WASHINGTON _ It started when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared this week by video on CBS' "The Late, Late Show With James Corden."
The California Democrat, opting for what appears to be two refrigerators as a backdrop, revealed a freezer drawer full of ice cream to the television host.
"I like it better than anything else," she told Corden of her obsession with ice cream and candy. (An Easter basket trimmed with chocolate was off to the side.)
For anyone looking for Dove vanilla ice cream bars coated in dark chocolate, Talenti (which is technically gelato) and pints of Jeni's ice cream (which flaunts flavors like "Milkiest Chocolate" and "Blackout Chocolate Cake"), they're all in Pelosi's house.
It didn't take long for the innocent frozen treat to unwittingly become a political weapon. (Maybe it's more threatening when frozen.) "We've got the speaker being on late night TV ... showcasing her gourmet ice cream (instead of) securing the funding," Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News.
He was referencing the ongoing fight in Congress over small-business relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the ice cream didn't ask for any of it.
"I only have one refrigerator," Republican Sen. Marco Rubio quipped on Twitter. "I will give you all the ice cream I have, Madam Speaker, if you fund small business and stop holding it hostage."
Rubio offered up what appeared to be a pack of "M&M's Fun Cups," which, honestly, who could refuse?
The National Republican Congressional Committee went even further, promoting swag inspired by something Marie Antionette, the extravagant queen beheaded in the French Revolution, probably never said. "Let them eat ice cream," reads the limited-edition T-shirt.
Meanwhile, Democratic allies defended Pelosi's sweet tooth.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden complimented her "great taste," while Rep. Dean Phillips, the one-time gelato tycoon who helped build up the Talenti brand, found out the hard way that he isn't the speaker's favorite.
"I don't know what I would've done if ice cream were not invented," said Pelosi, sparking the feud that ruined it for the rest of us.
