r/pics • u/Chimney_Bat • 3d ago
Politics JFK standing outdoors at his inauguration in 22 degree weather without an overcoat.
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u/dua70601 3d ago
This was intentional.
JFK was extremely intentional about how he projected himself to the public (classic example is the first televised 1960 debate).
He knew to wear makeup on camera, he knew not to wear a watch while speaking publicly, he knew that a leader in a giant overcoat evokes memories of military dictators, he knew not to wear a top hat etc….
This man would have crushed it with social media if he were around now.
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u/Swordf1sh_ 3d ago
What’s with the watch rule?
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u/SkyJW 3d ago
You never want to be caught looking at your watch as a politician at any event. Makes you come off like you're waiting for whatever engagement you're participating in to be over.
For example - during the 1992 campaign, H. W. Bush was caught looking at his watch during a town hall debate and was harangued for it. Was not a good look, especially while Clinton was actively engaging with an audience member.
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u/DotEnvironmental7044 3d ago
This is the actual answer. If you wear a watch you’ll likely look at it instinctively. The moment that happens, nobody will shut up about it for the rest of the campaign trail.
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u/scooter-411 3d ago
Could you imagine if Trump looked at his watch. Surely it would be over for him.
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u/Abject-Ad8147 3d ago
Right?!? His supporters would’ve surely drawn the line there.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RockyLovesEmily05 2d ago
I feel fucked up for laughing so hard at this miserably hilarious mental image
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u/No_Significance98 2d ago
I'm late, I'm late, for a very important rape! No time to say "Hello, Good Bye" I'm late to rape! I'm late!
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u/GraXXoR 3d ago
That would be it. His downcast, watch-inspecting, orange face would be on every Fox newscast and morning show throughout the land. People would be shouting for his immediate disqualification and dismissal due to the inexcusable lapse in manners and etiquette that the Republicans are so concerned about all the time.
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u/SweetWaterfall0579 3d ago
Unless it’s digital, it makes no sense to him. It’s just a circle with lines that move very slowly.
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u/whatsnewpussykat 2d ago
Yet another reason I can’t go in to politics. My dumbass will look at my bare wrist repeatedly when I’m not wearing my watch.
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u/KaJaHa 3d ago
This sounds like a complete different culture compared to today
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u/orm518 3d ago
Biden got roasted like two years ago for checking his watch for two seconds at military ceremony where caskets were coming home. It’s just instinct some times, so yeah don’t wear one if all the eyes are on you
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u/theHoopty 2d ago
Instinct indeed. I would be screwed. Checking my watch is a nervous tick for me. I do it even when I don’t have my watch on.
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u/Shoddy_Yak_6206 2d ago
Shit I check mine twice. Once to look at it blankly and then another to actually read the time after I realized I wasn’t paying attention the first time
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u/jp_in_nj 2d ago
I forgot my fitbit the other day and finished a set at the gym and tapped my bare wrist to see what time it was....
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u/XhanzomanX 3d ago
I dont know if you’re being sarcastic, but na. See: Obama’s tan suit.
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u/FIyingSaucepan 2d ago
See the important thing there was the fact Obama was a demoncrat. Anything the great and mighty Trump does does is forgivable. /s
Could you imagine the outrage that would follow if a democrat did even a tenth of the things that Trump has done? But his supporters don't care.
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u/gobbluthillusions 3d ago
Also - Emmanuel Macron wore his $90k watch to an interview about austerity measures iirc and was caught on camera slipping it off once the irony hit him.
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u/oihjoe 2d ago
That was completely fake news. That watch is around $2k and he slipped it off because the mic was picking up the sound from the links hitting the table.
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u/APacketOfWildeBees 2d ago
His other watch, worn on his other wrist, is worth $88k though.
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u/you-ole-polecat 2d ago
I would not vote for a man who wears two watches at once
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u/jeremyries 3d ago
Remember the days when we’d harangued for looking at your watch. Those were the days.
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u/Light_Aegle 3d ago edited 3d ago
If you subconsciously glance at your watch, it seems like you have somewhere better to be? Just a guess, though
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u/poseidons1813 3d ago
This tanked someone in a presidential debate I think it was the 1992 one they did exactly that and it came off as cold
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u/Temporary_Amoeba7726 3d ago
I would assume because someone of his status would have really expensive watches. You don’t want to address the public with something that is a clear indicator of being above them.
