Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke disgusted and confused commentators on both sides of the aisle by posting video to social media of his trip to the dentist.
The move from O'Rourke, often floated as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, comes on the heels of other Democratic stars using social media to speak about politics in a relaxed setting. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D., N.Y.) live-streamed herself making macaroni and cheese in November, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) filmed herself drinking a beer at home on New Year's Eve to mixed reviews.
But the consensus on Twitter was that O'Rourke went too far in filming an Instagram Live video during his dental cleaning Thursday, complete with a view of his gaping maw.
Beto is Instagramming his dental cleaning pic.twitter.com/BWyncSW3OK
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 10, 2019
Boundaries, Beto, boundaries. https://t.co/UJ5Rcngtar
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) January 10, 2019
God I hope Beto O'Rourke doesn't need a colonoscopy anytime soon
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 10, 2019
Someone didn't understand what an advisor meant by "All the kids are flossing" https://t.co/PtSahRABUL
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 10, 2019
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 10, 2019
pokemon go to the dentist https://t.co/V9VtnSVV2N
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) January 10, 2019
He strongly supports action to protect the molar investigation. https://t.co/6Pqrw9hnJu
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) January 10, 2019
please stop tweeting the pic of Beto getting his teeth cleaned
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 10, 2019
We’re going to have Beto O’Rourke calling to abolish ICE while taking a dump and instagramming it.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 10, 2019
The actual focus of the video was not intended to be O'Rourke, but his dental hygienist, named Diana. "We're going to continue our series on the people of the border," he said in the video intro, saying she was "going to tell us a little bit about growing up in El Paso."
"It's a beautiful community. We all support each other, we love each other," Diana said. "And it's not what everybody else thinks, sadly, about us. It's actually a wonderful place to live and grow up."