Mitt Romney's unusual technique for blowing out birthday candles is puzzling the internet
It's Mitt Romney's party, and he can blow out his candles however he wants to.
Senator Mitt Romney posted a video on Twitter showing his staffers surprising him with a cake for his birthday on Tuesday made out of his favorite snacks, Twinkies.
Now, we're not going to unpack Romney's favorite food opinions, but the rest of the video seems like a fairly normal birthday surprise. They sing "Happy Birthday," he jokes about eating the whole cake, and then things get, uh, interesting.
My team surprised me with a cake made out of my favorite snack—twinkies! Looking forward to all this year has in store. pic.twitter.com/lQfyIrQ9Qe
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 12, 2019
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Romney displays an unusual technique to blowing out the candles. Instead of just blowing them out in one go, he plucks them off the cake and proceeds to blow them out individually, one by one. The whole process takes an only slightly awkward 30 seconds.
Just like the candles on the cake, Twitter was ablaze with opinions.
Basement office. Drop ceiling. No art on the walls. "Cake" really just Stonehenged Twinkies. Is he being held hostage? Is this some role-playing thing that got out of hand?
— jeff (@fittedsweats) March 12, 2019
He’s holding 11 candles, upright, at the same time!! pic.twitter.com/6tRvUX4DS8
— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) March 12, 2019
— Blame Truth (@RealBlameTruth) March 12, 2019
In a movie this is how you’d learn that the person you thought was your friend was actually an alien who’d invaded your friend’s body.
— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) March 12, 2019
Everyone else in the room pic.twitter.com/cHyHr0UzSb
— Mike Gragg (@mdgrogg32) March 12, 2019
the footages of mitt romney "blowing" "out" "his" "candles" pic.twitter.com/fSZ7Piex72
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) March 12, 2019
I wish there had been like, 20 more candles on that cake.
— Zack Harold (@ZackHarold) March 12, 2019
Although some on Twitter soon jumped to his defense, arguing that he was going for the more sanitary route.
Gotta say, though. I admire avoiding the whole "spit all over the cake" technique.
— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) March 12, 2019
Dude it's still flu season. Respect for Mitt's odd candle technique... sorry but I gotta defend here.
— Susie Felber (@susiefelber) March 12, 2019
I'd be the first to knock Romney, but it's flu season and blowing out candles is basically sneezing on the cake.
— Joey Pittsburgh (@joey_pittsburgh) March 12, 2019
And they may have a point — scientifically speaking, blowing out birthday candles may actually increase cake bacteria by up to 1,400 percent. Yum.
UPDATE: March 12, 2019, 4:57 p.m. EDT TMZ caught up with Mitt Romney and asked him about his candle-blowing technique — he ultimately confirmed Twitter's theory, stating "I have a bit of a cold and I didn't want to spray my germs all over the twinkies for everybody else to eat!" Mystery solved!