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Wrong person — entirely!

It was the 2012 election season, and my friend—let’s just call him Dave to protect the innocent—was trying his best to stay politically informed. He wasn’t exactly a political junkie let’s just say, but he wanted to be part of the at-work conversations. 

One day, Dave overheard a fellow coworker passionately talking about Ron Paul and his “radical libertarian ideas.  Only Dave didn’t hear Ron Paul. He heard RuPaul.

“Wait,” Dave said, blinking in confusion. “RuPaul is running for president?!”

The coworker laughed and totally went with it, saying “Yeah, he’s got a lot of people excited—libertarian, anti-establishment, small government.”

Dave frowned, trying to reconcile this description of RuPaul, queen of drag on TV, with a conservative political movement. But instead of asking for clarification, Dave decided to lean in and learn more on his own.

Apparently, that night, he Googled “RuPaul 2012 election” and, unsurprisingly, saw nothing about a drag queen running for president. But as he scrolled, he found articles about “Ron Paul” and figured this was just a weird typo. “Journalists these days,” he muttered.

The next week, Dave was locked and loaded with political opinions about RuPaul’s platform. “Man,” he told another friend, “I don’t know how RuPaul is pulling this off. A Republican drag queen?! I mean, I get that she’s all about standing out, but fiscal conservatism AND fabulous wigs? Bold.”

His friend stared at him, baffled. “Wait. What? RuPaul isn’t running for President?!”  

“Of course RuPaul’s running!” Dave argued. “I heard about it at work, and I’ve seen all these libertarian posts! I mean, I don’t agree with everything, but I’ve gotta respect the hustle. This is really and truly groundbreaking. I mean, just imagine the debates. RuPaul destroying Romney in full drag? Iconic!”

It wasn’t until a full month later that someone finally connected the dots for him. A friend pulled up a picture of Ron Paul and said, “This is the guy we’ve been talking about.”

Dave squinted at the screen for a long moment before blurting, “THAT guy?!” He stared in shock. “Wait, so Ron Paul isn’t RuPaul?!”

“No, Dave! RON. PAUL. Completely different person.”

And just like that, Dave’s dreams of drag queens slaying presidential debates and advocating for lower taxes crumbled.

To this day, he still can’t hear Ron Paul’s name without picturing RuPaul in a power suit, standing at a podium, declaring, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna balance the budget?”

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