Sinema Style
Is it fair to poke fun at Senator Krysten Sinema’s fashion sense? Let us take a broader look at the sartorial expression of the rich, powerful and cynical. Let us start with the threads of authoritarian mad men, before moving on to KS. Historically, a flamboyant and clownish sense of fashion is a trait found in murderous autocrats — Qadaffi, Adolf, Kim Jong-Il, Mobutu, Saddam. This is because such people are malignant narcissists, asphyxiating on the fumes of their own vanity. Donald Trump is an aspiring dictator and a fascist and his strange, animal-pelt, sculpted hair and orange pancake make-up are an expression of his self-absorption. These outward expressions of one’s inner rot can and must be made fun of — as a way of keeping us grounded in real reality and outside of the detached and demented reality of the dictator. Theirs is a reality in which a half-inch square mustache, greasy triangle-shaped hair, jodhpurs, and pinched, perspiring yells are supposed to signify strength and are supposed to be normalized. I contend that we should never let the desperate fever dream of the malignant narcissist become normalized.
I’ve never met someone who would suggest that a man like Mussolini should be exempt from sartorial ridicule. With Sinema, I believe the issue is that people may believe she is not malevolent enough to merit making fun of for her fashion statements. Sinema is not a murderous dictator, but I do think she is awful enough to merit this type of ribbing. Her louder-than-a-Megadeth-concert* outfits are part of a persona that performatively thumbs its nose at the desires of regular people for: health care, childcare, free community college, and community-based anti-violence programs. Last March, Kyrsten Sinema famously did a curtsey and offered a showy *thumbs-down* as her sassy fuck you gesture to sink a bill that would have *raised the the federal minimum wage* — all while toting a handbag that costs more than most Americans’ monthly wages.
As of the press time of this post, Krysten Sinema still refuses to tell the public why she opposes Biden’s Build Back Better bill. It’s safe to conclude that this is because she recently received $750 million from the pharmaceutical industry and the proposed bill would seek to control their out-of-control pill pricing. The bill would cost $350 billion per year for 10 years. The annual defense budget is $725 billion per year. Tax increases on the very wealthy are designated to pay for the BBB.
When your carefully choreographed outfits form part of you are “let them eat cake” attitude toward regular people, I think you’ve earned the right to take some heat about your cowboy boots.
*a tip of the hat to a wag in a YouTube comments section for the Megadeth line
