The one thing Kamala Harris must not do is embrace the memes (2024)

They've already started to try to capitalize on the memes — a little: The Harris presidential campaign's official TikTok account posted Charli XCX's Sunday tweet that said: "Kamala is brat." The Kamala HQ bio also reads "ready to provide context," which is a reference to another Harris-related meme.

(If the coconut and brat references don't make sense to you, a brief explanation: Brat is a reference to Charli XCX's latest album, which has a girls-just-wanna-have-judgment-free-fun vibe. Saying something is "brat" is meant as a compliment in this case. And the "coconut" and "context" references refer to a clip of Harris retelling an anecdote her mother told her when she said, "Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?")

In all of these memes, the ratio of love to irony is difficult to parse — and if you're confused, don't worry; it's not just you.

Still, right now, the memes are flowing, and there's an organic buoyancy and joy to the coconut- and lime-green Charli XCX-themed posts.

Other politicians are getting in on it, too. Sen. Bryan Schatz of Hawaii posted a photo late Sunday of himself climbing a coconut tree.

For now, these subtle and immediate reactions haven't blown it (yet).

The Harris campaign and its supporters would miss a big opportunity if they completely ignored the organic internet buzz coming from some young voters. But leaning in much harder might backfire.

We saw how a viral moment can go flat with "Dark Brandon" — a meme that started as a joke about Joe Biden being secretly good at his job —a counter to the MAGA memes about Trump. But at some point, the Biden administration latched onto this meme and ran with it themselves. They killed it.

For The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel wrote about the "coconut-pilled" #KHive memedom and how it's a tactical moment:

… The semi-ironic "coconut-pilling" of leftists on X and TikTok reveals a larger opportunity for Democrats with Biden out of the race. Not only has the Trump campaign lost its most salient line of attack (that Biden is old and unfit for office), but it's now forced to compete for attention against a candidate who, should she become the nominee, can easily attract it in droves. Harris may not be extremely online herself—she lacks the genuine social-media prowess of somebody like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—but her age and vibrancy are still advantages online. Whereas the Biden campaign's Dark Brandon memes felt forced, Harris's efforts are likely to appear more authentic, maybe even fun.

The worst thing that could happen to the coconut-pilled momentum would be if Kamala Harris tweeted, "Let's work it out on the remix" —a reference to a track on the "brat" album — or a coconut emoji.

That would kill the vibes along the lines of one of the most cringe-worthy moments of Hillary Clinton's 2016 online strategy when she attempted to ride the internet zeitgeist.

Even still today, the chorus of Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" triggers a Pavlovian response of loathing and disgust among young liberals as a relic of the maximum millennial cringe.

Katy Perry, who performed at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, has found herself stuck in the millennial girlboss tarpits with her latest female-power-anthem single for these same reasons.

Corniness and cringe lurk around every corner. Sometimes, time is the only factor needed: Internet excitement ages like milk.

Of course, politics isn't the only sphere where leaning into memes can be cringe.

The mid-2010s trend of big brands like Dennys or Arby's leaning into internet trend memespeak was charming at first but eventually met a backlash.

For now, there's a moment of playfulness and fun with the organically occurring Harris fan posts. Some of it is genuine enthusiasm about the candidate, some of it is nihilistic irony, and some is a little of both.

Memes are, by nature, like weeds — growing best when uncultivated. If the Harris campaign wants to let this internet goodwill keep flowing, it should be very cautious not to overwater the seeds.