At one point during her run for office, Kamala Harris appeared to be enjoying some degree of popularity amongst younger demographics. A passing trend, one could say, centered around the comparison to coconut trees. Addressing a group of community leaders, Harris recalled this transient enthusiasm, advising, ‘Remember the context in which you exist.’ Interestingly enough, this was her attempt at seeming relatable by referring back to a 2023 speech that touched on mild ridicule from her mother, being compared to youth who might have just ‘fall out of a coconut tree’.
According to Harris, this bizarre analogy was aimed at reminding the young generation of their roots and teaching them to acknowledge their pasts to understand their present. This quip had gained enough traction to become a meme, and for some Democrats, it became a comical beacon of hope, needing fresh energy as their faith in Joe Biden waned. However, social media trends don’t equate to votes and Harris soon learnt this lesson the hard way.
As her campaign advanced, the initial flurry of support among young voters seemed to diminish significantly, reflecting in her poll standings. These figures brought a harsh truth to the forefront for Democrats. Despite Harris advocating for topics pertinent to the youth, such as gun violence prevention, women’s rights, and climate reality, and indeed performing well among voters under 30 nationwide, she couldn’t match up to Donald Trump’s reach.
Surprisingly, Trump managed to make significant inroads among young voters, utilizing online platforms and direct interviews to reach his audience. However, in her previous address, Harris conveniently chose to overlook her declining popularity with young voters, preferring to lean on old platitudes of perseverance.
She made vague statements like ‘I’ve heard from people who’ve reached the point of exhaustion, even resignation. People unsure about the energy or even the wish to stay in the fight; ‘But let’s be clear here: retreat is not an option’, Harris urged. Yet, the question remains, stay in the fight for what? And is it really a fight when the enemy appears to be just another version of the existing failing administration?
A few of the young organizers involved in her early campaign buzz found something sentimental in Harris’s way of recollecting the meme during her speech. They believed that speaking of the past could guide them in planning the future – a notion that seems somewhat ironic considering the failed campaign trail.
One observer opined, albeit with misplaced optimism, ‘While the coconut tree line was turned into a joke and created laughter, it also brought joy and eagerness to people. These emotions can and should still be present,’ she claimed. Is the emotional hook of a meme really the foundation of a political platform now? If this was indeed the plan, it clearly didn’t work out as intended.
A different onlooker remarked that Harris’ speech reminded her of the version of the Vice President she initially supported. She claimed, ‘Self-aware, fun, and inspiring, that’s the Kamala Harris I was enthusiastic for.’ This raises another point to consider. Didn’t Harris initially stand as a beacon of hope for the Democrats? And yet, by choosing to stand with Biden, hasn’t she fundamentally compromised those standards?
Harris, who cannot or will not face her defeat with younger voters, uses words that no longer match the reality. She seems to be joking about her own failure when one considers her bravado in the face of such blatant rejection from the very youth she tried so desperately to engage and inspire.
Once upon a time, Harris had a youthful fan base, amplifying her every word, turning it into sound bites and memes. Today, the same demographic seems disillusioned, leaving us to speculate whether it was Harris’s political stance that wavered or whether the youth simply grew wise to overplayed political games.
The crumbling of her young supporters’ faith is a clear indicator of the Harris-Biden team’s inefficiency. While they were busy playing with memes and trying to create a faux rapport with the youth, Trump was actively engaging with them, conveying his plan, and making significant inroads into that demographic.
Leaning quite heavily on the often passe rhetoric of ‘staying the course’ and ‘resilience’, the Vice President seems to be missing the point. Today’s overwhelmingly informed and engaged youth are seeking more than just platitudes; they’re seeking action.
Indeed, one must wonder if the recollection of her ‘coconut tree’ comment is a sign of nostalgia for a time when the nation’s youth seemed to be in her palm, if only through meme culture. Unfortunately for her, being distilled down to a mere digital joke isn’t equivalent to breeding loyalty among voters, particularly the discerning youth.
In reality, the Harris-Biden association is a challenging and questionable one. Their political strategies oscillate between missing the mark and utterly misunderstanding their audiences. It’s clear that their connectivity to the youth is frail, and Harris’s fixation on a recycled meme merely underlines this.
Harris’s attempted use of the meme to conjure up some emotional resonance with her dwindling young supporters illustrates a desperate attempt to clutch at straws. What it inadvertently does is offer an insight into how out of touch the Biden-Harris team is with modern-day political necessities.
The overall narrative depicts a clear divergence between the claimed self-aware, humorous, and inspiring version of Kamala Harris and the disappointing reality. It underlines the Biden-Harris duo’s crumbling credibility, especially amongst the youth demographic who are subsequently left questioning their previous support.