Vice President Mike Pence really caught the eye of social media during the debate against Sen. Kamala Harris on Wednesday.
Moments into the contest, moderated by USA Today’s Susan Page, several Twitter users started posting close-up screenshots of Pence with a bloodshot left eye. Others made jokes.
“Woah what’s up with Pence’ zombie eye?? Pink eye is a COVID symptom!” one Twitter account said.
Indeed, as the New York Times reported, doctors have seen a small percentage of coronavirus patients with eye symptoms such as conjunctivitis or pink eye. Although President Trump and other officials in the White House have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, Pence has repeatedly tested negative.
Woah what’s up with Pence’ zombie eye?? Pink eye is a COVID symptom! #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/iHU7aJs6CJ
— Houston ?️? (@radiohouston) October 8, 2020
“Pence looks ill! What wrong with his left eye?? I need answers. yikes,” wrote former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
Pence looks ill! What wrong with his left eye?? I need answers. yikes pic.twitter.com/EQXOh47GRk
— Omarosa (@OMAROSA) October 8, 2020
Many other accounts, both verified and and unverified, also chimed in, some making comparisons to villains in literature and movies.
Every time Pence says “The American people” stab yourself in the eye.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) October 8, 2020
Mike Pence popped a blood vessel in his eye ball when he realized he had to talk to a woman that wasn’t his mother pic.twitter.com/TzM4iodsXn
— Joanna Hausmann Jatar (@Joannahausmann) October 8, 2020
#VPDebate mike pence has a look in his eye which I have seen before… pic.twitter.com/gHmBw63QBF
— Daryl Oliver (@bigdtampa) October 8, 2020
Mike Pence looked like he felt the eye of Sauron turn to him through the camera as he was asked about Trump paying $750 in taxes.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 8, 2020
Look, I don’t like Pence either but I don’t think it was necessary for Trump to hit him in the eye before the debate. pic.twitter.com/GuqjqypMEj
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) October 8, 2020
Pence looks like the fake Arnold Schwarzenegger head that cuts its own eye out in The Terminator pic.twitter.com/gfZgIymhit
— Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) October 8, 2020
The buzz about Pence’s red and irritated eye was similar to when former Vice President Joe Biden’s eye appeared to fill with blood during a CNN town hall in September 2019.
A broken blood vessel in the eye, known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage, is a common condition that can be caused by things such as straining, vomiting, or sneezing, according to Premier Health.
The vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the second of four debates in the 2020 general election cycle. The first presidential debate between Trump and Biden took place last week. Two more presidential debates are still on the schedule before Election Day on Nov. 3.
