Twitter has fun with Schumer, Pelosi
Rebuttal a butt of jokes
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer became an overnight Twitter sensation, as they were mercilessly mocked on social media for their stiff “American Gothic” rebuttal to President Trump’s prime-time border wall pitch.
“Kinda like a Mad Magazine update to American Gothic,” tweeted @AttyTMDr.
Tweet after tweet poked fun at the Democrats’ setup by referencing the famous 1930 painting by Grant Wood — with some people firing up Photoshop to slap the pair’s faces on the people in the painting.
The iconic “American Gothic” painting features a man holding a pitchfork looking straight ahead and a woman at his side gazing bemusedly over at him. The painting was inspired by a house Wood saw in Iowa, and he had his sister and dentist model the 19th-century Iowa farmers he pictured as living there.
“Where’s the pitchfork?” wondered @mah65. Some took care of that problem by photoshopping in the pitchfork into the Schumer-Pelosi shot themselves.
Even their backdrop of six American flags, with the two top Dems crammed behind a single podium was mocked. Stephen Colbert’s tweet had Schumer crowing, “Hey Nancy, I got us six flags for our speech!” with Pelosi replying, “Great! And how many podiums?”
And the Twitter denizens mocking of “Chuck and Nancy,” as Trump once called the Democratic leaders, weighed in with some helpful advice.
“TV tip for Schumer and Pelosi,” tweeted @EmilyMiller. “When on a two shot, look at the person talking, not at the camera. Gives impression of hostage tape.”
@DanLuke tweeted: “Yikes. I like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi but they gotta work on the whole ‘not looking like villains from the next bond movie’ thing next time.”
Others saw parents chastening their children in the top Dems’ indignant visages.
@Mobute tweeted: “Of COURSE your father’s upset about the car, but the important thing is you’re safe and nobody got hurt.”
But they also merited a celebrity comparison … though not necessarily in a good way:
“Meanwhile, Christopher Walken and the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond do not look happy…” @KamahlAJE observed.