Halloween came to the US Senate a few days early on Thursday as Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) re-enacted the famous “Biscuits with the Boss” scene from the first season of “Ted Lasso.”
Romney — clad in the recognizable chinos, sweater, whistle and mustache sported by Jason Sudeikis’ titular character in the Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series — tweeted a gif of himself serving a pink box of sweet treats to Sinema, assuming the role of AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (played by Hannah Waddingham on the show).
“Biscuits with the boss,” Romney captioned the gif before tweeting a still photo of the pair with the caption: “She’s one tough cookie.”
A few liberal Twitter users did not take kindly to Sinema playing nice with Romney as she continues to dig in her heels over the size of a multitrillion-dollar social spending bill being pushed by the White House and congressional Democratic leaders.
“Has there ever been a senator that cares less about their constituents than Kyrsten Sinema?” asked Tim Fullerton, the vice president for content marketing at WeWork and a former Obama administration official.
“‘I present to you the still beating heart of popular programs you helped rip out of Biden’s plan to appease your corporate donors. On behalf of billionaires, thank you. Your Lululemon bag is in the mail,'” Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali mockingly captioned the “Biscuits with the Boss” gif.
“Am I mad that the costumes are so spot on or mad at politicians playing up cutesy shows of ‘bipartisanship’ at the expense of good policy or just mad at public figures being so cringe during such a ‘Kim there are people dying’ moment,” tweeted MSNBC Daily writer and editor Hayes Brown. “Trick question it’s all of the above because I’m multifaceted like that.”
By contrast, conservatives applauded Romney, both for the costume and for the subtle dig at progressives who have targeted Sinema with harassment campaigns in recent weeks in an effort to get her to back the social spending bill.
“Mitt Romney is polite, decent, God-fearing, honest, respectful, even-tempered, soft-spoken, and kind … but if you look closely, every now and then, he likes to twist the knife,” tweeted National Review writer Jim Geraghty.
“This is some great trolling right here,” agreed Geraghty’s National Review colleague Dan McLaughlin.
“You want to see a lib meltdown?” asked GOP strategist Matt Whitlock above a quote-tweet of Romney’s gif. “Read these quote tweets.”
Romney kept the costume on long enough for a few more gifs and photos — at one point gently calling out Sudeikis, who portrayed Romney on “Saturday Night Live” during his unsuccessful 2012 White House run.
“After 10 years, I’m finally returning the favor,” tweeted the senator above a photo of him wearing the jersey of Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. “How was my
@TedLasso, @JasonSudeikis?”
There was no immediate response from Sudeikis or his alter ego on Twitter Thursday night.