This post was originally published on this site
Halloween has come early to Capitol Hill.
Sen. Mitt Romney raised eyebrows on Twitter
TWTR,
on Thursday after tweeting a series of images of himself dressed as Ted Lasso, the earnest protagonist in the Emmy-winning Apple TV+
AAPL,
series of the same name.
“If you believe in yourself, and have clear eyes and full hearts — you can’t lose,” the Utah Republican captioned one GIF, which showed him wearing the Jason Sudeikis character’s signature sweater, khakis and mustache.
Alas, that quote is actually the tagline from “Friday Night Lights,” not from “Ted Lasso.” But he did nail the “Believe” sign that hangs in the AFC Richmond locker room in the latter and equally well-binged sports-themed show.
“Warming up for Halloween weekend with the grandkids,” Romney tweeted alongside another GIF, where he was shown catching an airborne soccer ball. “As @TedLasso says, ‘Your body is like day-old rice. If it ain’t warmed up properly, something real bad could happen.’ ”
But it was this thread that got the most attention: Romney’s Lasso shown presenting Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an in-the-news Arizona Democrat, with, apparently, a box of Lasso’s signature biscuits. “Biscuits with the boss,” he wrote in one tweet. “She’s one tough cookie,” he added in another.
The Margin (August 2021): ‘Ted Lasso’ teased Ryan Reynolds about his real-life soccer team. Now the actor wants compensation — in biscuit form.
So what’s the big deal?
As many in the comments were quick to explain, it could be perceived as odd for Romney to suggest that a fellow senator was his boss in the first place, let alone a senator from another party. Instead, many people tweeted pictures of him dining with former President Donald Trump, saying the former president was his real boss, Romney’s impeachment-trial verdicts against Trump notwithstanding.
What’s more, Sinema and fellow pivotal Democrat Joe Manchin have been accused of holding back progress by opposing parts of President Joe Biden’s climate and social-spending reconciliation bill. So some viewers had a hard time reconciling Romney and Sinema acting out a scene from a feel-good comedy show that became a hit during the pandemic, in light of the failure of either to rally to the support of Biden’s proposed expansion of the social safety net.
One tweet observed that Sinema was being cast in the Romney tweets as Richmond owner Rebecca Welton, who kicked off the series undermining her own club — going so far as to hire an American football coach, Lasso, with only passing knowledge of world football — to spite a former spouse for whom Richmond had been a prized possession.
Romney had sparked heated conversation on social media earlier this week by suggesting that Biden’s proposed tax on billionaires to help pay for the Democrats’ social-spending bill would make the rich pull their money out of the stock market, and buy paintings, or perhaps ranches, instead.