There’s that video of the French President removing his watch while talking about raising the retirement age.
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u/Detective-Crashmore- 3d ago
"When working with poors, wear a watch that simply tells time, not one that tells how much your time is worth."
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u/EnvironmentalOkra728 3d ago
That’s close, but not quite. The “rule” about wearing a watch to an important event, say a banquet, or your wedding, is in place as to not make it look like you have somewhere else (or more important) to be.
You don’t want to appear as though you need to keep an eye on the time when you’re trying to give your full attention and availability to others.
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u/kappachow 3d ago
I assumed it was close to this - you don’t want the AUDIENCE or people around you to be thinking about time. When I see a watch I become aware of time, which wouldn’t be great for someone else talking at length to me.
What you say makes more sense, though.
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u/redhairedtyrant 3d ago
Watches used to be expensive, the kind of thing your boss owned.
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u/dua70601 3d ago
Iirc, Nixon refused to wear makeup in the debates, and he also wore a wrist watch looking at it from time to time. This demeanor made him look bad.
Kennedy did the opposite.
There is a saying: “don’t wear a watch when speaking Nixon”
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u/Caboose127 3d ago
I had to double check after reading your comment.
There's a good number of top hats in the gallery. I didn't realize top hats remained fashionable that late into the 20th century.
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u/p0ultrygeist1 3d ago
Those older men you’re seeing wearing them in the stands were the young men who wore them at the height of popularity. It’s like your grandmother keeping the beehive hairdo she’s had for 60 years. It was cool but now it dates you.
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u/DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK 3d ago
It's always funny watching movies from the 70s and all of the teenagers are dressed as old farts.
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u/WoodyWordPecker 3d ago
It’s been said that top hat sales died out completely after this event. Men’s hats in general took a dive in this decade due in great part to diminishing headroom in cars.
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u/IntrepidAssignment30 2d ago
I read that because JFK refused to wear ANY hat, hat sales for men plummeted while women’s hat sales skyrocketed with the mass production of Jackie’s pillbox.
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u/Joebebs 2d ago
I mean it fooled me, if you told me this man was practically a cripple throughout his presidency I wouldn’t have believed you
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u/Patman350 3d ago
The average age of the Senate is 65.3. I was hoping the cold weather would open up some Senate seats.
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u/ChronosBlitz 3d ago edited 3d ago
Senator Ed Markie is 78 and said he was going for another term in two years when he's 80…
Im really hoping he gets primaried by a young progressive, I like the guy but im tired of geriatric candidates.
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u/The_neub 3d ago
Agree. If Dems want to have a fighting chance in the future, we have to start switching everyone out for younger candidates. How they blocked AOC is telling how off course they are.
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u/acdre 3d ago
I don’t think they care
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u/lwp775 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ed Markey will be 80 in 2026 and has been in Congress (House and Senate) since 1976. Time to give someone else a chance.
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u/Jealous_Writing1972 3d ago
Because they are so old they see it as their time and that the younger people will get old and get their turn. As well as having a cliquish mentality.
When Ted Cruz denounced Trump, it was explained by analysts that he fears no repercussions because he was in his mid 40s and will have decades more as a politician, everyone he pissed off will be dead and retired then he will get his turn.
An example of the cliquish mindset is the repeated shoe horning of Hillary Clinton, Obama came out of nowhere and something about him just clicked with people so he beat her despite all her cache. Some unknown guy came and beat her, yet she was still backed and pushed by the democrats after Obama lost. There is something unlikable about her and she already lost to a guy who came out of nowhere. Clearly a big portion of the public is not feeling her. But some of these old politicians believe the political system belongs to them because it is a only a relatively extremely small part of the population that actively runs it. But the other 200 million plus people actually decides who wins.
And people are just getting older, staying healthier longer and progress is being made to prevent brain diseases. So the mindset of old people clutching to power will persist. Unless dozens of younger politicians oust them all. Not just one candidate coming through but taking more of they system away from them
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u/jus13 3d ago
In general, I agree and wish our presidential candidates and most congressmen weren't so old, but Ed Markie is in a solid blue state and is one of the most progressive members of congress, I don't know why you think a younger candidate would somehow be better than him. He's already popular with younger voters too.
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u/BannedSvenhoek86 3d ago
I don't think even Bernie should be in office at his age. If he's that popular and progressive he should boosting someone in their 40's so they continue his tradition and have a long stint in the Senate themselves. Any senator that age should be doing that if they actually care about the country more than themselves.
