Speed Reads

Silent Mike

Mike Pence's dead-eyed stoicism during the Trump-Pelosi-Schumer fight spawned a rich tapestry of jokes and memes

While President Trump sparred with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over funding his proposed border wall on Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence sat there silently for the entire 17 minutes, occasionally nodding or blinking. His stoicism amid the new onslaught of divided government did not go unnoticed online or on late-night television. The Daily Show's Trevor Noah compared him to "a guy whose edibles just kicked in," imagining him daydreaming about handmaids.

Stephen Colbert's Late Show imagined a longer internal monologue, with Pence meditating in a strange drawl: "I'm a manila envelope taped to a beige wall. No one can see me."

The Washington Post rounded up some other late-night quips about Pence.

Social media had a ball, too, comparing Pence to an Elf on the Shelf and an armadillo, giving his blank face a soundtrack, and imagining him silently plotting, patiently suffering the end of Trump's presidency so he could change the Oval Office carpet. You can watch CNN's Jeanne Moos wrap-up some of this fantasia below. Peter Weber