Someone Mistook Malcolm Turnbull For A Train Conductor And the Footage Is Heartbreaking
"Who are you?"
Australia has a long, proud history of political candidates awkwardly interacting with voters. Bill Shorten’s cringeworthy banter about lettuce; Tony Abbott getting called a dickhead by some old hero in a supermarket; the great Drive-By Sledge of 2015 that ended his Prime Ministership. It’s like a political hazing ritual, only they don’t get accepted into the fold after it’s over.
Now we can add Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to that illustrious list. In much the same way that people on charity gap years love getting selfies with African kids and captioning them with things like “Orphans LOVE me #makingadifference”, the PM has a well-documented and extensively photographed love of catching public transport. While greeting passengers on a train headed to the western Sydney suburb of Emu Plains yesterday, the PM helped a middle-aged woman board the carriage and tried to engage in a bit of banter.
It did not go so well.
In fairness, Turnbull handled it pretty well. But he could not disguise the momentary heartbreak at not being recognised in his little face.
Watching the Prime Minister realise his own deep insignificance in the middle of an election campaign is one thing. But the best thing about that video — and there are many, many very good parts to it — is hiding in plain sight, waiting for you to discover it.
Behold:
LOOK at this old bastard. The double-necklace combo. The cane. The John Lennon sunnies. The fluoro socks. The air of sublime indifference as he gaily brushes past the Prime Minister of Australia. And you don’t even notice him the first few times you watch. At the very least, he deserves an honourable mention in the pantheon of Regular People Owning Politicians. The nation demands it.