Mike Pompeo tries to use an awkward Simpsons meme to mock Hillary Clinton's DNC speech

Bart and Lisa Simpson
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Right as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was wrapping up her speech on Wednesday night's Democratic National Convention, current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted a meme of Lisa Simpson ripping up a speech and sobbing — evidently a nod to Clinton's passing lament about losing to Trump while beating him by nearly three million votes.

"The city of Washington was built on a stagnant swamp some 200 years ago, and very little has changed: It stank then, and it stinks now," Lisa wrote in her revised essay. "Only today, it is the fetid stench of corruption that hangs in the air. ... I'm sure you can buy all the votes you need with your dirty money! And this will be one nation, under the dollar, with liberty and justice for none."

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So it's maybe a little on the nose, actually. But this isn't even the first time Pompeo tweeted this gif of a cartoon girl mourning her lost faith in America to mock a real woman grieving what President Trump has done to America's body politic. Maybe this has some sort of double-secret hidden meaning. Or maybe Pompeo just has a few go-to memes he likes to use to showcase his statesmanship, like the rest of us.

"To all the young people: Don't give up on America," Clinton said Wednesday night. "Despite our flaws and problems, we have come so far. And we can still be a more just and equal country, full of opportunities previous generations could never have imagined."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.