U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday (February 11) proved to be a volatile affair. But one reply she made to a question about Jeffrey Epstein proved to be a unifying force across social media, resulting in several viral memes.
The hearing was full of name-calling and open disdain, from Bondi as well as House Democrats with a poor view of the Trump administration’s officials. Bondi was asked why she wasn’t seeking charges against former clients of the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Her response was loud and unexpected. “The Dow is over 50,000!”, she shouted, referencing the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The response caused a few people in the chamber to burst into laughter, making Bondi more upset. She then rattled off more Dow financial statistics before saying in conclusion, “That’s what we should be talking about.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, simply referred to as the Dow, is a stock market index of thirty prominent companies in the United States that are listed on stock exchanges. These companies change from time to time, based on market trends and the value of each company’s price-weighted stock.
Bondi’s attempt at deflecting to avoid answering a serious question was particularly troubling, given that a group of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s reported abuses were present in the chamber. They stood up at one point during the hearing, but Bondi refused to look in their direction.
The Dow Jones reference united many online who were displeased with the attorney general’s behavior, and they mocked her incessantly on social media. One user on X, formerly Twitter utilized a popular meme invoking NBA legend Michael Jordan. Another user utilized a key scene from the hit movie Titanic, with the caption: “Attorney General Pam Bondi is as delusional as trump. Probably worse than trump following her attack on epstein survivors & congresspersons this week.”
- Empy Wheel
