‘That’s an applause line!’ Nancy Pelosi hits max cringe in awkward Jeb Bush ‘please clap’ moment

Talk about smoke and mirrors, President Biden put on quite a production at the White House on Tuesday that even featured an aging James Taylor, all of this coming amid the news that inflation rose to 8.3% in August even with a sharp drop in gas prices and the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1,200 points for its worst day since June 2020.

Biden was flanked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Vice President Kamala Harris, as he touted the passage of the Democrats’ climate spending bill curiously dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. On the same day Americans learned inflation was still raging, the president claimed “this bill cut costs for families, helped reduce inflation at the kitchen table, because that’s what they look at — how much are their monthly bills and how much do they have to pay out for their necessities. And it gave them just a little more breathing room, as my dad would say.”

But the most awkward moment of the day appeared to belong to Speaker Pelosi, who literally had to ask the gathered audience to applaud her praising of the president.

“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.

The line drew silence from the crowd, prompting the Democrat to add, “That’s an applause line.”

The painful moment was reminiscent of Jeb Bush beseeching an uninspired crowd to “please clap” during his dismal 2016 run for the White House that never got off the ground.

President Biden did give Pelosi a run for her money when it comes to awkward moments when boasting about the climate bill including provisions that will reduce prescription prices for some.

Somewhat embarrassingly, an animated Biden ended up angrily yelling into the microphone.

“Imagine being a mom or a dad looking at your child you know that needs that insulin very — to live — to live and not having the money to pay for it. Not a joke. Think about it. Think about what you’d think about at the time!” he screamed. “Think about how you’d feel if you didn’t have the insurance and didn’t have the money. It’s wrong. It’s not who we are.”

As for James Taylor, he performed his biggest hit, “Fire and Rain,” which prompted an apt observation from a social media user: “Fire and rain – describing our plummeting 401K’s”

Tom Tillison

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