If you’re trying to get up to speed on Vice President Kamala Harris’ swift emergence as the Democrats’ possible nominee this fall, you really need to know your memes.
From “brat summer” to “coconut tree”, it’s been a timeline full of Harris-related memes for many people since President Joe Biden exited the 2024 presidential race on Sunday.
Taking to the internet to pledge their support for her candidacy, Harris’ backers, much of the time, are crafting new spins on previous online organisms that at one time had been used by Harris’ detractors to throw shade.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House. Credit: Getty Images
There are also celebrities getting in the mix, with some of the association seen as a tidal wave of attention on Harris’ candidacy that could help turn back American apathy for what had been a largely binary general election between Biden and GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The @KamalaHQ account bio text on X reads simply “adding context”, a reference to a much-memed speech where the vice president emphatically recalled a turn of phrase frequently used by her mother.
“She would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’” Harris recollected in 2023 at a White House ceremony, clad in a mauve suit. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
Musician Charli XCX.Credit: Invision
At the time, the somewhat existential-sounding phrase was shared many times over by critics who labelled Harris as “drunk” or “crazy.”
In the past two days, online users and politicians have latched onto the clip, sometimes sincerely and sometimes ironically, creating coconut-themed posting support of her candidacy.
Another meme called “brat summer” has come from younger celebrities aiming to help Harris by tying her to their viral and loyal social media brands.
Most notably, pop musician Charli XCX posted on X that “kamala IS brat,” a reference to her newly released album brat and its rabid summer following. The post has accumulated more than 35 million impressions on the app, and Harris’ campaign quickly set its X banner photo to the striking Shrek-green colour of the musician’s brat album cover.
Viral mashups of brat and “coconut tree” together — playing Charli’s music over clips of the Harris quip — have spread widely as well on Instagram, X and TikTok.
AP
#Kamala #Harris #endorsed #Nancy #Pelosi #Joe #Biden #withdraws #presidential #race
