then Trump should go to his proctologist, and show he is an ass$%@#@!
— Israel Waismel-Manor (@IWaismelManor) January 10, 2019
Another person brought up an important political concern: in a country without universal health care or insurance, is Instagramming photos of receiving a medical treatment that can be quite expensive really a "man of the people" moment?
Beto is only allowed to livestream his trip to the dentist if he endorses single payer including dental coverage
— Kenton (@KentonTilford) January 10, 2019
One person noted that the image seemed a little too perfect to be candid.
I mean the dude has perfect hair for sitting in a dentist office. I'm a bit concerned though the bib is a bit too clean. I'm not thinking Beto is an excellent clean freak with his teeth or this was a photo op. I have so many questions now. https://t.co/dVgwqq5LSD
— David Herrmann (@herrmanndigital) January 10, 2019
However, upon further inspection, more is revealed than initially meets the eye. O'Rourke's Instagram story shows that it's not merely an idle photo op, but part of the El Paso resident's ongoing coverage of the lives of people on the US-Mexico border. He interviews his dental hygienist, Diana, about her experience as a Mexican-American growing up in El Paso; she tells a touching story about how her parents' neighbors helped her mom pass her US citizenship test.
