If you're trying to get up to speed on Vice President swift emergence as Democrats' possible nominee this fall, you really need to know your memes.
From 鈥渂rat summer鈥� to 鈥渃oconut tree," it's been a timeline full of Harris-related memes for many people since President exited the 2024 presidential race on Sunday and endorsed his No. 2 to lead the party.
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.
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 .
It also could be a way for Harris' campaign to resonate with younger voters, a group Democrats need to turn out in November.
Here's a meme primer for following Harris' newly launched 2024 campaign:
'Coconut tree'
Coconuts are everywhere in timeline mentions of Harris, an internet organism that began as Harris criticism and is now being embraced by her supporters.
The bio text on X reads simply 鈥渁dding context,鈥� a reference to a much-memed speech where the vice president emphatically recalled a turn of phrase frequently used by her mother.
鈥淪he would say to us, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?鈥欌�� Harris recollected in 2023 at a White House ceremony, clad in a mauve suit. 鈥淵ou exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.鈥�
At the time, the somewhat existential-sounding phrase was by critics labeling Harris as 鈥渄runk鈥� or 鈥渃razy.鈥�
In the past two days, online users and have latched onto the clip, , creating .
Even Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii solidified his endorsement of Harris on X by . Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for a coconut, tree and the American flag on X, too.
鈥淜amala has a bunch of word salad quotes that are delightfully nonsensical,鈥� said Cory Alpert, a staffer on Pete Buttigieg鈥檚 2020 campaign and former Biden White House advance staffer who describes himself as 鈥渃hronically online."
鈥淟ike you kinda know what she鈥檚 trying to say, but it doesn鈥檛 really make sense. But it鈥檚 the perfect kind of weird authenticity that works online.鈥�
鈥楤谤补迟鈥�
Don't know about 鈥渂rat summer鈥� yet? Let us help.
Younger celebs are aiming to help Harris by tying her to their viral and loyal social media brands.
Most notably, pop musician that 鈥渒amala IS brat,鈥� a reference to her newly released album 鈥渂rat鈥� and its rabid summer following. The post has accumulated over 35 million impressions on the app, and Harris鈥� campaign quickly set its X banner photo to the striking Shrek-green color of Charli鈥檚 鈥渂rat鈥� album cover.
鈥� playing Charli鈥檚 music over clips of the Harris quip 鈥� have spread widely as well on Instagram, X and TikTok.
And of course there are also the already popping up, too, as seen in X posts from Fire Island, New York.
Venn diagrams
It's OK if you're not a math scholar 鈥� you can still get this one.
鈥淚 love Venn diagrams,鈥� Harris said during an event in 2022. 鈥淭here's just something about those three circles and the analysis of where there's the intersection right?鈥�
The Republican National Committee posted a clip of the comment on YouTube as a way to criticize Harris. But many of those commenting on the account's posts expressed their own love for the set theory tool that shows overlapping areas of similarity.
Harris' campaign has now seized on the moment, too, with her rapid response operation on X showing 鈥渉olding Trump accountable鈥� as the intersection of both the Biden and Harris operations.
Who's the audience?
Younger voters were already slightly more in-tune with Harris over Biden, and Alpert said those already very online people are accustomed to quickly reposting and sharing content, so maybe the Harris meme moment was meant for many of them.
鈥淭he cultural gap here is really stark between Gen Z and a lot of other groups,鈥� Alpert said. 鈥淭hese little moments and lines that Gen Z are picking up and running with, other groups 鈥� especially Boomers 鈥� seem to find annoying or laughable, because they want the candidate you can get a beer with.鈥�
Younger adults 鈥� those between the ages of 18 and 29 鈥� had a slightly more favorable view of Harris than Biden in conducted after the debate but before Biden announced he was withdrawing as the Democratic nominee, although a significant share said they didn鈥檛 have an opinion.
Only about one-quarter of 18-29 year-olds had a somewhat or very favorable opinion of Biden in the poll, and about 7 in 10 had an unfavorable opinion of him. By contrast, about 4 in 10 young adults had a favorable view of Harris, while about 4 in 10 had an unfavorable view and about 2 in 10 didn鈥檛 know enough to say.
A similar share of 18-29 year-olds 鈥� around 4 in 10 鈥� had a favorable view of Trump in the July poll, while about half had an unfavorable view and about 1 in 10 didn鈥檛 know enough to say.
Schatz, the Hawaii senator who posted an image of himself climbing a coconut tree, said that while Harris is not part of Gen Z, what Gen Z wants is not necessarily a candidate their same age, but someone who is 鈥渋n the pop culture mainstream.鈥�
鈥淲e should be winning decisively among young people, and one of the impediments, frankly, was that they didn鈥檛 see anyone speaking for Democratic Party values who they found relatable,鈥� he told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. 鈥淧olitics is definitely about policy, but it鈥檚 also about vibes, and the vibes, as the kids say, are immaculate."
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Yee reported from Washington. Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, 麻豆传媒AV Carolina. Associated Press writers Amelia Thomson Deveaux and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and James Pollard in New York contributed to this report.
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Kinnard can be reached at
Meg Kinnard And Curtis Yee, The Associated Press
