--- title: Here's What Nancy Pelosi Was Thinking During Iconic Clapback description: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explains what she was thinking when she applauded Trump in a now-viral photo during his State of the Union canonical: https://time.com/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-06T23:02:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:22.356Z og:title: What Nancy Pelosi Was Thinking During That Clapping Photo og:description: It turns out Pelosi's iconic clapback photo was actually genuinely supportive og:url: https://time.com/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5fbf22be6733bae7/698944b2b21a9cf5095000d0/nancy-pelosi-clap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3364 og:image:height: 1892 og:image:alt: President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Nancy Pelosi Was Thinking During That Clapping Photo twitter:description: It turns out Pelosi's iconic clapback photo was actually genuinely supportive twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5fbf22be6733bae7/698944b2b21a9cf5095000d0/nancy-pelosi-clap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Nancy Pelosi Was Really Thinking During Her Now Widespread Clapping Moment > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2d7e3caf-3da7-4f99-b2a1-5447c0b4bb21&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 6, 2019 11:02 PM UTC  Speaker Nancy Pelosi greets President Donald Trump just ahead of the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump's second State of the Union address was postponed one week due to the partial government shutdown. Speaker Nancy Pelosi greets President Donald Trump just ahead of the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump's second State of the Union address was postponed one week due to the partial government shutdown. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 6, 2019 11:02 PM UTC By now, it’s the photo seen ’round the internet world: Speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi](http://time.com/5523044/pelosi-trump-congress-threats-sotu/) engaged in a deliberate clapping gesture towards [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5522266/donald-trump-no-pelosi-introduction-state-of-the-union/) as he gave Tuesday night’s [State of the Union](http://time.com/5521860/2019-state-of-the-union-trump-transcript/) address. Thanks to her pursed lips and the direction of her applause, snapped mid-motion, spectators and commentators had a field day with Pelosi’s reaction. The literal clapback instantly became a meme. But as Pelosi [told reporters](https://people.com/politics/why-nancy-pelosi-clap-donald-trump-state-of-the-union/) on Wednesday, it was not actually meant as a sarcastic gesture. Rather, she was showing genuine support for one of Trump’s statements. Trump had just delivered this line: “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.” The message of bipartisan cooperation was one the Democratic leader could get behind, and did so with her clap. “Look at what I was applauding,” Pelosi told the press. “I wanted him to know that it was very welcomed.” So while we may read plenty of other emotions into Pelosi’s appearance in the photo, let the record show that she was genuinely applauding Trump in the moment. Her official, overall response to the rest of his rhetoric in the speech, however, was [less than positive.](http://time.com/5523044/pelosi-trump-congress-threats-sotu/) > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1093009735224315905) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/"},"headline":"Here's What Nancy Pelosi Was Really Thinking During Her Now Widespread Clapping Moment","datePublished":"2019-02-06T23:02:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:22.356Z","description":"“Look at what I was applauding\"","url":"https://time.com/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","nancy pelosi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5fbf22be6733bae7/698944b2b21a9cf5095000d0/nancy-pelosi-clap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5fbf22be6733bae7/698944b2b21a9cf5095000d0/nancy-pelosi-clap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/5523474/nancy-pelosi-thinking-clapback/","name":"Here's What Nancy Pelosi Was Really Thinking During Her Now Widespread Clapping Moment"}}]}] ```