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Kamala Harris, coconuts and brat – a new viral campaign

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2024

Kamala Harris, coconuts and brat – a new viral campaign

Getty Images Kamala Harris laughing over a green backdrop

In the days since Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for US president, young people across the US have had a lot to explain.

The increasing popularity of coconut trees. A British pop superstar becoming a sudden American political force. The resurgence of chartreuse green.

Social media was abuzz last Sunday after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and instead endorsed Vice-President Harris. And in the hours that followed, the Harris campaign leaned in to the excitement.

The Biden-Harris campaign Twitter account changed its username to KamalaHQ, using British pop superstar Charli XCX’s apparent endorsement of her as its new (similarly green) banner.

The campaign’s biography on X reads, “providing context”, a reference to much-lampooned remarks made by Ms Harris in May 2023.

While the president’s abrupt exit and Ms Harris’ subsequent rise have injected uncertainty into the election, social media users, particularly young people, have been enthralled. But it’s unclear if the newfound enthusiasm will help engage younger voters, a key group for Democrats in November, and whether the political momentum will continue.

So far, the online flurry has proved fruitful: The campaign has raised more than $100 million in the roughly two days since Mr Biden decided to step aside, it hosted a fundraising call attracting more than 44,000 black women and recruited about 58,000 new volunteers.

Coconuts, brat and the online moments

Republicans have long used video clips of Ms Harris’ verbal slip-ups or awkward interviews against her. But in recent weeks, supporters have used those same clips to paint her as endearing, relatable and candid.

One video features Ms Harris at a White House event sharing an anecdote about 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 said as she laughed. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

But the video – panned by detractors – has been embraced by Harris supporters who now use coconut and palm tree emojis to signal their allegiance on social media.

“When your opponent says something, you just take it and you make it your thing, and then you’ve taken the power away from them,” said Katherine Haenschen, a Northeastern University professor who researches the effect of digital communications on voter turnout.

“Memes matter. Memes are actually a complex way of conveying infomation to people,” she said.

Charli XCX’s apparent endorsement of Ms Harris also fuelled the online frenzy. In the hours after Mr Biden threw his support behind Ms Harris, the singer said “kamala IS brat” in a tweet on X, a reference to the singer’s popular new album.

Ms Haenschen said the term refers to women of contradictions who “can kind of choose their own path and they can kind of set their own agenda”.

The tweet, in turn, was viewed 50 million times by Tuesday afternoon.

David Hogg, a 24-year-old Democratic activist who founded the March for Our Lives Movement after the 2018 mass shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida, shared the post.

“The amount this single tweet may have just done for the youth vote is not insignificant,” Mr Hogg wrote.

It will reach more young people than a million dollar cable advertisement, said Annie Wu Henry, a digital political strategist who has worked on Democratic campaigns.

Of the more than 300 videos the Biden-Harris campaign has put out on TikTok, the three videos released since Mr Biden stepped aside have amassed 20% of the likes on the entire page, according to Ms Henry.

Grassroots enthusiasm

Some experts say the Harris campaign’s social strategy is not unlike former President Barack Obama’s in 2008.

“It’s been a while that we’ve had someone to top the ticket who’s got the pulse of younger voters and is very involved and conversant in popular culture,” said Philip de Vellis, a political advertising consultant who worked on the Obama campaign.

But, Mr de Vellis cautioned, that does not mean it will translate into votes.

While some point out that online political enthusiasm traditionally has been crafted by a campaign then filtered down to voters and social media users, this push for Ms Harris feels more grassroots, Ms Haenschen said.

Mr Obama’s success was result of a grassroots effort, but in a different context. TikTok did not exist and Facebook was just becoming popular outside of college campuses, she said.

Americans want to be part of a Zeitgeist and the Harris campaign, in its current very online iteration, allows them a chance to do that, she said.

The campaign should allow the Harris meme moment to run its course or risk losing steam, Dr Haenschen said.

Will this make a difference in November?

The virality of Ms Harris in this moment allows her to embrace her many identities, according to Rachel Grant, a professor of cultural scholar studies, media activism and social movements at the University of Florida.

Younger voters can find clips of her speaking about something that resonates, like her experience attending Howard University or abortion rights.

For now, the millions Ms Harris raised in a few days has energised voters in a tight election now four months away. Still, the Democrats will have to strike a balance of leaning into the virality and key issues to ensure voter turnout.

“Her campaign shouldn’t be focused on coconuts and context and unburdened and all of that,” Ms Henry, the digital political strategist said. “It should be focused on what she can do for the American people.”

News

Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links

Published

2 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links

Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to give deposition Friday to a congressional committee investigating his links to Jeffrey Epstein, one day after Hillary Clinton testified before the committee and called the proceedings “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people”.

During remarks before the House oversight committee, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, insisted on Thursday that she had never met Epstein.

The former Democratic president, however, flew on Epstein’s private jet several times in the early 2000s but said he never visited his island.

Clinton, who engaged in an extramarital affair while president and has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, also appears in a photo from the recently released files, in a hot tub with Epstein and a woman whose identity is redacted.

Clinton has denied the sexual misconduct claims and was not charged with any crimes. He also has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.

Epstein visited the White House at least 17 times during the early years of Clinton’s presidency, according to White House visitor records cited in news reports. Clinton said he cut ties with him around 2005, before the disgraced financier, who died from suicide in 2019, pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.

The House committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August. They initially refused to testify but agreed after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt.