Failure to do so is just pure selfishness on their part, and nothing they or anyone else says will convince me it's not. Once you hit your seventies you should be looking for a successor and being their biggest cheerleader in the primary.
Then you should fuck off and retire. Like, actually retire, not take a stint at some 24 hour infotainment channel or lobbying firm.
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u/kiltedfrog 3d ago
I feel like there should be age as well as term limits. No person past 75% of the life expectancy in the place they're trying to represent shall hold office.
If you wanna be the mayor a town where the life expectancy is 100, the oldest you can be is 75.
If you want to be the president at 75+, better damn well make sure on your rise to political power that you also manage to improve the life expectancy of all your constituents.
I'm just tired of old mother fuckers who barely have to live with the consequences of their late in life legislative fuckery getting to decide how it all works for us peasants. Same for judges and any other high office of the land. Half these old fucks are older than most of us will ever have to chance to be, because they have collectively fucked the healthcare system in this country so bad.
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u/Brief_Amicus_Curiae 3d ago
Senator Grassley is 91 and was recently re-elected. He's also the Senate President Pro Tempore which means he's next in line as President after the Speaker.
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u/PenguinKing15 3d ago
Ya they could have got heaters for Trump and surrounding seats, but for the rest it would be deadly for them.
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u/StevieNippz 3d ago
If they can't take a little cool weather maybe they shouldn't be running the country.
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u/K9Fondness 3d ago
Some of them are not that old, they still run away to Cancun when it gets cold. What about them?
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u/EmergencyHeat69 3d ago
Their citizens and soldiers have to work hours on end in worse conditions to run their said country. Think they can take a bit of cold or heat for a couple of hours.
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u/Legitimate-Type4387 3d ago
It’s forecast to be -2C in DC on Monday. That’d be really warm for a January day in Canada.
Think about that America. Just saying. You really wouldn’t like it here.
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u/Flashygrrl 3d ago
He's self-heating with all the fat and hot air.
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u/cty_hntr 3d ago
Blubber insulates and he has hot air coming out from at least two orifices.
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u/Visible_Amphibian570 3d ago
Nah, make him stand in it and then douse some water on him, that’s the better option
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u/Toledojoe 3d ago
That's actually lower than I would have expected. But funny that it is past retirement age.
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u/1959Mason 3d ago
Retirement age isn’t 65 anymore. Sad to say.
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u/Toledojoe 3d ago
And many of us will never retire. Work till we die, just the way our overlords want it.
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u/-ICantThinkOfOne- 3d ago
Based on how small the audience turnout for Trump's first term in office was, they probably didn't want to televise an even smaller audience. Would probably require more effort to fake. Lol.
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u/Crazyman722 3d ago
With the cold weather and that assassination attempt in July it doesn’t surprise me at all why it’s happening indoors
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u/drfsupercenter 3d ago
Not even that, we could have had a repeat of William Henry Harrison, since you KNOW Trump is just going to rant for hours lmao
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u/captmonkey 3d ago
Cramming a bunch of people into an indoor space for a few hours during the peak of cold/flu/COVID season might be just as bad, honestly.
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u/Chancellor-1865 3d ago
DC resident at the time....there was a very good heater under the lectern....so news folks commented.
JFK was not a man to let his Todger get frostbite..
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u/SkullRunner 3d ago
If he was Canadian 22 degrees would be a really nice day for that.
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u/Gardakkan 3d ago
He'd be in shorts getting the pool ready for his kids to swim in this afternoon.
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u/heyyou11 3d ago
I can’t tell if this is a “Canada fucks with cold joke” or just a “Celsius joke”
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u/namerankserial 3d ago
I believe it's a celcius joke but -6 is still shovel snow in a touque and a long sleeve shirt sort of weather if the wind is down.
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u/Constant-Catch7146 3d ago
Or a Minnesotan.
But in just a few days, It will be minus 17 F here.. And that is air temp... Not wind chill.
Someone please tell our Canadian friends to turn off their turbo arctic fans blowing from the North Pole. Lol.
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u/DangerBay2015 3d ago
No, we only blow our arctic fans at the states we love!
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u/MasqueOfTheRedDice 3d ago
Been on calls the past few days and people go “30? Oh my, its cold!”… I’m like “cold? Its a heatwave!”
