“kamala IS brat”, British pop star Charli XCX posted in X just hours after US President Joe Biden withdrew as the Democratic nominee and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the party against former President Donald Trump in the nation’s November vote.
See more information: Why Joe Biden left office
To some, the “brat’s” tweet may seem cryptic or confusing. For Gen Z – and increasingly for Kamala Harris’ own campaign and the Democratic Party as well – the message couldn’t be clearer: Harris is the meme candidate.
Shortly after Biden’s dramatic announcement, the official @BidenHQ campaign account on X was converted to @KamalaHQand has already fully embraced Harris’ Internet appeal, which some observers believe could be a significant game changer in the election.
From coconuts to Venn diagrams, Harris’ campaign and her supporters have transformed the vice president’s — as well as some of her supporters’ — virality. your weirdest moments that opponents once regarded as signs of incompetence – in symbols and catchphrases to raise profile that young voters, in particular, can support.
Here’s what you should know about the memes that have come to be associated with Harris:
‘kamala is a brat’
Charli XCX’s “brat” album was released last month to critical acclaim and topped charts around the world. It also emerged as a summer cultural phenomenon among young people.
The artist explained what it means to be a brat on TikTok in early July: “You’re just that girl who’s a little rowdy and likes to party, and maybe says stupid things sometimes, which feels good, but then also maybe has a nervous breakdown. but parties through it. It’s very honest, very direct and a little volatile.”
One social media user adopted this definition for Harris by making a mashup video, featuring clips of Harris soundtracking one of the album’s anthems. Since then, it has been viewed more than 3 million times.
When @KamalaHQ launched on Sunday, he copied the stylization of the album’s cover art — all lowercase font on a solid bright green background — for his account’s banner image.
Coconut context
The @KamalaHQ account bio – “Providing context” – references another popular meme associated with the vice president.
The meme has its roots in May 2023 speech Harris gave a talk at the White House in which she told an anecdote: “My mother used to do this — she would sometimes bother us and tell us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’” She said laughing. “You exist in the context of everything you live in and what came before you.”
At the time, the Republican Party War Room, an arm of the Republican National Committee, shared the clip in an apparent attempt to mock her.
But Harris’ supporters recovered the coconut tree. As pressure mounted in recent weeks for Biden to step aside and Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, one Democratic operative described himself as “granulated coconut” for CNN (a piece about the alt-right “red pill” meme). Social media users joked about “Operation Coconut Tree” it is a “Coconut Republic,” and Washington area bars began serving coconut inspired cocktails.
On Sunday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis attached three emojis to the end of his endorsement of Harris: a coconut, a tree and the U.S. flag.
Emily’s Lista PAC dedicated to helping elect Democratic women candidates, similarly added the coconut and tree emojis to its X username.
And Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz posted that he is “ready to help” the vice president, alongside a photo of him climbing a coconut tree.
Last week, the left-leaning think tank Data for Progress conducted a survey in which he asked the audience whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “you exist in the context of everything you live in and what came before you”. A majority of both parties agreed.
‘Unburdened’
In a similar vein to the coconut meme, the Harris campaign appears to have reversed another meme that was originally circulated by Republicans.
In December and again in June, the RNC and Trump campaigns shared video compilations of a common refrain — “let off steam about what happened” — that Harris repeated in official speeches and throughout the campaign.
But on Sunday @KamalaHQ retweeted a screenshot of an interaction on X in which a social media user responded to a Trump campaign account advising it to “abandon using that phrase now” because “Gen Z loves it.”
‘I love Venn diagrams’
Republicans too mocked Harris’s public fondness for Venn diagrams.
“I love Venn diagrams,” Harris said in October 2022. “I really want. I love Venn diagrams. It’s just something about these three circles and the analysis of where the intersection is, right?”
The RNC put together a one-minute compilation of her praising the charts and called it a “cringe.”
But on Sunday, @KamalaHQ embraced the meme with a new Venn diagram of her own, showing the intersection of the Biden campaign and hers as “holding Trump accountable.”
It’s not yet clear what other similarities the Biden and Harris campaigns will share, but a big difference has already emerged: its effectiveness in turning Internet attention into an advantage.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
