The clap heard ’round the world
In an image resonating around the globe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears to throw acres of shade at President Trump with what some on the internet are calling her “walrus clap” during his speech.
The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, stands behind President Donald Trump at his State of the Union address Tuesday night, she a vision in suffragist white, head tilted just so, lips pursed in a smirk and arms outreached.
Her hands come together in what one Twitter user called a “walrus clap,” but it resonated around the world.
In the image, the internet saw acres of shade dispensed by a skilled politician firmly in control, and social media users immediately turned Pelosi’s wordless gesture into a viral meme.
Cross-party applause for the president on such a night is normally a pro forma affair, overlooked in the sea of stirring words penned by a speechwriter and recited from a teleprompter.
This time, the House speaker’s clapping almost stole the spotlight on an important night for a president seeking to deliver to millions of viewers his delayed speech — a speech she previously blocked.
Pelosi — a California Democrat, self-described “mother of five, grandmother of nine” and the first woman to take up the speaker’s gavel — was applauding a political sparring partner whom analysts have concluded she had roundly outfoxed twice before.
Many called her gesture a “clap jeer.” Some called it a literal clap back. One Twitter user said it was the “read your tweets” clap, in reference to Trump’s penchant for weaponizing his Twitter feed. The comedian Patton Oswalt congratulated Pelosi for “inventing” an obscenity without using a certain finger.
Trump, 72, and Pelosi, 78, had fierce, public clashes since the 17-term representative returned as speaker in January, after the Democrats wrested back the House in bruising midterm elections last year.
The brewing rancor kicked off again Jan. 23, when in the middle of the partial government shutdown, Pelosi sent a letter to the president suggesting he delay his State of the Union address, set for Jan. 29, until after the government reopened.
The extraordinary request escalated the partisan battle over Trump’s demand for a border wall.
Pelosi’s playbook for handling the president was evident in December, when she and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attended a televised Oval Office meeting with the president that went haywire. The Democrats got Trump to take ownership of any shutdown that would follow, and Pelosi snapped: “Mr. President, please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats.”
On Tuesday night, some Twitter users saw echoes of a stern matriarch in Pelosi’s countenance. She stared at notes in front of her and appeared to roll her eyes and shake her head at some points.
But it was the speaker’s fleeting “bless your heart” expression as Trump looks back at her — as if for approval — with the clap that had the internet buzzing.
As one Twitter user wrote: “Holy hell that look. When your Mom looks at you like that, don’t walk. Run.”