Faced with repeated interruptions from her opponent in the first and only vice presidential debate on Wednesday night, Kamala Harris stopped in her tracks and responded.
“Mr vice president, I’m speaking. I’m speaking,” she said.
The tactic appeared to work, and Mike Pence did indeed stop. And the phrase quickly took off: within minutes, T-shirts, hoodies and mugs featuring the phrase were being sold online. On the online store Etsy, dozens of items were available while the debate was ongoing.
Ms Harris, Joe Biden’s running mate, was forced to deploy the phrase a number of other times throughout the night.
On the first occasion, Mr Pence spoke over Ms Harris as she spoke about the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, saying: “I have to weigh in here. I have to weigh in here.”
Compared to the first presidential debate, the first and only vice presidential matchup was a relatively polite affair. But moderator Susan Page was forced to repeatedly ask Mr Pence to stop talking as he went over his allotted time.
“Your campaign agreed to the rules,” Ms Page said to Mr Pence at one point.
