Ceaușescu moment

Meanings

1. A moment when a public figure is booed in public; (by extension) a moment when a person or regime previously considered unassailable suddenly looks vulnerable; the outbreak of a revolution.

Etymology

Coined by The Economist when comparing a speech by Tony Blair on 7 June 2000 with Nicolae Ceaușescu's last speech on 21 December 1989: :But when the prime minister gulped and started to skip over chunks of his text in the face of the unexpected heckles and slow hand-claps from the unthreatening, decent folk of the Women's Institute, it was uncannily reminiscent of the moment in 1989 when the obedient masses of Bucharest startled Nicolae Ceausescu by their sudden decision to boo. The dictator on his balcony raised his hands, looked puzzled, stepped backwards—and the rest is history.