BILL KURTIS: From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME, the NPR news quiz. I'm Bill Kurtis. We are playing this week with Alonzo Bodden, Paula Poundstone and Tom Bodett. And here again is your host at the Buell Theater in Denver, Colo., Peter Sagal.
(APPLAUSE)
PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Thank you, Bill. Thanks, everybody. In just a minute, Bill makes a quick trip to the men's rhyme in our Listener Limerick Challenge.
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SAGAL: If you'd like to play, give us a call at 1-888-WAITWAIT. That's 1-888-924-8924. Right now, panel, some more questions for you from the week's news. Tom, a new study finds that the secret to Donald Trump's success in politics may be his what?
(LAUGHTER)
TOM BODETT: His base?
SAGAL: No.
BODETT: Yes.
SAGAL: His bottom might be a part of it...
BODETT: Right.
SAGAL: ...But not his base.
BODETT: Oh.
SAGAL: Come on - Melania.
BODETT: Everything that's going through my head right now is so completely inappropriate.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No. Come on.
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: Well, let's hear it.
SAGAL: Look at - look at - look at - look at Melania. A beautiful woman like that - she didn't marry him just for his money, right?
BODETT: The length of his tie.
SAGAL: Which makes him look very...
BODETT: Big, tall.
SAGAL: You cannot get your mind around what I'm simply trying to hint to you.
BODETT: I just don't know how to say it or if I want to.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No. It's a much simpler concept than I think you're...
BODETT: Oh, maybe it is.
SAGAL: Yes.
BODETT: It's not his hands.
SAGAL: Well, it's the whole package. Oh, that was the wrong direction.
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: Yeah. Well, that's where I thought we were going.
SAGAL: Yeah, no.
BODETT: Just 'cause he's big. He's a big guy. He's tall.
SAGAL: No. Well, you're almost there, but, I mean, he's according to some - according to this study - it's because he is in general so...
PAULA POUNDSTONE: No.
BODETT: Good-looking?
SAGAL: There you go.
POUNDSTONE: No.
BODETT: Oh, my God.
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POUNDSTONE: I want to know about this study.
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SAGAL: I will tell you.
BODETT: This is a subjective answer, I think.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah. Who was involved in this? Who were the - who were the subjects of the study - like, all Trumps?
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SAGAL: No. This was a study from the University of Helsinki.
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BODETT: Oh, yeah.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah.
SAGAL: And it finds that conservatives tend to value physical attractiveness more than their counterparts on the left in their preferred politicians.
POUNDSTONE: OK, but he's not attractive.
SAGAL: Well...
BODETT: I know.
SAGAL: In general - hold on...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He is the most successful Republican politician of the last decade. And many Republicans get elected based on their looks, according to this study, which clearly was the very rare triple-blind study.
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SAGAL: Maybe this is why Trump is always accompanied wherever he goes by Steve Bannon.
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ALONZO BODDEN: Well...
SAGAL: 'Cause Steve Bannon - Steve Bannon is the Hindenburg-on-fire of wingmen.
BODDEN: Right. Could it be that in Finland those women looked and said, yeah, he looks rich?
SAGAL: Yeah, could be.
BODETT: To a yak herder.
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POUNDSTONE: I just don't - oh, so - (unintelligible). I understand the study where they found that people tended to vote for good-looking people. That makes sense to me. I get that.
BODDEN: Right.
POUNDSTONE: That's not - but he - by what standard is this man good-looking?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Well, you know, it is true that in his younger days...
POUNDSTONE: Never.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He was...
POUNDSTONE: I mean, I'll bet he was a cute baby, but that doesn't count.
(LAUGHTER)
BODDEN: It had to be more than triple-blind.
SAGAL: Yeah.
BODDEN: It had to be.
POUNDSTONE: So what?
SAGAL: I would...
POUNDSTONE: Why would you present that as if it's a thing if you didn't have some belief in its validity?
SAGAL: Well, when he was young...
POUNDSTONE: That's a ridiculous thing to say.
BODDEN: It's the University of Helsinki.
SAGAL: Of Helsinki.
POUNDSTONE: Helsinki?
BODDEN: Helsinki.
SAGAL: Helsinki in Finland.
BODDEN: It's in Finland.
SAGAL: I was going to say...
POUNDSTONE: Do they a bad reputation - the University of Helsinki? Is everybody like - oh, them.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: I'm not really that familiar. You guys just saying it like, oh, everybody knows University of Helsinki.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Yeah. They can't tell a good-looking man from a dog's butt. I - what?
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: Like, it's just understood.
BODDEN: Are they like - are they like the Trump University of international universities? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.