In mid-March 2022, a quote attributed to former U.S. Secretary of State (and Democratic presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton went viral on various social media platforms:
The quote is real, and was posted to Clinton's Twitter account on March 15, 2022.
It was a tongue-in-cheek response to news that Russia had imposed retaliatory sanctions against a number of high-profile U.S. officials and political figures, including Clinton, U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, among others.
The Russian sanctions against U.S. political figures was in response to the U.S. sanctioning Russia for its ongoing attack on Ukraine.
Russia's sanctions provoked an onslaught of snark.
In response to the news, Psaki mocked the sanctions during a press briefing by noting that the Russian government may have accidentally sanctioned Biden's late father, noting that the president's full legal name includes "junior."
"I would first note that President Biden is a 'junior,' so they may have sanctioned his dad — may he rest in peace," Psaki stated, adding, "None of us are planning tourist trips to Russia, none of us have bank accounts that we won't be able to access, so we will forge ahead."
Clinton responded the news on Twitter with her own snark, with a reference to the way actors often accept Academy Awards: