The Kamala Harris “Brat Summer” Memes Are Unparalleled

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“Kamala IS brat” —Charli XCX on X, signaling her support for Kamala Harris’ presidential run amid a flood of Harris-focused brat summer–themed internet memes

I think we can all agree that it’s been a wild summer for memes. And not just the political ones. There was Justin Timberlake’s viral mug shot, paired with the phrase he allegedly uttered during his DWI arrest (“this is going to ruin the tour”); the unbelievable internet dominance of Haliey Welch (aka the “Hawk Tuah” girl), who is now looking toward Hollywood for further stardom; and, naturally, British pop star Charli XCX’s album Brat, which enveloped the internet with its lime-green aesthetic and viral “Apple” dance. In what timeline would these highly repeatable though admittedly medium-calorie cultural sound bites ever mesh with the seriousness of electoral politics?

In this one, apparently. In the weeks leading up to President Joe Biden’s decision to end his bid for a second presidential term, memes about Vice President Kamala Harris (and the possibility she may be stepping up to the plate) started to circulate, becoming more and more deranged by the day. These included mashups of some of Harris’ more nonsensical though hilarious efforts to explain her fascination with Venn diagrams, as well as her oft-cited mantra of imagining “what can be, unburdened by what has been,” and her admonition “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” They showcased a more lighthearted, folksy side to Harris’ character, which remains somewhat stiff and hard to parse. The dissonance seemed to tap into a vein of Gen Z humor that remains, for most politicians, completely out of reach.

And then the “von dutch brat coconut tree edit” tweet hit—a collection of Harris sound bites, set to a Charli XCX song, with flashes of the signature neon green of the Brat album. For the uninitiated, the synthy beat and attitude of the album, which dropped in June, offered both an aesthetic and a cultural alternative to last summer’s ultra-pink Barbie sensation. It was a musical celebration of caring less and hanging out more. If summer 2023 was all about bubble-gum optimism, this summer is all about nihilism-fueled partying. (As my colleague Scaachi Koul put it: “We’re summering like it’s the end of the world.”) Once internet users latched on to the idea that Harris might be having a “brat summer”—or even that a brat summer fit seamlessly with being “unburdened by what has been”—the meme storm exploded.

Does it make sense? No, not really. The memes have gone bananas and are definitely “unburdened by what has been”; internet dwellers have even started mixing Harris’ “coconut tree” and “You exist in the context” clips into pop hits from earlier decades. Have you ever heard “Gimme More” by Britney Spears ft. Kamala Harris, complete with Harris’ face photoshopped onto the album cover? Well, I have, and it’s hilarious. I don’t quite know why. But please keep the memes coming.

All of this chaos reflects the chaos of the moment, of course. Biden’s decision to step down as Democratic nominee and firmly endorse Kamala Harris sent the United States (and thus the internet) into a tailspin. In just under 24 hours, Harris received broad Democratic endorsement, record-high donations to ActBlue in support of her campaign, and an encouraging nod from the Brat queen herself, Charli XCX. That pseudo-endorsement—of Harris not as a nominee but as a “brat”—instantly became the high-water mark of brat-girl summer. And it led to the inevitable: CNN’s Jake Tapper attempted to explain the tweet (and the surrounding phenomenon) on cable TV.

It’s still unclear what Harris thinks about these brat-summer viral tweets and videos, but her campaign has certainly jumped on the trend. PopCrave reported that Harris has since followed Charli XCX on Instagram and X. Further, the “rebranded” Harris Headquarters X account (Veep reference absolutely intended here) features a banner with “kamala hq” in the Brat album font, complete with Charli’s signature green background. “Providing context,” the bio reads. Is it not slightly fun, maybe even admirable, to see a presidential campaign so immediately embrace a younger generation’s cultural obsession?

That said, it’s always a gamble for a memed figure to lean into their own joke; it can kill the momentum. Remember how viral the “Dark Brandon” meme went after the Biden campaign plastered it on mugs, T-shirts, and even cans of water? No? That’s because it didn’t. The Biden campaign’s snug adoption of the meme suffocated it.

So, I would definitely warn the Harris campaign away from replacing speeches with rousing musical renditions of her coconut-tree bit. But I don’t see a problem with slightly leaning into the zeitgeist of brat summer. After all, the fans are delighted. (“This is worth more than a million dollars of paid media,” wrote D.C. journalist Jasmine Wright on X, in reference to Charli’s “Kamala IS brat” tweet.)

The question remains, however, whether this reinvigorated youth energy about the 2024 election, and Harris’ run specifically, will stick—and translate to votes in November. Will the enthusiasm for Kamala brat summer translate into real Democratic action at the polls? Or will the internet noise merely dissipate, the unquestionably serious stakes of this election surging back to the fore? These are complete unknowns for now, but the energy in the metaphorical (online) room is palpable, and Democrats desperately need to reattract disaffected young voters. After an exhausting post–presidential debate drag of three weeks that has seemed to last three years, it’s a joy to embrace the positive shift in attitude—and of course brat summer too.