Two of the best-known faces from the January 6 Select Committee were back in the same room this week. And that was all the internet needed.
Jamie Raskin and Liz Cheney both showed up at a charity dinner in Washington on Thursday evening. The event raised money for a civics education group, and plenty of former and current members of Congress were there. But only one photo from the night went viral, and it was the one of Raskin and Cheney chatting near a dessert table.
Within hours, the jokes were flying.
Some people put the photo side by side with pictures from the committee hearings and called it “the reunion nobody expected.” Others added sappy music and slow zooms. One account labeled it “the most bipartisan thing to happen in Washington all year.”
The truth was a lot more boring.
“They were talking about a recipe for lemon bars,” said Alexa Bruno, a fundraising consultant who organized the dinner. “Liz said they were too sweet. Jamie disagreed. That was the entire conversation. I don’t know how anybody turned that into a soap opera.”
Raskin, who is married and very happy about it, had some fun with the attention. He posted the photo himself with the caption, “Breaking: two former colleagues disagree about dessert.” He also mentioned that his wife had already seen the memes and found them “very funny, and also very wrong.”
Cheney kept it short. When a reporter asked her about the gossip the next day, she said, “I said hello to someone I spent two years working with. Please find a real story.”
Still, the internet did not want to let go. One user made a mock trailer for a buddy comedy called “Select Company.” Another started a petition for the two of them to co-host a cooking show. Neither seems likely to happen, though the petition did pick up a few thousand signatures before lunch, which says a lot about how bored people are.
Critics of the January 6 committee jumped in too, using the photo to take shots at both of them. A few said it was a reminder of a chapter they would rather forget. But most of the reaction was lighthearted, with people simply enjoying a goofy break from heavier news.
“Everybody’s tired,” Bruno said. “A harmless photo of two people talking about lemon bars is exactly the kind of thing the internet wants right now.”
Neither office has issued any formal statement, and both seem happy to let it fade away. Friends of Raskin say he has been forwarding the best jokes to his family. Friends of Cheney say she has been ignoring them completely, which is very on brand.
By the weekend, the buzz was already dying down. But if the two of them end up at the same event again, you can bet someone will be ready with a camera, and the lemon bar debate will be back.
