Politico praises Tim Walz’s wide eyes as passionate and intense, warns JD Vance’s beard is anti-feminist

Politico's Joe Navarro dug into the body language of vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz as they competed on the debate stage Tuesday night, making the claim that "Yes, Vance's beard matters," and that "Walz's wide eyes showed his passion." On social media, many praised Vance's strong approach while saying that Walz looked more like a proverbial deer stuck in the headlights. 

"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," Navarro said. 

As for Vance, Navarro claimed that "One of the first bits of nonverbal communication to appear in the debate was on JD Vance’s face: his beard." This isn't the first time that Vance's beard has been at issue for Politico, as Navarro notes.

"As POLITICO Magazine has noted before," Navarro writes, "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."

Beards, apparently, are non-feminist and anti-female. This was news for political commentator Mary Katherine Hamm, who said "Women in my suburban female age cohort, um, do not find beards to be negative and if you try to cancel facial hair in the name of feminist angst, you will flip an election."

Others on social media, women specifically, barely even noticed Vance's beard as they were too entranced by his eyes. "I don't know much about Vance, but I'm entranced by his icy blue eyes," said one social media user.

"Politico," Hamm went on, "Women also find men with broad shoulders who reliably take out the trash and can handle a pediatrician appt to be off putting."

In 2020, Politico was a big fan of beards after Justin Trudeau grew one, saying "At the very beginning of this interminable year, Justin Trudeau grew a beard. The beard was Significant, a symbol of a once-youthful prime minister who was now older and wiser and battle-scarred." 

Perhaps, Politico, sometimes a beard is just a beard.