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I didn’t even know what a ScoMo was

Back home and touring a fire station on Monday, the leader known as ScoMo said he deeply regrets causing offence. He said he was keeping a promise to his children by taking the holiday but accepted the criticism, which he knew was widespread among Australians.

So did McCormick. He had been touring the Gold Coast, drawing double takes and lingering glances. One restaurant server even brought out the cook so he would not miss the opportunity to pretend to direct some choice swear words at the prime minister.

This was getting familiar for McCormick, who first realized his physical similarity to ScoMo last year when he was setting his son Keiran up for the school year there.

That was when Morrison was the treasurer, with a history of opposing same-sex marriage, climate change action, and measures to support asylum seekers, while supporting tax cuts and the coal industry. So when the first person asked McCormick rather aggressively if he was prime minister, it carried all the tension of a campaign trail confrontation.

“I didn’t even know what a ScoMo was,” McCormick told the National Post.

Photo by Joel Carrett/AAP Images via AP

It took a bit of googling to put it all together before the realization kicked in. “If more people think I’m him, I’m going to be in trouble,” he said.

These things happen from time-to-time, and only more so in the age of the selfie. Newspapers still thrill to the “Separated at birth” headline. Justin Trudeau’s massive initial global popularity as a handsome, young national leader encouraged a spate of doppelganger sightings around the world, including Jesse Klaver, a Dutch environmentalist politician, and Abdul Salam Maftoon, a singer competing on the Afghan Star variety show.