The Bill O'Reilly Power Palm and the Right's Copycat Problem

The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Because the corporate YouTube algorithm promotes Fox News videos and autoplay runs them, I caught a random clip of Fox starlet Jesse Watters, whom I usually try my best to avoid, and I noticed something about his hand gestures that made me nostalgic:

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I recalled, having throughout high school watched Bill O’Reilly (who groomed Watters for years), that the fallen Fox king did the exact same power-palm move to express his self-confidence and dominance:

Ron DeSantis also clearly stole Trump’s signature hand gesture, in which he waves both hands around in concert:

Can’t these people get their own mannerisms? Does every political actor have to be so stale and derivative?

Watters might have the pampered ego necessary to become the king of Fox but he lacks O’Reilly’s edge. Bill got physical with his guests; he threw his weight around and let his Irish temper loose (language warning):

Watters is milquetoast in comparison, lacking in charisma. Accordingly, he’ll never be a corporate media star of the same caliber as his patron. If O’Reilly hadn’t sexually harassed his producer and gotten sued over his loofah comments, he’d still be king of corporate media instead of doing his sad internet radio show that gets about 3,000 views.

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