Justin Trudeau, sock diplomat, handshake crusher and swoon facilitator, is currently starring on the cover of... Delta's inflight magazine, Sky.
Justin Trudeau graces the cover of July's Delta Sky Magazine pic.twitter.com/7dS54bZnz1
— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) June 27, 2017
Okay, so not exactly GQ. But then again he's already done that as part of the magazine's Most Stylish Men Alive 2016 edition (he was "that new suave Canadian leader dude").
The cover in question, with Trudeau doing his best Disney Prince smize while sitting backwards on a chair like your coolest high school geography teacher, has divided the internet.
Not least because it involves an awful lot of manspreading: the act of a man spreading his legs in a show of performed masculinity rather more than is necessary, most frequently used while sitting on public transport.
While we know the Canadian PM has previously marked his territory in a show of Alpha male one-upping in that handshake with Donald Trump, was all that spreading necessary?
Social media couldn't quite decide.
that is some serious manspreading
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) June 27, 2017
Framing "prime time" around his spread-eagle crotch is just bad framing.
— Beth Elderkin (@BethElderkin) June 27, 2017
Or is it genius... https://t.co/0EFzuQ5PRq
There were also some thoughts on the whole backwards-seat "optics", to use some political speak. With some exceedingly apt observations.
Class, throw away your textbooks, I'm the cool sub... https://t.co/0xjl9ccTBB
— Slade Sohmer (@Slade) June 27, 2017
"Don't call me Mr Trudeau, call me Justin. Or J-Dog."
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) June 27, 2017
JT look like he’s about to start rapping Shakespeare to relate to inner-city youth https://t.co/l6RJvJidnb
— ishmael n. daro (@iD4RO) June 27, 2017
Ultimately not even a cover of a magazine that, as Mashable notes, is generally "meant to store your chewed gum and catch your mid-flight nap drool", could temper the internet's collective thirst for Canada's dreamboat leader.
Hold on, I thought SMOKIN' was not allowed on any Delta flights https://t.co/N1AVgKkH5S
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) June 27, 2017
Even though some of us are prepared to acknowledge that the collective crush on a political leader is maybe a bit weird.
The internet's obsession with Justin Trudeau unnerves me https://t.co/X7yUS9p0Qx
— Tom Davidson (@DPTomDavidson) June 27, 2017