The most important lesson in politics these days is to never give Twitter users a blank canvas to draw on. House Speaker Paul Ryan joined former first lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Ted Cruz in learning that lesson.
Ryan, a wonky guy, used his weekly news conference to explain GOP leadership’s proposed health care plan. (Side note: If you want to keep up with news on the health care bill, follow along here.)
The speaker came prepared. Unfortunately, he came prepared with rolled up shirtsleeves and a PowerPoint presentation. Blood in the water on the web.
Many Twitter users noticed Ryan’s casual look.
Some compared him to a “cool dad.”
Others compared him to a professor.
A third camp compared Ryan’s presser to a TED Talk. Ryan’s press secretary, Ashlee Strong, seemed to approve of the comparison. She tweeted: “Packed house for the Ryan Ted talk.”
Then there were those who got bored and decided to jazz up the PowerPoint a bit.
Ryan’s office did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Of course there were overachievers in Professor Ryan’s class. Some Twitter users decided to go the extra mile and put memes within other memes.
Twitter user @Darth brought back one of the most infamous moments of President Donald Trump’s campaign, where he appeared to make fun of a disabled reporter. To bump it to the next level, he embedded it as a GIF.
Then there was the “Inception” of Paul Ryan PowerPoint memes. This one, by Independent Journal Review reporter Hayley Byrd, layered photos of Ryan on top of the “This is fine” meme.
To take it one step further, one of the photos is from a Time magazine photoshoot in which Ryan posed while lifting weights. Those photos themselves went viral when they were released in 2012 — and they’ve clearly followed him in the years since.
Class is dismissed, Twitter. You’ve done your work for the day.