The Clintons asked for their depositions to be held publicly, with the former president stating that to do so behind closed doors would amount to a “kangaroo court”.

“Let’s stop the games + do this the right way: in a public hearing,” Clinton said on X earlier this month.

The committee’s chair, James Comer, did not grant their request, and the proceedings will be conducted behind closed doors with video to be released later.

On Thursday, Hillary Clinton’s proceedings were briefly halted after representative Lauren Boebert leaked an image of Clinton testifying.

During the full day deposition, Clinton said she had no information about Epstein and did not recall ever meeting him.

Before the deposition, Comer said it would be a long interview and that one with Bill Clinton would be “even longer”.

News

Read Judge Schiltz’s Order

Published

12 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

CASE 0:26-cv-00107-PJS-DLM

Doc. 12-1 Filed 02/26/26

Page 5 of 17

and to file a status update by 11:00 am on January 20. ECF No. 5. Respondents never provided a bond hearing and did not release Petitioner until January 21, ECF Nos. 10, 12, after failing to file an update, ECF No. 9. Further, Respondents released Petitioner subject to conditions despite the Court’s release order not providing for conditions. ECF Nos. 5, 12–13.

Abdi W. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 26-CV-00208 (KMM/SGE)

On January 21, 2026, the Court ordered Respondents, within 3 days, to either (a) complete Petitioner’s inspection and examination and file a notice confirming completion, or (b) release Petitioner immediately in Minnesota and confirm the date, time, and location of release. ECF No. 7. No notice was ever filed. The Court emailed counsel on January 27, 2026, at 10:39 am. No response was provided.

Adriana M.Y.M. v. David Easterwood, et al., Case No. 26-CV-213 (JWB/JFD)

On January 24, 2026, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and ordered Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release, or anticipated release, within 48 hours. ECF No. 12. Respondent was not released until January 30, and Respondents never disclosed the time of release, instead describing it as “early this morning.” ECF No. 16.

Estefany J.S. v. Bondi, Case No. 26-CV-216 (JWB/SGE)

On January 13, 2026, at 10:59 am, the Court ordered Respondents to file a letter by 4:00 pm confirming Petitioner’s current location. ECF No. 8. After receiving no response, the Court ordered Respondents, at 5:11 pm, to immediately confirm Petitioner’s location and, by noon on January 14, file a memorandum explaining their failure to comply with the initial order. ECF No. 9. Respondents did not file the memorandum, requiring the Court to issue another order. ECF No. 12. On January 15, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and required Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release within 48 hours. ECF No. 18. On January 20, having received no confirmation, the Court ordered Respondents to comply immediately. ECF No. 21. Respondents informed the Court that Petitioner was released in Minnesota on January 17, but did not specify the time. ECF No. 22.

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News

Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin

Published

14 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin

James Hickman holds a photo montage of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

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Nam Y. Huh/AP

CHICAGO — A line of mourners streamed through a Chicago auditorium Thursday to pay final respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as cross-country memorial services began in the city the late civil rights leader called home.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84.

The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate will lie in repose for two days at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition before events in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born.

Family members wiped away tears as the casket was brought into the stately brick building. Flowers lined the sidewalks where people waiting to enter watched a large screen playing video excerpts of Jackson’s notable speeches. Some raised their fists in solidarity.

The casket with the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

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Inside, Jackson’s children, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those who stood by the open casket to shake hands and hug those coming to view the body of Jackson, dressed in a suit and blue shirt and tie.

“The challenge for us is that we’ve got to make sure that all he lived for was not in vain,” Sharpton told reporters. “Dr. King’s dream and Jesse Jackson’s mission now falls on our shoulders. We’ve got to stand up and keep it going.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks as Jesse Jackson Jr. listens after the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

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Jackson died last week at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.

Remembrances have already poured in from around the globe, and several U.S. states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, are flying flags at half-staff in his honor.

But perhaps nowhere has his death been felt as strongly as in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.

Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home on the city’s South Side for days. Public schools have offered condolences, and city trains have used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra, “I am Somebody!”

People wait to enter the security checkpoint for the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

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His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.

Family members stand in front of a portrait of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

How the Rev. Jesse Jackson transformed American politics

“We honor him, and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher, and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” the mayor said in a statement.

Next week, Jackson will lie in honor at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services. According to Rainbow PUSH’s agenda, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to deliver remarks; however, the governor’s office said Thursday that his participation wasn’t yet confirmed. Jackson spent his childhood and started his activism in South Carolina.

Details on services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.

The two weeks of events will wrap up next week with a large celebration of life gathering at a Chicago megachurch and finally, homegoing services at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Family members said the services will be open to all.

“Our family is overwhelmed and overjoyed by the amazing amount of support being offered by common, ordinary people who our father’s life has come into contact with,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said before the services began. “This is a unique opportunity to lay down some of the political rhetoric and to lay down some of the division that deeply divides our country and to reflect upon a man who brought people together.”

The family of the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives as Yusep Jackson wipes his eyes before public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

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The services included prayers from some of the city’s most well-known religious leaders, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Mourners of all ages — from toddlers in strollers to elderly people in wheelchairs — came to pay respects.

Video clips of his appearances at news conferences, the campaign trail and even “Sesame Street” also played inside the auditorium.

Claudette Redic, a retiree who lives in Chicago, said her family has respected Jackson, from backing his presidential ambitions to her son getting a scholarship from a program Jackson championed.

“We have generations of support,” she said. “I’m hoping we continue.”