The New Senate Dress Code Doesn't Conceal the Well-Dressed Extremists in Plain Sight

You Can Put Lipstick on a Fascist But It's Still a Fascist

I don't tend to stand on ceremony, sartorially speaking. Sure, I did the whole skirted suit and silk blouse gig when I started my legal career in the 1980s. I also embraced business casual when that became a thing, though still mostly favoring a combination of pencil skirt, knit top and heels. When I pivoted to remote work in 2020, I embraced the Zoom-friendly uniform of yoga pants on the bottom with a nice blouse on the top. And I must admit that there really is no going back from stretchy pants and sneakers.

But I'm not a U.S. senator. Now a new initiative to relax the dress code for senators has gotten me thinking about something that has been bothering me for the last couple of years: the fact that extremist so-called lawmakers nationwide are hiding in plain sight, using suits and ties, and sheath dresses and blazers, as camouflage.

Take a look at Exhibit A, the now infamous picture of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) raising his clenched fist in support of the Capitol Hill rioters on January 6, 2021.  As ridiculous as it is to see this skinny guy striking a he-man pose, it's more disturbing to see a senator celebrating insurrectionists (while simultaneously running away from them). But somehow, the business suit mitigates the threat embodied in his militant stance. He’s not wearing a brown shirt, after all.

Exhibit A: Josh Hawley raises a clenched fist in support of the Capitol Hill rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Exhibit B has to be Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), whose normal attire on the floor of Congress consists of typical female business attire. This is quite different from how she was dressed on the evening when she and a friend were kicked out of a movie theater where she was caught on camera vaping and groping her companion's junk. But while at work in Congress, or foaming at the mouth in front of press cameras, she generally dresses the part of a professional politician.

Exhibit B: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in her normal work attire.

The change in the Senate's dress code was reportedly made to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who since returning to the Senate after treatment for depression “has refused to squeeze his hulking, 6-foot-8 frame into a suit, navigating the Capitol instead in airy basketball shorts and oversized sweatshirts.” Cue the inevitable attacks from none other than the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who called the change “disgraceful” and said that the Senate was “lowering the bar.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) in his own version of business casual.

Of course, like Hawley, neither Greene nor her extremist doppelgänger, Boebert, ever let their professional attire disguise their true natures.

Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene showing their true colors on the floor of the House of Representatives.

And you know what they say about pigs and lipstick.