The Next Bearded President?
Ted Cruz looks Presidential, especially if it was 1860 when Presidential facial hair was in vogue.
When does Facial hair reemerge in the public sector at the Presidential level? The last time anyone sported any sort of facial hair was when Thomas Dewey ran against Truman in 1948 and lost.
At that time we finished up a war with a mustachioed Adolph Hitler and a Japan empire that had Tojo and Emperor Hirohito with mustaches.
Dewey had a mustache too. It was a reminder of darker days. Thus came a long period of clean-shaven leaders around the world.
Since then, especially with millennials, both the beard and the mustache have made a tremendous comeback.
This newfound popularity got exacerbated by the Covid lockdowns. But much of it was due to a realization that a beard makes many men look distinguished.
Ignoring the Taliban-type beards of celebrities such as Jack Dorsey of Twitter or David Letterman, most beards have improved the looks of the otherwise smarmy-looking politicians. I’m referring to Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke whose looks are much improved by the beard.
It’s even possible that Trump would have succeeded in getting reelected if he had grown a beard and set the stage for the future.
It’s obvious that Ted Cruz can and will ride this beard trend to the Republican nomination in 2024. Then to the White House as the 47th President.
I’d say that it’s about time a beard got back into the White House. In American history there were 13 Presidents with facial hair and of those, 6 had beards. The last President with a full beard was Harrison in 1889-1893. (Truman grew a beard while on vacation, but was clean shaven in the white House).
With the reemergence of the popular beard it is a matter of time before the beard returns to the White House.
Ted Cruz is the perfect candidate to make this happen. First of all, let’s be honest, he looks a lot better with a beard than without one. He looks more trustworthy.
Note that Cruz paid careful attention to the way Trump operated. He remained an ally to Trump and the Trumpers in the Republican party. Cruz stood up for him on the election challenges. This puts him on the fast track to the 2024 nomination if he plays his cards right.
His loyalty will pay off. Trump will support Cruz. And Trump will always be able to pack in a large audience for eventual “Cruz for President” rallies.
Cruz, with the beard, will be the biggest threat to the Democrats in 2024 no matter who they run. He is LatinX and should draw votes from the Spanish speaking audience in droves. And he looks very likeable, and Presidential, with the beard.
He’s also considered one of the smartest men in the Senate. After studying Trump he might be able to avoid the pitfalls of listening to consultants who mislead many candidates with bad advice.
While it is difficult to predict candidates for President this far out. There is no doubt that Ted Cruz is in the running.
If one lone consultant comes along and gets him to shave the beard because of some “research" then you can count him out.
At this point the trends are clear, and it is all about the beard. Ted Cruz is riding the trend. —jcd