It is a bit odd for a political magazine called Politico to discuss a beauty pageant in such length. In the article “When Donald Trump brought Miss Universe to Moscow”, Politico brings into the spotlight on how the Miss Universe 2013 beauty pageant explains Trump’s love for Russia and obsession with Vladimir Putin. Although, Missosology long argued that there is politics in beauty pageants, the American political magazine gave everything a new twist – political dealings through beauty pageants.
Now that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for the 2016 Presidential race in the United States, his pasts are under intense scrutiny. Politico magazine suddenly found the Miss Universe 2013 to be an interesting event. The full-length article wants to get into the bottom of things as to why the Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump have been praising each other lately. They believe that the Miss Universe 2013 pageant holds the key.
The pageant was held in Moscow and it was hosted by one of the Russian oligarchs – Aras Agalarov. Aras thrived in Russia under the Putin regime and there is no doubt how close he is to the Russian leader. His businesses and his penchant for lavish lifestyle echoes that of Donald Trump. He is originally from Azerbaijan (which explains why there was a Miss Azerbaijan at Miss Universe that year) and he is the father of the special performer during the pageant – Emin.
While Politico wants to draw a link that through his Miss Universe 2013 deals, Trump has somehow developed strong links with the Russian oligarchs close to Putin and possibly even to Putin himself, it actually opened a new layer of interesting subject. When one reads the whole article with keen interest it is easy to arrive to the conclusion that Miss Universe under Donald Trump could actually be full of business deals and politics.
It’s hardly news, right? After all, Trump and the politicization of Miss Universe shouldn’t come as a surprise to most pageant enthusiasts. Trump Picks (the five extra delegates allegedly picked by the Donald for the semis slot but the Miss Universe claims to be selected by the “members” of the organization) was an oft-repeated word at Miss Universe. However, reading the article would somehow give credence to some conspiracy theories. Was the 2006-2007 semis finish of Thailand due to BSC swimwear sponsorship? Were Australia’s placements can be credited to a sunblock lotion sponsor from, well, Australia? Was the successive Top 5 finish of the Philippines due to the Trump Tower being built in Manila?
Many of the claims that Miss Universe was all about business and politics under Trump can be considered as wild and baseless accusations. But after reading the article, these would all appear to be plain truths. Politico for example claims that the Miss Universe 2013 deals were a prelude to Donald Trump’s real estate ambitions in Russia.
Were the results of the Miss Universe highly politicized? To be honest, it’s difficult to prove. In 2013 for example, the winner was from Venezuela and there is no, if ever little, connection between Trump’s businesses and socialist-run Venezuela. Philippines may have enjoyed the Top 5 finish for quite some time but they won the crown only when Trump left Miss Universe. Neither Thailand nor Australia won during the years that BSC swimwear and Australia Gold sponsored the pageant. The Politico magazine may have given credence to what we long suspect about how Trump was running the Miss Universe pageant but the evidences are more circumstantial than substantive. Whatever the case maybe, perhaps we will just be all happy that Donald Trump no longer owns the Miss Universe pageant. You can say it loud – thankfully, Donald Trump no longer owns the pageant – Perez Hilton style.
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