--- title: Pelosi and Schumer Awkwardly Shared a Podium to Rebut Trump description: Many viewers were distracted by the single podium that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shared for their speech canonical: https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-09T03:07:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:48.898Z og:title: Pelosi and Schumer Awkwardly Shared a Podium to Rebut Trump og:description: Some viewers jokingly compared the Democratic leadership to disappointed parents og:url: https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123f5a9acf718667/698942eee76ad2c22c633f0c/gettyimages-1079458934.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-BORDER-TRUMP-CONGRESS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pelosi and Schumer Awkwardly Shared a Podium to Rebut Trump twitter:description: Some viewers jokingly compared the Democratic leadership to disappointed parents twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123f5a9acf718667/698942eee76ad2c22c633f0c/gettyimages-1079458934.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Can't Stop Sharing Jokes About Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Sharing One Podium by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 9, 2019 3:07 AM UTC  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pose for pictures after responding to President Donald Trump's address to the nation on border funding at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on Jan. 8, 2019. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pose for pictures after responding to President Donald Trump's address to the nation on border funding at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on Jan. 8, 2019.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 9, 2019 3:07 AM UTC House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a stinging rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s [prime-time address](http://time.com/5497569/donald-trump-oval-office-address-transcript/) Tuesday night, but many viewers were more consumed by the speech’s strange, double-headed visuals than its political message. Speaking side-by-side from behind a single podium, the Democratic leaders [accused](http://time.com/5497590/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-trump-transcript/) Trump of “manufacturing” an [immigration crisis](http://time.com/5496179/mike-pence-donald-trump-border-wall-proposal-shutdown-democrats/) and called on him to [re-open the government](http://time.com/5496179/mike-pence-donald-trump-border-wall-proposal-shutdown-democrats/). While the shared staging was perhaps intended to convey Democrats’ solidarity against Trump’s immigration policies, many social media pundits were distracted by its “bizarre-looking, two-headed” optics, and they weren’t shy about sharing their feedback. > [](https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/1082823117787979777) > [](https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1082824616001835009) > [](https://twitter.com/waynejung/status/1082826873124589568) **Read more**: [_Read the Full Transcript of President Trump’s Oval Office Address on the Border Wall_](http://time.com/5497569/donald-trump-oval-office-address-transcript/) Some noted that the doubled delivery made Pelosi and Schumer look like admonishing parents, and the jokes piled on. > [](https://twitter.com/AaronFlux/status/1082824246999437312) > [](https://twitter.com/erinscafe/status/1082825458490593282) > [](https://twitter.com/MattBinder/status/1082824274543554566) Other commenters made reference to the [ongoing government shutdown](http://time.com/5494109/shutdown-third-longest-us-history/), suggesting the single-podium setup was the result of scant federal funding. > [](https://twitter.com/BrendanMJoyce/status/1082825117380628480) > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/1082823287451865093) The comic merit of the Democrats’ speech is likely to persist, Twitters users noted, offering an image for satirists that may be too good to resist. > [](https://twitter.com/ClareMalone/status/1082823444994187264) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/"},"headline":"People Can't Stop Sharing Jokes About Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Sharing One Podium","datePublished":"2019-01-09T03:07:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:48.898Z","description":"Some viewers jokingly compared the Democratic leadership to disappointed parents","url":"https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Immigration","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123f5a9acf718667/698942eee76ad2c22c633f0c/gettyimages-1079458934.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt123f5a9acf718667/698942eee76ad2c22c633f0c/gettyimages-1079458934.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-BORDER-TRUMP-CONGRESS","caption":"US-POLITICS-BORDER-TRUMP-CONGRESS","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5497640/nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-split-podium/","name":"People Can't Stop Sharing Jokes About Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Sharing One Podium"}}]}] ```