Nancy Pelosi's Pity Clap at the State of the Union Is Instantly Iconic
History was made at the 2019 State of the Union address. No, not by anything President Trump said, but by Reaction Royalty Nancy “Per My Last E-Mail” Pelosi who stole the show from her perch above Trump’s left shoulder, like the good angel he has literally never listened to.
While most of America was busy rolling their eyes at Trump’s empty rhetoric and Googling “how many years until AOC can run?” Pelosi was busy. Too busy, sometimes, for the speech itself. At one point, Nancy Pelosi, my actual Patronus, pulled out a stack of papers and started reading it while Trump spoke, a living embodiment of the phrase “LOL whut?!”
Pelosi was pouring over the text of Trump's speech while he delivered it, a kind of exquisite shade that should be honored by the Pulitzer committee. In one move she's communicating "This dude is off script and I can't" and also "I've checked the notes and, yeah, it didn't make sense when they wrote it" and also "I've started making a to-do list in the margins. Item one: impeach."
Madam Sis pulled out the Sunday crossword and started filling it out on live TV. In ink!
In my ideal world, she’s over Trump's shoulder reading a transcript of Michael Cohen’s plea agreement and muttering “Oh! Interesting!” every couple minutes.
This is that thing where you start openly and unabashedly checking your e-mail in a meeting that should have been a phone call. With the sound on. The little Outlook sound just ringing out like the Liberty Bell. This is that kind of “don’t waste my time” energy I’m trying to manifest in my life. But it gets even better!
At one point in Trump’s speech, Pelosi was actually moved to stand and applaud and, in so doing, invented the clapfront-that thing where you’re clapping back without having to even say anything. It’s all there in the face and the hands. A masterpiece.
Nancy’s like, “Here’s that applause you shut down the government for, boo. Congratulations on building a wall of sound. Feel better?”
This. Expression. Will. Sustain. Me. For. Life.
This is that thing where someone is begging for a compliment and you’re feeling charitable. Pelosi is definitely taking these gentle hand taps off on her taxes as a donation to a lost cause.
Who knew clapping could convey rage, disdain and threats of revenge... pic.twitter.com/u9c4lXM4ri
- Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 6, 2019
I think it's officially time to declare Nancy Pelosi in the age of Trump to be a reaction meme superstar. Not only is she trying to remake and restore the government, but she is bestowing the American people with so many new ways to respond to texts about drama.
In this particular photo Nancy Pelosi gives us a new version of the popular "I don't know about that one, Chief" meme. Meanwhile, Trump gives us a new version of the dog typing on a computer wearing glasses and saying "I have no idea what I'm doing." Such gifts!
And another one!
Put this face on our money!
All this image needs is tiny sunglasses and the words "DEAL WITH IT" written across the bottom. Someone please find a young who knows how to do the Photoshop to make this for me.
Rush this movie into production. I don't even need to know the plot; I just know it stars Julianne Moore and I will see it five times in the theaters.
When historians write the story of tonight (and by historians I mean a robot version of Lin-Manuel Miranda), all they'll be able to focus on is Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House and a person who has perfected the art of finding her light and creating GIF-able moments. A true American icon.
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