"We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution, and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good" — this is a line from President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech, which seemed to have inspired House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's clapback.
READ MORE: SOTU Address: Trump Talks INF Treaty, Border, 'State-of-the-Art' Missile Defence
After POTUS's call for unity, Pelosi stood and applauded toward him in such a way that Trump critics immediately suggested that she was trolling the president.
Pelosi the Gawd with the most pettiest and sarcastic clap possible. We stan a queen #SOTU pic.twitter.com/5FahnpDaJZ
— BG From the Bottom of the Map (@GhostFaceSigma) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Nancy Pelosi sarcastically claps at President Trump after he calls for Americans to “reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution, and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good." #SOTU pic.twitter.com/gGDTXXPNHe
— Vox (@voxdotcom) 6 февраля 2019 г.
This is it. This is the photo of the century. @SpeakerPelosi wins. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/3mZ9DTeGHe
— Becca Morgan (@itsmebeccam) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Nancy Pelosi's facial expressions are giving me liiiife right now #SOTU pic.twitter.com/6ile1pzOGU
— Jenny Greenwood (@jenny_oldstones) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Nancy Pelosi looks like she was in deep thought "I remember when they laid the first cement brick for this place, right over there"
— Wayne Dupree 🎧 (@WayneDupreeShow) 6 февраля 2019 г.
#SOTU #Toothsucker
The story of Trump's big fail & another Pelosi triumph in one mashup#SOTU pic.twitter.com/0LWZGiwLqV
— ☇RiotWomenn☇ (@riotwomennn) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Comic Patton Oswalt happened to come up with his own name for the now-viral clap:
Congrats to @SpeakerPelosi for inventing the “fuck you” clap. #sotu pic.twitter.com/eueoUf9IBT
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) 6 февраля 2019 г.
One netizen alleged that Democratic congresswomen, who made a statement of solidarity in matching "suffragette white" outfits to symbolise women's rights, were waiting for Pelosi's signal to start applauding:
#SOTU "when are we allowed to clap?"…."when Pelosi gives the sign…" pic.twitter.com/FJbh5MrIJt
— IMdEGGMAN (@heltrskeltr9) 6 февраля 2019 г.
But it was not just the clap (seemingly rife with sarcasm) that has garnered so much attention: one Twitterian suggested that Pelosi was acting unprofessionally as she kept looking at her papers instead of the president:
Pelosi is so unprofessional, who does that? #SOTU pic.twitter.com/6REtHtzL1I
— Isaac Thompson (@mannythompson15) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Others, however, poked fun at the situation, assuming that she might have obtained an "advance copy" of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with the Kremlin:
Nancy Pelosi has an advance copy of the Mueller report 👇 #SOTU #SOTU2019 pic.twitter.com/Eaoc56ep4n
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Whatever was on the paper, there was no shortage of suggestions from curious netizens:
I see Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strategy tonight:
— Jason K. Morrell (@CNNJason) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Read the paper copy of Trump’s script when you know you can’t hold your poker face.
Pelosi seems to be following along on comically large pieces of paper.
— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Does Nancy Pelosi have a paper due at midnight?
— Tom Lynch (@TomLynch_) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Speaker Pelosi going through the speech looking like my college professor when I turned in a paper I wrote the night before. #SOTU
— don meeg (@Donball) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Many social media users pointed out that Pelosi refused to applaud when it came to cancer research or unemployment statistics…
Pelosi refuses to applause record low African-American & hispanic unemployment levels. #SOTU
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Wait, Pelosi won't stand for cancer research? #SOTU
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) 6 февраля 2019 г.
…while one netizen tweeted a photo of Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, who also seemed reluctant to stand and clap to defend Pelosi:
Before any of you Republicans start complaining about Pelosi refusing to stand and clap…#SOTU #StateOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/dwFA5wm1V1
— Teenaged Political Nerd (@_Political_Nerd) 6 февраля 2019 г.
A fellow Twitterian alluded to the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over Trump's proposal to build a protective wall on the country's southern border with Mexico to stem the flow of illegal migrants:
Walls don’t work, except at:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) 6 февраля 2019 г.
Bezos’ mansion
Pelosi’s mansion
Hillary’s mansion
Obama’s mansion
Waters’ mansion
Feinstein’s mansion
Oprah’s mansion
Zuckerberg’s mansion
Madonna's mansion
🤔#SOTU
Donald Trump was initially scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address on 29 January, however, Pelosi postponed it out of security concerns due to the fact the US government was in the middle of the country's longest partial shutdown.
READ MORE: Trump to Call for Ending US Foreign Wars During SOTU Address — Sr. WH Official
The 35-day shutdown began on 22 December after Democratic lawmakers refused to endorse Trump's proposal to allocate $5.7 billion to erect a wall on the US southern border to stop migrants from entering the country illegally.
