Politics is supposed to be serious. It’s the cornerstone of our democracy with elected officials serving as the elites in our society. They are supposed to be some of the smartest and most informed people in the nation, making decisions across the board that affect our whole country. And then sometimes, they’re just people. They make mistakes. They look stupid on live television. Sometimes it’s charming and sometimes it’s cringeworthy–such is life. This is why American politics is so unique: it picks regular people and makes them the decision makers for the country. I will now give you a definitive list on some of the funniest and craziest moments to just appreciate from American political history. If you have no confidence in the Congress or any other political office anymore, that is not my fault. You may find a new favorite politician, who knows?
1. GOP candidate Herschel Walker flashes a fake badge
At a Georgia Senate race debate for the GOP, one of the candidates, Herschel Walker, was getting into a heated debate with his opponent on supporting the police force. Instead of bringing up facts and figures as to why Walker supported the police, he instead flashed a badge, saying that he worked closely with the police. The moderator reprimanded him for using a prop as he continued to flash it and argue that it was real. Well, it wasn’t. The badge was deemed fake by officials, leading people to question why he would use a fake badge to show his support. However, the story doesn’t stop here. With all this backlash, Walker is trying to make bad press good press. He is now passing out an average of 1,000 imitation badges at his rallies to his supporters. I can appreciate the effort, but I am still deeply perturbed by the mindset to flash a toy that could be found in a children’s Halloween costume at an actual Senate race debate.
2. Vice President Kamala Harris runs for governance in fictional Wakanda
As a strange ad scheme for her presidential campaign in 2018, Kamala Harris made a video endorsing herself as a candidate for Wakanda, the fictional country in the “Black Panther” series. She made a parody ad campaign as to why she would be the best leader for Wakanda, yet had a strange air of seriousness to it, as if it was an actual campaign. She brought up legitimate ways to improve Wakanda as a government such as military and trade. It was so cringe that I could barely make it through the entire video. This bandwagon joke, trying to get votes from young people through desperately trying to relate to pop culture references, definitely made me feel the opposite of that.
3. Jeb Bush would go back in time and kill Baby Hitler
In a video with the Huffington Post in 2015, Jeb Bush explained that given the opportunity to go back in time, he would kill baby Hitler. While answering the question from the New York Times magazine poll, he even went on to explain the logistics of it, referencing the popular movie “Back to the Future” that his efforts might create other bad things to happen in the future. However, he still explained that he would of course go through with it because it’s Hitler. Jeb Bush kills babies, I guess.
4. Former Trump administration senior official John Bolton admits to forming coups
While commenting on national television about the Jan. 6 insurrection, former national security advisor John Bolton had to compare this situation to a coup or a takedown of domestic government by the people or elites. He then admitted that he knew what a coup looked like because he had orchestrated many overseas. This admission came as a shock because the U.S. does not like being involved in many of these situations, yet proves that there are many foreign relations issues going on behind the scenes. Why Bolton would bring this up to help his case is beyond me, but nonetheless still one of the craziest moments on live television.
5. Joe Biden calls a voter “fat” and challenges him to a push up contest
To round out this list, I knew I had to add in our current president and his absolute craziest moment. While getting into an argument with a protester at one of his rallies during his presidential campaign about his son and nepotism, Biden challenged the voter to a pushup contest, explaining that he would win because of his build. He also called him fat instead of his name at one point, and then told him he didn’t expect the protester to vote for him because he was too old to vote for him. Joe Biden is 79 years old.
The midterm elections can get too serious and heated, with coverage over every little detail, bogging down the conversation. Instead, we can focus on dumb moments that make us chuckle or cringe, not pulling us downward in the deep abyss of despair that is the federal government.