U.S. Congressional Representative Duncan Hunter gained short-lived internet fame when he was filmed vaping on the House floor in February 2016. He gained notability again in April 2016 when it turned out he was being investigated for misappropriation of reelection campaign funds — purportedly spending more than $1200 on Steam games. (Hunter has said that the charges were from his teenage son who used the wrong credit card, but I like to believe this guy has a secret life as a Dew’d up hardcore gamer. Wouldn’t you?)
Representative Hunter (who won his reelection bid last year, by the way — congrats!) is going viral again a third time this week, after he was filmed handling what appears to be a fidget spinner toy during a markup meeting with his peers on the House Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure.
.@Rep_Hunter with subliminal product placement on C-SPAN for #fidgetspinners ? pic.twitter.com/HlyOKyGlTU
— Faith Vander Voort (@faithcvv) May 24, 2017
Eagle-eyed political commentators (and really, just random people on Twitter) have speculated whether Hunter was slipping in some sly product placement. But to me it looks like he’s just fiddling with the thing naturally, giving it a few spins while he turns over some papers. Fidget spinners (and their less-thinkpieced cousins, fidget cubes) were originally intended to help people with attention disorders, autism, and anxiety, but they’ve gained a lot of attention recently as a fad toy.
If you’re waiting for me to trash fidget spinners or question their therapeutic claim, you’re out of luck. I’m not interested in debating their merits or the discourse that’s recently sprung up around them. I just think it’s fascinating that this one particular Congressman keeps coming up in the news doing faddish things. It’s got a very Steve Buscemi, “how do you do fellow kids” vibe to it. I want to know if he sits astride chairs in the wrong direction and rides a Razor scooter to his office too.
Anyway, while you could reasonably argue vaping on the House floor is disruptive, I can’t really find anything wrong with Representative Hunter playing with the thing while going about the boring task of day-to-day governance. I know people who fiddle with pens or doodle during long phone calls too. As long as he’s reading whatever he’s signing!
(Thanks: Daily Caller.)
