this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2026
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What is this phenomenon where so many people in Trump’s orbit have obvious and shitty plastic surgery. Is it a desire to fit in? Is it the white nationalist/fascist equivalent of a gang tattoo?
Maralago Face
So it is like a gang tattoo, or I guess maybe a cattle brand would be a better analogy. Permanently disfigure your body in a hideous fashion to show you’re really “one of us.”
I wonder if there’s some external psychological aspect. Like, is there implicit or explicit pressure to have this done, because once it’s done they know it’ll be very difficult to escape the cult-like environment?
I would compare it more to cultures who denote status by who has the biggest disc in their lip or the longest spring on their neck:
At least it's a meritocracy instead of "who can be the most psychopathic pedo?"
But in those cultures those are status symbols, whereas Mar A Lago face seems to indicate that you’re part of their in-group. Do the lip and neck stretchers indicate something similar to members of those cultures?
Yes. That you have money.
Mark of the Beast if you want to go for a biblical angle
It's been decades since I lost my faith, but I would love the absolute irony of this if it turned out to be true.
In Mar A Lago face, whoever has the most collagen injected into their lips is the alpha
That's what it feels like to me too; a show of commitment that you can't walk away from.
"I'm gonna give you somethin' you can't take off."
Someone online said that people in wealthy circles are only surrounded by other wealthy people who also have plastic surgery... so their definition of normal is, not. You know, the whole "losing touch" thing that happens to 99% of people who get their bag.
This. I actually wonder if there's a person to trace the look back to (like current extreme features in men go back to Zyzz), or if a particular surgical technique led to a distinct look post surgery that was unavoidable, so some people started fitting the rest of their features to that look.
You 'mirrin bro?
Not a person, exactly.
Conservatism is a mental illness. The more conservative someone is, the weirder they appear to the normal people.
I think conservatives do come from a place of anxiety in general, but they are usually of the mindset to keep the status quo.
The mental illness is authoritarianism that comes as conservatives start to actively make things worse.
Conservatives are only anxious about gas prices and the fact that their attempt to oppress and exterminate vulnerable classes appears to be in jeopardy. They are nervous that their dream of permanent power might be slipping away.
Conservatives are the oppressors, not the victims. In fact, conservatives would call your expression of empathy for them "woke" and see it as a weakness to exploit.
Understand that a conservative is biologically unable to experience empathy. This is why they despise it and are disgusted by it. Give them a hint of empathy and they will use it to attack you.
LOL… they elected Dumpster Fire to be a dumpster fire. They’re influencers. They don’t care about the status quo, unless it’s racist, sexist, or misogynist and sometimes ableist.
More then just a "uniform" or a "brand", like a tie or designer or tattoo, these faces have deep psychological underpinnings.
This face is a comfort for a fascist to behold. Any expensive surgery could do for signaling. This face was landed-on through trial and error, for a reason.
Studying paintings done by the mentally ill, it becomes obvious that they don't see faces (or anything really) like the average person. This makes sense, as even a well adjusted person will interpret an expression or tone differently depending on what they perceive the person to be feeling, or even their own mood. They will literally see it differently.
The mentally ill just see an extreme version of this phenomenon.
Fascists are terrified all the time. To them, every face hides malice and deception. Mar-a-lago face is an exaggeration of a jovial, open, honest visage, to counteract what a fascist sees every day in every face.
They have huge, puffy cheeks under their eyes, like the bunching of skin in a smile. Their lips are big and puffy, a far cry from pursed in anger, this also makes a smile more exaggerated. Their eyes are deeply, darkly outlined in ovals, not pointed at the edges, highlighting how they are open and not squinting or angry.
Maralago face is a caricature of a happy, loving, honest face. To a normal person it looks like a horrific joke on that type of face, taken to extremes, but to a fascist, these exaggerations push back against their own skewed vision of every face. These exaggerations return the face closer to a normal person's baseline.
To a fascist, this face appears more normal and more comforting.
Confidently said, and definitely interesting to think about.
I still tend to think it's a lot simpler than that. Body dysmorphic disorder is a very real thing, at least 2 or 3 in 100. BDD + Money = Lots of "bad" plastic surgery (it's not bad surgery, it's exactly what they asked for....
Money, especially the money that makes unlimited plastic surgery an option, is concentrated at the top.
You don't get to the top by thinking about others, so most of those at the top are the hard conservatives, with little to no morals AKA MAGA.
So you're going to see that face everywhere in the White House and rallies. It's all the people with BDD that also have a lot of money.
I completely agree. This is due to BDD, and the BDD is being expressed this way because these women have the money to do so.
But also, eh.
BDD has many different sources and presents in many different ways. You can have it with eating disorders, OCD, major depressive disorders, etc. It can cause you to see yourself in a myriad of false ways.
This particular presentation I am speaking about is going to present with personality traits adjacent to cluster C personality disorders, and anxiety disorders, and it causes the above result.
In this instance, you saying "it's a lot simpler than that" would be like if I described the specific ways the Nile river comes into existence and you countered with "it's simpler than that. It's just evaporation and gravity." Which is true, but completely discards the nuance and detail I was trying to impart, for a false sense of understanding.
So, you are completely right, but all you did was add more jpeg.
It felt a lot simpler in my head before I got to writing it all down 😂
Thanks! That’s terrifying! The people we put in charge of everything exist in a state of psychosis.
This explains why conservatives see nothing wrong with how they look. Conservatism is a disease that breeds weirdness and evil.
it is a manifestation of his taste and what people he chooses to surround himself with.
i once saw this photo described as "this is poor person's idea of how rich people live." and it just sums him up in one sentence.
https://www.thetimes.com/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fcc0b0032-a77a-11e6-b67a-719634415da0.jpg
The stuffed lions just gets me lol. I dont think ive ever seen the full picture, only ever the left half
This is a poor child's idea of a rich person.
They're just typical trash with money. But being trash, they don't have any connections that aren't also trash. So they get the trash plastic surgeons to slice and dice them.
I believe the men are scamming the women. They aren't married for love or lust, or if they were, that faded with age. And they are so fake just by default that even the ones who do still love each other probably don't feel secure about it because of course they'd say "No babe, I just love you and am not interested in anyone else" regardless of if that's true or if they are having orgies at every business trip.
And cosmetic surgeons target insecurities and promise the world whether or not they can actually deliver.
So it wouldn't surprise me if what happens in a bunch of those cases is an insecure woman gets the surgery done, it looks like it does, and their husband gets a kick out of them ruining their looks in an attempt to impress them, also being happy that it reduces the number of other men that would be interested.
Similar thing for "influencers" or women in porn that buy into the "this is what men want" lie.
Though ironically, I bet there is a sexual angle to it, too, where seeing their wife ruin their looks to impress them turns them on, but I doubt the sex is loving.
Anyways, just my attempt at making sense out of something that seems to me to do more to put them on the far side of the uncanny valley than to help them look any better. If they unironically like that look, I can't relate to them at all.
The men get them to. Just not as much.