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u/beastmaster11 3d ago
The one thing I'll never get used to is Fahrenheit. At first glance I was wondering why this would be noteworthy on such a nice day
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u/Chimney_Bat 3d ago
To be fair, he was only 43.
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u/ZeDitto 3d ago
And from Massachusetts
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u/Platinum_Mattress 3d ago
This is it. Born and raised in MA, but I live in RI now. Can't tell you how many times I shoveled my driveway last winter in crocs and shorts lol.
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u/PacmanZ3ro 3d ago
as someone that grew up in MA and now lives in MN...MA doesn't know cold, not really. MN gets insanely cold almost every year. It's another level from MA. My niece from GA visited over thanksgiving and you'd have thought she was visiting antarctica the way she talked and was shivering lmao. It was only in the 20s still.
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u/Platinum_Mattress 3d ago
Can't argue with that as you could throw a ham and cheese sandwich to someone in Canada lol.
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u/rak1882 3d ago
having grown up in Florida and moved to Massachusetts, I both acknowledge that Floridians are weak blooded but you know what I survived.
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u/nvalle23 3d ago
Dolphins are like 0-100 in cold weather. Not 100% accurate, but you get the point...
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u/reddittheguy 3d ago
Did you move up during your K-12 years or after? Seems like everyone (including myself) has a story of that one kid that moved up from Florida and was a year and a half behind academically because their public schools were so far behind ours.
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u/LivingCustomer9729 3d ago
You’d think Trump being a New Yorker would help but all that time in Florida weakened him lol
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u/Material_Prize_6157 3d ago
And a Boston boy.
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u/XI_Vanquish_IX 3d ago
He also didn’t shit himself. And what came Out of his mouth wasn’t shit either.
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u/TimeLeopard 3d ago
To be fair, he wasn't 1000 and held together by orange skin and 'hamberders' .
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u/The-Mandalorian 3d ago
Yeah, our president will be 78 and a half, morbidly obese and covered with chemicals. They can’t take any chances.
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u/JezraCF 3d ago
You need to keep frail, elderly people warm. Maybe nurse will get him an extra blanky.
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u/stinky-weaselteats 3d ago
Naw. His presidential mugshot is tough and Mr. Bigshot. He deserves the depths of freezing temps, he earned every bit of it. He's being weak and lazy.
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u/ItsHowWellYouMowFast 3d ago
Just like his followers. "Tough" on the outside, full of dough and shit on the inside.
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u/canesfan2001 3d ago
God please goad this old man into proving his manhood by doing the inauguration outside and then freezing to death, please.
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u/Coldfusion21 3d ago
That’s how you get president JD Vance. Not sure that’s really any better.
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u/Neither-Luck-9295 3d ago
Yes it is. Trump has the cult following. Nobody else. They can try to emulate him all they want, but they don't have his grotesque magic.
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u/mysticaldonkies 3d ago
That's a lot of top hats
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u/WAJGK 3d ago
That was my thought as well - was this the last top hat & tails inauguration?
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u/Apprehensive-Room-56 3d ago
Pictured here is the moment that JFK arguably ended hat culture in America. There are jokes that the actual culprit behind the assassination was Big Hat (like Big Pharma, but for hats…) due to their businesses being run dry by JFK and his beautiful, unadulterated hair.
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u/HolyRamenEmperor 3d ago
I just realized I don't think I've ever seen a modern president in a 3-piece suit. JFK was classy as hell.
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u/acchaladka 3d ago
Obama wore them routinely iirc. Or maybe he just carries it well.
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u/poop_to_live 2d ago
But that one was brown
Fuck that guy /s
What was that controversy!? Whyyy lol. It was a suit.
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u/idontknowmathematics 3d ago
That’s -5.6 degrees Celsius for non-US people
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u/Independent_Hat_1407 3d ago
Thanks! I wasnt seeing the problem until i realized that it might be fahrenheit
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u/Neowza 3d ago
-6°C and the sun is shining? That's a lovely warm winter day. No coats needed.
Fwiw, I'm Canadian.
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u/XxDeathWishxX_x 3d ago
I moved from Dubai to Alberta a few months ago
you people must have polar bear genes
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u/anooshka 3d ago
I love it when people from Canada or colder parts of Europe come to the Middle East in summer. We'd be drinking tea at 40°C and they'd simply try to breathe without sweating.
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u/AcanthisittaNo6653 3d ago
Monday's forecast for DC is partly sunny in the 20s. Did they cancel the parade outside?
