Twitter mocks selfie of Mike Pence and Republican members of Congress

Mark Abadi

Nov 18, 2016, 02:36 IST

A selfie taken by Mike Pence was mercilessly mocked online Thursday for its apparent lack of diversity.

The picture, tweeted out by Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, showed the vice president-elect surrounded by more than 100 Republican members of the House.

Great having @mike_pence visit today! I'm excited to work with him and @realDonaldTrump to shake up the status quo in Washington, D.C. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/2xQIGs2a9Z
- CathyMcMorrisRodgers (@cathymcmorris) November 17, 2016

But social media users quickly jumped on one conspicuous detail about the picture - virtually everyone in it is white.

@cathymcmorris @RepGrothman @mike_pence @realDonaldTrump Quite a diverse crowd you have there
- Abby Reger (@AbbyLaneReger) November 17, 2016

"Shake up the status quo" by featuring only white people? Yes because white folks have never had positions of power before. @cathymcmorris
- Tauriq Moosa (@tauriqmoosa) November 17, 2016

The House GOP Twitter account published a photo of the crowd from a different angle, with a caption boldly stating, "UNIFIED."

UNIFIED. pic.twitter.com/QqXrIClMtX
- House Republicans (@HouseGOP) November 17, 2016

That led to another round of excoriation.

��@HouseGOP pic.twitter.com/1NGWcoyuZd
- Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) November 17, 2016

@HouseGOP @mike_pence @SpeakerRyan @GOPLeader You guys really need a little more diversity in your party. Not one person of color, really?
- Chewy Smith (@Chewcipher) November 17, 2016

@housegop Let me fix the contrast in that photo a little bit pic.twitter.com/OL5tnSjwny
- Liem Bahneman (@Liembo) November 17, 2016

According to Senate data, the incoming Republican House delegation includes two African-Americans, nine Latinos, two American Indians, one Asian, and 23 women. There will be 247 Republicans in the House in the next term.

The picture drew immediate comparisons to a picture House Speaker Paul Ryan took with GOP interns this summer. Like the members of Congress in Pence's selfie, the interns in Ryan's photo were overwhelmingly white.