‘She was not, in fact, us’: Conservative women falsely identified as ‘resistance’ icons

After the chaos of the afternoon died down, photos of women in the Capitol posted by various members of the media gained traction among opponents of President Trump and the efforts of Republican lawmakers. Liberal activist Alyssa Milano shared an image of a woman in a blue dress staring upward and asked her followers to caption the photo.

“Is it raining douchebags?” one user suggested.

“Lord, please give me the strength to slap these men with my pimp hand!” another Milano follower submitted.

Other answers channeled a more feminist angle. “It’s like the angels shining down on her to let us know that Women are the ones who will save this country from the white men we see below,” said one woman.

The next day, however, these Twitter users discovered that their heroine in blue was not the icon they had hoped for.

Charli Huddleston, 25, confirmed that she is the woman in the photo and that she was looking up for her boss, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan. Jordan had been summoned by fellow Republican protesters to appear at the podium and speak to their cause. Huddleston was trying to ensure he would make it on time.

“Yes, that is me,” she said. “You know, on top of all the press conferences, and making sure Mr. Jordan gets to the floor, and going viral on the internet, it’s just a regular day. I don’t want the attention. But at least I looked OK.”

Another woman was photographed giving the camera an apparent sarcastic glance while preparing to fetch a bite to eat amid the activity in the Capitol. The photo of the woman also gained significant traction on the internet among critics of the GOP as an icon of resistance to the president.

“She is all of us,” one user said.

As the image spread across the internet, the subject of the photo came forward to claim her likeness.

“Y’all I have become a meme. I’m DEAD!” said Janae Frazier, press secretary for North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Walker.

“She was not, in fact, us,” lamented liberal online magazine Slate of the discovery that their newest face of Republican resistance was on the wrong team.

The characterization by liberals of high-ranking staff members of conservative politicians echoes the tumultuous confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when photos of Kavanaugh’s anguished female family members and friends were deemed symbolic of resistance to his position on the bench.

The same women in the viral photographs often appeared in Kavanaugh’s defense on cable television and formed groups that publicly denounced allegations of sexual misconduct against him.