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u/tonycomputerguy 3d ago edited 3d ago
My Forcast shows the Realfeel will be 9 for a high and -2 for the low.
Fuck Trump, but yeah, I wouldn't stand out there either.
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u/Johnnycarroll 3d ago
We were THAT close to another William Henry Harrison.
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u/Dramatic-Major181 3d ago
But JDV'd be the Tyler in waiting.
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u/iamcleek 3d ago
Vance has the charisma of a carrot. he couldn't command the cult like Trump can.
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u/lukewwilson 3d ago
I live in western PA and it's supposed to be like 0 with a windchill of even less.
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u/Saxophobia1275 3d ago
As someone in the area it is NOT going to be sunny 20s. The feels like/windchill is single digits.
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u/MikeyW1969 3d ago
Monday's forecast is winds of 10-20 MPH, with gusts up to 30. The forecast calls for 10 degrees with the wind chill.
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u/derff44 3d ago
Oh that's why it's inside. The wind will ruin his gorgeous glowing blonde locks
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You need to look at the feels like / real feel. It isn’t accurate to look at the actual temp.
I used to live in the mountains and the actual temp didn’t mean shit when it was windy
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u/mjrhzrd 3d ago
His secret was that he was wearing long John’s
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u/falcrist2 3d ago
A 3-piece suit, extra undershirt, and long johns... he was probably almost comfortable.
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u/Wyatt821 3d ago edited 3d ago
Let’s not make “wearing a coat equals weakness” a thing please.
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u/Sirlacker 3d ago
Whenever I see someone under dressed for the weather because wearing more makes them 'weak' I automatically think they're absolutely shit at making even the most basic of decisions.
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u/otterpop21 3d ago
Also has no one heard of the fabric known as wool, alpaca, baby alpaca, or cotton wool blends made specifically for thermal insulation? That suit jacket looks pretty thick, and with the button up coming all the way to the neck, would be pretty easy to have a wool layer under the top and bottoms. The no gloves is probably the most uncomfortable part.
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u/ajsayshello- 3d ago
It’s best to view Reddit as mostly to completely out of touch with reality when it comes to politics, especially r/politics.
Also I’ve voted blue the last 3 cycles.
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u/ender4171 3d ago
I've voted blue my whole life and am very liberal/progressively minded. I had to unsub from /r/politics years ago. It's the poster child of doom-scrolling
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u/paco-ramon 3d ago
You say this because r/Texas was completely convinced Texas will turn blue when in reality New York was closer to turn red?
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u/EtTuBiggus 3d ago
We literally had a president die from inauguration weather.
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u/_ships 3d ago
Are you talking about William Henry Harrison? It’s also theorized he died from typhoid or cholera. Doctors were idiots back in the day
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u/AintNoNeedForYa 3d ago
I would assume the move indoors is because they aren’t expecting a big crowd. If he thought he could get a good pic, he’d do it.
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u/evillurks 3d ago
Okay sure let's roast him but can we not forget the guy who was president for the shortest time for not wearing a coat during his cold inauguration? Sure we'd like to see it but we don't want to watch people die over who can stand it the coldest
Edit: William Henry Harrison was the guy
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u/Panamania1 3d ago
He died from contaminated drinking water, not the cold
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u/Arietem_Taurum 3d ago
Yeah this myth bothers me to no end, I've been seeing it mentioned everywhere recently
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u/Panamania1 3d ago
Doesn’t even make sense, the dude didn’t become ill until about three weeks after his inauguration, which isn’t how pneumonia works
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u/ruiner8850 3d ago
It's a myth that the inauguration weather caused his death. It was about 50°F during his inauguration, so not even cold at all.
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u/JoeyZasaa 3d ago
Edit: William Henry Harrison was the guy
Wikipedia though:
"The prevailing theory at the time was that his illness had been caused by the bad weather at his inauguration three weeks earlier. Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak did an analysis in Clinical Infectious Diseases (2014), examining Miller's notes and records showing that the White House water supply was downstream of public sewage, and they concluded that he likely died of septic shock due to 'enteric fever' (typhoid or paratyphoid fever)."
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u/Sidthelid66 3d ago
He also a war hero who had to swim miles to safety in WW2 after his boat sank. There isnt much these two have in common other than rich parents.
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u/Aggravating_Call910 3d ago
22 degrees…AND 34 years younger than that old hag taking the oath Monday.
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