--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This aesthetic quality, then, is what…" description: "\"This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man l..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png" --- # This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all… ![“This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.” quote by Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png) > “This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.” [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Politics succeeds when it feels genuine; authenticity distinguishes effective leaders from superficial ones. **In simple terms:** Authenticity makes politics work. Key Takeaway Prioritize genuine values in leadership. Themes authenticity leadership politics Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - campaign strategy - organizational culture - public speaking - policy advocacy Key Concepts social trust political legitimacy public perception Questions to Reflect On - How can leaders stay authentic under scrutiny? - What costs arise from inauthenticity? A Different Perspective Authenticity can be hard to maintain under pressure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aesthetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) [Authenticity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authenticity/) [Boys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boys/) [Leader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leader/) [Loser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loser/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Quality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality/) [Sunset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunset/) [Winner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/winner/) [Winners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/winners/) ## Related quotes > [Having watched 'X Factor' over the years, they just haven't got it right. The male winners haven't been believable. They look like puppets; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/having-watched-x-factor-over-the-years-they-just-haven-t-got-it-right/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [I'm a big believer that good policy is good politics. And so, when it comes to making decisions on policy issues, what I endeavor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-cruz/i-m-a-big-believer-that-good-policy-is-good-politics-and-so-when-it/) [Ted Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-cruz/) > [In American politics, there's a recurring fantasy, nurtured by the press, about 'courageous' politicians who do the right thing against their political interest. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-melber/in-american-politics-there-s-a-recurring-fantasy-nurtured-by-the/) [Ari Melber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-melber/) > [Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-miliband/good-politics-starts-with-empathy-proceeds-to-analysis-then-sets-out/) [David Miliband](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-miliband/) > [When times are tough and people are frustrated and angry and hurting and uncertain, the politics of constant conflict may be good, but what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/when-times-are-tough-and-people-are-frustrated-and-angry-and-hurting/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [“Religious fanaticism is simply good politics in the middle-eastern countries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-aldridge/religious-fanaticism-is-simply-good-politics-in-the-middle-eastern/) [James Aldridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-aldridge/) > [Good policy makes good politics and what I've done has been good politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-watts/good-policy-makes-good-politics-and-what-i-ve-done-has-been-good/) [J. C. Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-watts/) > [I think it's good politics to beat up on big companies and rich people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-wyly/i-think-it-s-good-politics-to-beat-up-on-big-companies-and-rich-people/) [Sam Wyly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-wyly/) > [Certainly the policy is right and good politics usually follow good policy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-flake/certainly-the-policy-is-right-and-good-politics-usually-follow-good/) [Jeff Flake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-flake/) > [Refusing to lift sanctions and adopting tougher rhetoric toward Iran would not be partisan issues. Plenty of Democrats think that those actions are both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-abrams/refusing-to-lift-sanctions-and-adopting-tougher-rhetoric-toward-iran/) [Elliott Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-abrams/) > [Brexit and Trump had upended the fundamental establishment viewpoint that politics was aspirational, that good politics promised progress, generational betterment and ever-expanding world reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-wolff/brexit-and-trump-had-upended-the-fundamental-establishment-viewpoint/) [Michael Wolff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-wolff/) > [Good politics are often inextricably intertwined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/good-politics-are-often-inextricably-intertwined/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/what-good-would-politics-be-if-it-didn-t-give-everyone-the/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-demint/forget-the-consultants-the-pundits-and-the-pollsters-good-policy-is/) [Jim DeMint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-demint/) > [Good economics is good politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-keating/good-economics-is-good-politics/) [Paul Keating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-keating/) ## More by Thomas Frank > [I was in a bad mood when I wrote that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/i-was-in-a-bad-mood-when-i-wrote-that/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“above all, intellectual. Anti-intellectualism is one of the grand unifying themes of the backlash, the mutant strain of class war that underpins so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/above-all-intellectual-anti-intellectualism-is-one-of-the-grand/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [The only truly individualistic health-care choice - where you receive care that is unpolluted by anyone else's funds - is to forgo insurance altogether,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/the-only-truly-individualistic-health-care-choice-where-you-receive/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Conservatism is not a doctrine of contentment. Not a doctrine for the satisfied and the smug. It's a politics that's at war with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/conservatism-is-not-a-doctrine-of-contentment-not-a-doctrine-for-the/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [A president aiming for 'Great' or 'Near Great' status must do more. He must give lots of interviews, make records accessible, and heap the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/a-president-aiming-for-great-or-near-great-status-must-do-more-he/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“Innovation liberalism is "a liberalism of the rich," to use the straightforward phrase of local labor leader Harris Gruman. This doctrine has no patience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/innovation-liberalism-is-a-liberalism-of-the-rich-to-use-the/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Media bias has been a favorite theme of the Right for decades, of course.