In an attempt to urge the audience to applaud the president’s leadership on Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) experienced her own awkward please clap moment.
Pelosi chastised the audience for not cheering when it was time during her speech at a celebration of President Joe Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Bill” on the White House lawn. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, was next to Pelosi as she spoke.
Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden:
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 13, 2022
"Your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day possible. I—That's an applause line." pic.twitter.com/Ds3RNyEI0U
“Mr. President, thank you for unifying and inspiring a vision of a stronger, fairer, safer future for all our children. Your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day possible,” Pelosi said.
She demanded they clap when no one did.
“I — That’s an applause line!” said Pelosi. As instructed, the audience cheered.
“And let us salute Leader Schumer [and] his colleagues in the Senate for their extraordinary leadership and the success in bringing this bill to the floor,” she continued.
Many people on social media compared it to a problematic situation for Jeb Bush, who was running for president at the time, in February 2015. Bush joked as he completed a portion of his speech while addressing a small group of people, “Please clap!” while the audience was silent. On social media, the incident led to constant mockery of him.
Others pointed out that on the same day the stock market plunged by more than a thousand points in response to the most recent announcement of high inflation, Pelosi congratulated Biden for legislation designed to reduce inflation.
In the economic data for August, inflation stayed at historically high levels. In response to the news, the Dow Jones sank by more than 800 points (2.62%), the Nasdaq by almost 4%, and the S&P 500 index by 3%.
