The Stunning Ugliness of Kristi Noem

Politics is a visual medium, and Kristi Noem casts a striking visual. Always has. When audiences see Kristi Noem, they instantly see two things:

• She’s a stunningly beautiful woman — especially for politics, a.k.a. “show business for ugly people.” From her beauty queen hair to her immaculate makeup to her lithe figure, not too many 54-year-old women look like she does. If you didn’t know any better and were told Noem was an ex-supermodel, you’d probably believe it.
• She’s phony, fake, and plastic.

It’s a helluva dichotomy, because beauty is a prized commodity. Looking good is a yuuge political asset. (Heck, Gavin Newsom built his career on it.) Everything else being equal, audiences select the more attractive option.

Pretty privilege is a real thing.

But on the other hand, being transparently phony isn’t prized or admired. It’s mocked and derided.

Audiences point at it and laugh.

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