# Nancy Pelosi Clapping

> Pelosi’s State of the Union clap became a reaction meme and a $22 campaign shirt.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Meme & format
- Sector: Politics & civic
- Seed date: 2019-02-06
- Peak date: 2019-02-06
- Spread Score: 40 (Notable), v1.2
- Mechanics: Creator relay, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy, Newsjacking

## Summary

Pelosi’s televised applause became captioned reaction images and GIFs on Twitter. News reports and television comedy replayed the remixes. Her campaign store later offered clap merchandise, and she reenacted the gesture on Drag Race in 2022.

## Timeline

- 2019-02-05 — Nancy Pelosi (TV) — Pelosi applauded Trump after he called for cooperation during the State of the Union address.
- 2019-02-06 — @oureric (R. Eric Thomas) (X) — R. Eric Thomas posted a clap photo with a mocking caption at 03:02 UTC.
- 2019-02-06 — TIME (Press) — TIME reported the clap and its captioned remixes at 03:56 UTC.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/nancy-pelosi-clapping

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Nancy Pelosi Clapping.” Case HIS-00307. Spread Score v1.2: 40/100. Updated 2026-10-12. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00307