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/media-bias-has-been-a-favorite-theme-of-the-right-for-decades-of/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Presidential legacies are valuable things, too valuable to be left up to historians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/presidential-legacies-are-valuable-things-too-valuable-to-be-left-up/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [A lot of populists after populism died just became socialists. At the beginning of the 20th century, socialism looked like it was going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/a-lot-of-populists-after-populism-died-just-became-socialists-at-the/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“And so the catastrophe of 1929–33 did to the certainties of laissez-faire economics what science did to nineteenth-century religion and what the slaughter of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/and-so-the-catastrophe-of-1929-33-did-to-the-certainties-of-laissez/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Vibrancy is so universally desirable, so totemic in its powers, that even though we aren't sure what the word means, we know the quality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/vibrancy-is-so-universally-desirable-so-totemic-in-its-powers-that/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Under the administration of George W. Bush, you will recall, federal spending grew pretty significantly. At the same time, the number of people directly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/under-the-administration-of-george-w-bush-you-will-recall-federal/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Massive inequality, we have learned, isn't the best way to run an economy after all. And when you think about it, it's also profoundly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/massive-inequality-we-have-learned-isn-t-the-best-way-to-run-an/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Governing was always difficult for conservatives, but as they return to the opposition, they are rediscovering their skill at blame evasion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/governing-was-always-difficult-for-conservatives-but-as-they-return/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Back in the days when the market was a kind of secular god and all the world thrilled to behold the amazing powers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/back-in-the-days-when-the-market-was-a-kind-of-secular-god-and-all/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) [Explore all 116 Thomas Frank quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) ## More Aesthetic quotes > [You feed yourself. Make sure you have all the information, whether it's aesthetic, scientific, mathematical, I don't care what it is. Then you walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/you-feed-yourself-make-sure-you-have-all-the-information-whether-it-s/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“Beauty in the European sense has always had a premeditated quality to it. We've always had an aesthetic intention and a long-range plan. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/beauty-in-the-european-sense-has-always-had-a-premeditated-quality-to/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. I often say, 'If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yves-behar/design-certainly-has-a-cosmetic-aesthetic-aim-it-always-aims-at/) [Yves Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yves-behar/) > [I don't think I was ever thinking critically about my aesthetic, I think it's enough when you're little just to understand that you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tavi-gevinson/i-don-t-think-i-was-ever-thinking-critically-about-my-aesthetic-i/) [Tavi Gevinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tavi-gevinson/) > [I'm kind of still down with Virg Woolf on this one: "women must kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been 'killed'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/i-m-kind-of-still-down-with-virg-woolf-on-this-one-women-must-kill/) [Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [There is a certain aesthetic pleasure in trying to imagine the unimaginable and failing, if you are a reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-s-byatt-2/there-is-a-certain-aesthetic-pleasure-in-trying-to-imagine-the/) [A. S. Byatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-s-byatt-2/) > [I try to get the hip-hop aesthetic, most times without an MC. I don't use a rapper or a DJ to give it the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-glasper/i-try-to-get-the-hip-hop-aesthetic-most-times-without-an-mc-i-don-t/) [Robert Glasper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-glasper/) > [It's so important what you're doing in your life. It's tremendously important to the work, and no aesthetic theories take that into account.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maus/it-s-so-important-what-you-re-doing-in-your-life-it-s-tremendously/) [John Maus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maus/) > [It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-schaeffer/it-is-not-necessary-to-have-an-extravagant-food-budget-in-order-to/) [Edith Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-schaeffer/) > [In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-reality-no-food-is-valued-solely-for-its-nutritive-power-and-no/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [Art is realistic when it strives to express an ethical ideal. Realism is striving for truth, and truth is always beautiful. Here the aesthetic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-tarkovsky/art-is-realistic-when-it-strives-to-express-an-ethical-ideal-realism/) [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-tarkovsky/) > [I had always wanted to expand to beauty, but I knew I wanted to be able to translate my design aesthetic in an authentic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-ronson/i-had-always-wanted-to-expand-to-beauty-but-i-knew-i-wanted-to-be/) [Charlotte Ronson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-ronson/) > [I wanted the press to become something of a movement. Not a movement committed to a particular 'ism', but a gathering together of writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-metcalf/i-wanted-the-press-to-become-something-of-a-movement-not-a-movement/) John Metcalf [Browse all 953 Aesthetic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aesthetic/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Frank" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-politics-is-all-about-it-s/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aesthetic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-politics-is-all-about-it-s/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/thomas-frank-4078_aesthetic_this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-poli_2589932.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from…” — Thomas Frank", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thomas Frank", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This aesthetic quality, then, is what...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-politics-is-all-about-it-s/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/this-aesthetic-quality-then-is-what-politics-is-all-about-it-s/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```