Posting a selfie to social media can be a nerve-wracking experience. You might, for example, fear being ridiculed on your angle or the potential of being turned into a meme. That’s exactly what happened when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) tweeted an innocuous photo of his face without context on Thursday—but the 78-year-old seemed to be taking the jokes in stride.
The close-up of Leahy’s face was met with commentators’ attempts at giving the photo a witty caption. Many people had the same idea: Maybe Leahy, like many selfie-takers before him, was “feeling cute” in the moment (though it’s always safest to suggest you “might delete” a poorly-received selfie later).
yes, hello, i'd like to cancel the internet? pic.twitter.com/4hqkiDLmlH
— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) October 4, 2018
Others were immediately reminded of Leahy’s cameos in Batman movies, including The Dark Knight.
Nice try. I know Christian Bale when I see him. https://t.co/Up5kuRXGP0
— Karen Howell (@karenehowell) October 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/IGibbs08/status/1047962232481615878
I’ll never forget when this everyday hero stood up to the Joker. https://t.co/OLyGsOwxA4
— @arcoar.bsky.social (@owensmike) October 4, 2018
This looks like the headshot he sent in to play Dick Cheney in that Christian Bale movie. https://t.co/P1MgHIZIRH
— Ben 10 (@whtouche) October 4, 2018
Some just appreciated Leahy’s ability to work the camera.
https://twitter.com/carolinesimon66/status/1047968350347956227
this is the kind of self-esteem i'm tryna have https://t.co/UKVs2jIp4h
— julia reinstein 🚡 (@juliareinstein) October 4, 2018
when u take 40 selfies and finally get the rite angle https://t.co/dBDypPJyUe
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair 🦥 (@senatorshoshana) October 4, 2018
Thank you Senator, for looking like a damn snack https://t.co/l0myANF9fO
— Ross Parsons is now HBO Ross (@rossparsons) October 4, 2018
Unsurprisingly, the selfie has already been combined with other memes.
https://twitter.com/zachheltzel/status/1047959222212681728?s=21
https://twitter.com/joannarothkopf/status/1047953570966986752
And adapted for the political news of the hour.
The face you make when someone says the supplemental FBI investigation was thorough and showed no corroborating evidence. https://t.co/g0gpwFrCuy
— Tony Hanna (@TonyHanna901) October 4, 2018
It’s unclear what motivated Leahy to tweet the photo in the first place, and whether it was intentional or just an awkwardly misfired post. The senator did confirm in a follow-up tweet, however, that “yep … that’s me.”
yep… that's me… https://t.co/lroC0gnYdJ
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) October 4, 2018