Thirst trap politics
Today, Explained

Thirst trap politics

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 16, 202626 min
  • Politics

The internet has a crush on some of the candidates running for office this election season and it’s saying a lot about how Democrats and Republicans wield sexuality. This episode was produced by Danielle Hewitt with help from Ariana Aspuru, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed at a town hall event on September 3, 2026 in Waterford, Michigan. Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vo...

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Sentence 3 of 12 · 0:12

I, you know, I'm very online and had started seeing on social media all of these very

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attractive and I thought it said something really interesting about the intersection

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 41%A2 31%B1 18%B2 9%C1 2%
  • 89% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 171 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 128 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Something's up on Al Gore's internet. Things are getting...thirsty. I, you know, I'm very online and had started seeing on social media all of these very elaborate, completely organic edits of Senator John Ossoff of people who think he's really attractive and I thought it said something really interesting about the intersection

0:21

of political media and pop culture and how Democrats are, you know, trying to maneuver on social media and the internet and I wanted to dive into it. They're setting photo and video compilations of Senator Ossoff to Sabrina Carpenter's tears. Is it just me or is John Ossoff like so fucking hot?

0:44

America needs a hot president. John Ossoff's slutty Atticus Finch cosplay is my favorite. Thirst trap politics on Today Explained from Vox. Pretty wet.

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