READY, FIRE, AIM: Politics is Serious Business, So Keep on Smiling

Photo courtesy victor2026.com

When you’re smiling, according to songwriters Larry Shay, Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin, the whole world smiles with you.

When you’re laughing, when you’ve laughing, the sun comes shining through.

Many famous singers have endorsed this approach to keeping your life on the right track.

But when you’re crying, we are told, you bring on the rain.

So stop that crying. Be happy again.

‘Cause when you’re smiling, when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.

This simple philosophy is not unique to singers. We also run across politicians who can’t seem to stop smiling. One such politician is Victor Marx, currently the Republican Party nominee for the Governor of Colorado. Where I live.

It’s actually a scientific fact that when you smile, other people are almost compelled to smile in return. It’s human nature. Even people looking at a photograph of someone smiling will feel their cheeks begin to compress.

When I see photographs of Victor Marx in the news, seems like he’s always wearing a big fat grin.

Is he just a really happy guy?

Or is it something else?

Mr. Marx has pretty much zero percent chance of getting elected Governor, however. Not a prayer, really. He will win several sparsely-populated counties out on the eastern plains, and of course Colorado Springs, and maybe Archuleta County, but that’s about it.

I’m not saying that to be unkind or hurtful.

I’m just looking at the odds.

Looking at the websites that offer election odds, like predictionedge.com and pollsmax.com, it looks like Victor Marx has about the same odds of winning the November election as Unaffiliated candidate Greg Lopez. Like a 3% chance. Maybe 4%.

But let’s get real. It’s really a zero percent chance.

ColoradoPols.com has generally the same opinion, but they’re a bit more snarky about it.

(D) Phil Weiser (90%)↑
The suspense here is whether Weiser wins by 20 or 30 points.

(R) Victor Marx (5%)↓
The son of Karl Marx (no, really) will go to jail for fraud before he ends up in the Governor’s Mansion.

(I) Greg Lopez (5%)↑
Lopez has a legitimate chance of finishing second in November because Marx is so terrible.

When you’re smiling, the people around you might also find themselves smiling. But that doesn’t mean they will vote for you.

Still, Victor Marx keeps on smiling.

He might be smiling because his campaign had raised almost $3 million by the end of June. (Democratic Party candidate Phil Weiser had raised about $8 million during the same period.)

Or he might be smiling for a different reason.

This could be the kind of smile you might see on the face of, say, a confidence man.  Or an unethical used car salesman.

Or a swindler.

Joker: Folie à Deux premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024, but it was a box-office bomb, grossing only $208 million on a $190–200 million budget. Among its seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations, it won ‘Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel’ and ‘Worst Screen Combo’ for Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

A rare psychiatric syndrome known as “Folie à deux“ refers to a a disorder whereby the symptoms of a delusional belief are “transmitted” from one individual to another. The disorder is also known as Lasègue–Falret syndrome, in honor of the two French psychiatrists who first conceptualized the condition.

I’m not a psychiatrist, so I don’t know if a painted smile can help facilitate the transfer of a delusional belief, or if you just end up with a box-office bomb.