Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Nancy Pelosi, US News, Joe Biden
Cameron Frew
US President Joe Biden just delivered his first State of the Union address, but people can't stop looking at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hands.
Biden's address discussed the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as America's response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Unity Agenda for the Nation, outlining support for US veterans.
'My administration is providing assistance with job training and housing, and now helping lower-income veterans get VA care debt-free. Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan faced many dangers. One was stationed at bases and breathing in toxic smoke from ‘burn pits'. Many of you have been there,' he said.
During this moment, Pelosi could be seen in the background almost going for a clap, before presumably realising it'd be rather inappropriate, clenching her fists and rubbing them together. Viewers at home noticed immediately.
Reason’s editor at large Nick Gillespie joked, 'What secret taskmaster was Nancy Pelosi signalling with this hippy hippy shake?', while Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, tweeted, 'Seriously, though, why was she so weird tonight?'
'Nancy Pelosi's reaction to troops 'breathing in toxic smoke from burn pits' is the weirdest/creepiest thing I've ever seen,' The Independent Journal Review’s Caleb Hull also wrote. 'What the hell is this reaction from Nancy Pelosi to Biden talking about soldiers breathing in toxic smoke from burn pits,' digital strategist Greg Price wrote.
Pelosi has attracted particularly harsh criticism from some users – most of whom are proponents of Donald Trump or the Republican party. 'Here’s proof that Democrats were only half-listening to Biden’s speech and were told to clap like seals at everything he says. Watch Nancy Pelosi’s reaction when Biden mentions our troops in Iraq breathing in ‘toxic smoke.’ Just bizarre,' one user wrote.
Advert
'I remember Nancy Pelosi's performance at the last STOU. Sickening. Tonight – it's just sickening in another sort of way,' another wrote, referencing Trump's address and Pelosi ripping up his speech behind him.
However, the 'burn pits' moment has also evolved into a meme. 'When I see the brownies about to come out of the oven,' the Washington Examiner Magazine’s deputy editor Grant Addison joked. '*plastic wrapper crumples* my dog,' journalist Siraj Hashmi wrote.
Concluding his address, Biden said, 'My report is this: the State of the Union is strong because you, the American people, are strong. We are stronger today than we were a year ago. And we’ll be stronger a year from now than we are today.
'This is our moment to meet and overcome the challenges of our time. And we will, as one people. One America. The United States of America. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Go get’ em.'
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]