In a bizarre post-debate analysis, Politico magazine has looked into the supposed significance of J.D. Vance’s facial hair.
After Vance gave his fellow vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz during Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate, Politico sought to dissect the candidate’s body language, including their physical features.
The piece, written by body language expert Joe Navarro, explains:
One of the first bits of nonverbal communication to appear in the debate was on JD Vance’s face: his beard. As POLITICO Magazine has noted before, Vance is the first White House wannabe to wear facial hair in 80 years. Our appearance is fundamental to our body language, and research indicates that voters see beards as (surprise, surprise) more masculine.
That can be positive to some, reading as strength and competence. But to others, especially women, it can be negative, conveying aggression and opposition to feminist ideals.
Politico says JD Vance’s beard is toxic masculinity and Tim Walz’s bulging eyes show his “passion.”
This is so freakin pathetic lmfao. pic.twitter.com/q59VEY219D
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 2, 2024
Needless to say, his take on Tim Walz was far more complimentary.
According to Navarro, Walz’s big bulging eyes were a demonstration of his passion for the political issues facing America:
When Walz felt especially passionate about something, he’d open his eyes wide as saucers. Eye-popping can sometimes be a sign of surprise, but for Walz, it simply revealed his emotional intensity — like this moment during an exchange about abortion.
The orbicularis oculi muscle, working in concert with the corrugator and frontalis muscles, contract to raise the eyebrows — a dynamic and emphatic facial motion that grabbed the viewer’s attention.
Early humans would have made such facial gestures to communicate strong emotions, like “danger is close.” For Walz, it gave extra weight to his feelings and held our gaze.
It is not the first time that Politico has made an issue of Vance’s facial hair. Back in July, the publication published an article entitled “Yes, JD Vance’s Beard Matters,” author Emily Schultheis argued that Vance was trying to emulate Abraham Lincoln:
By sporting a beard, Vance is on the cutting edge of a generational shift in facial hair styles — but he’s also in uncharted, potentially tricky territory. He, and by extension Trump’s campaign, are betting that voters will see his facial hair as a sign of Vance as the rugged everyman — “a young Abraham Lincoln,” as Trump said earlier this month — rather than giving off undertones of an untrustworthy aggressor.
Of course, there is a far more obvious explanation for all of this. Like tens of millions of men across America, J.D. Vance simply prefers to sport a beard, perhaps because he or those around him believe it suits him.