In part one, we laid out Kamala Harris’ backstory—and where she stands in the presidential race. In part two, we will look at the Big Qs that will determine Harris’ fate. Is she black enough? Is she American enough? Is she likeable enough? Also: How the eff is Donald winning?
About the lead image: In keeping with Kamala Harris’ newfound memeability, this edited image features the Vice President apparently holding up a vinyl of Charli XCX’s new album ‘Brat’ for the viewer to see. You can have a go yourself—this X thread and Reddit post offer colourful examples.
Is she Black enough?
Harris has always been impatient with questions about her biracial identity—telling an interviewer back in 2020: “I’ve never had an identity crisis. I guess the frustration I have is that people think I should have gone through such a crisis and need to explain it, but I didn’t.” And she’s been upfront about the fact that she was raised as a Black kid—by her Indian mother. But other people haven’t always known what to make of her—including Black people.
Black votes matter: Since 1994, 83% to 86% of all Black voters have identified with the Democratic Party. It is near-impossible for any Democratic candidate to win the White House without sweeping the Black vote. Scoring a comfortable majority isn’t good enough.
They were critical in winning Barack Obama the Democratic nomination—when they deserted the Hillary Clinton camp in droves. Black Democrats were just as critical in handing Joe Biden the nomination in 2019—and taking it away from Harris:
In her first presidential campaign, Ms. Harris’s popularity with Black voters surged early and outpaced her support among white voters. But that bump didn’t last. And among Black voters, she soon fell far behind Democratic candidates like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Biden went to win 92% of the Black vote—and the White House.
Ironic point to note: According to his confidantes, it was one of the most important reasons why Biden picked Harris as his running mate:
I think he came to the conclusion that he should pick a Black woman. They are our most loyal voters and I think that the Black women of America deserved a Black vice-presidential candidate.
OTOH, when Harris felt she lost out because “it just feels like your blackness is always being put on trial.”
We pick Kamala: This time, the Black voter is far more excited about Kamala—than Biden. Before he stepped down, Trump had started to chip away at Biden’s base—especially Black men—raising Trump’s numbers to 15%. Among Black men, the number was as high as 30%. That kind of drop would have almost certainly lost Biden swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
So is she Black enough? In 2024, the answer is a resounding yes. Since she announced her candidacy, Black women and Black men have together raised $3.3 million for her campaign. Also this: “Black voters in April or June who split 70% for Biden to 23% for Trump in previous polling, now break 78% for Harris to 15% for Trump.”
This was Kamala 2020: “Some people are saying, Kamala feels like an outsider, talking to voters, particularly Black women voters. It’s like she’s not one of us.” This was the sentiment at the Black men for Kamala fundraiser:
Let’s protect Kamala. Let’s be with her like she was there for us. We are going to disagree a lot. But let’s put the petty bickering aside. Let’s stand up and be the Black men who change this country. We built this country. I’m rocking with Kamala.
Point to note: Harris has never hidden—or disowned—her Indian heritage—and speaks fondly of her Chennai grandparents. It’s just not core to her political campaign. OTOH, there’s no sign of Indians for the Kamala fundraiser either. In 2020, they split their donations between Harris, Tulsi Gabbard and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
Is she American enough?
Despite having a white mother—and being raised by white grandparents—Obama was hounded by ‘birthers’—who claimed he wasn’t born in America. Harris’ handicaps are even more significant. She is the child of two immigrants—neither of them natural-born Americans. Neither of them white.
Donald Trump has already played the birther card against Harris—as Biden’s running mate back in 2020. It didn’t gain traction then—and is unlikely to do so now. That’s why he’s called her every name in the book—“terrible,” “nasty” and a “radical, left lunatic”—but not a foreigner… at least, not yet. But if the Republicans go after Harris as soft on immigration—her roots are guaranteed to become an issue.
Is she ‘likeable’ enough?
The Hillary problem: More than her politics, Hillary Clinton was attacked for her personality (as women often are). At the Democratic primary debate, she was asked about voters who are “hesitating on the likability issue, where they seem to like Barack Obama more?” Then this happened:
Clinton: Well, that hurts my feelings.
Moderator: I’m sorry, senator, I’m sorry.
Clinton: But I’ll try to go on. He’s very likeable. I agree with that. I don’t think I’m that bad.
Obama: You’re likeable enough, Hillary.
It’s hard enough to be a woman candidate. It’s even harder when you’re an ‘unlikeable’ woman candidate.
Where’s the rizz? During her first presidential bid—and as vice president—Harris was also criticised for not being ‘likeable enough’—though mostly for being a boring cipher:
In nearly three years in office, Harris has stood dutifully by Biden’s side. But in terms of her own political profile, she has remained a vacuum of negative space, a vessel for supporters and detractors to fill as they choose, not least because she refuses to do so herself.
Like Gertrude Stein famously said of Harris’ hometown—Oakland—‘there’s no there there’. By 2023, there were innumerable op-eds suggesting Biden drop her from the ticket.
Say hello to Kamala the meme: Turns out being an empty vessel has its advantages. This time around, her supporters came shooting out of the block—armed with the ultimate weapon: Gen Z love. Every trait mocked by Trump has since become an endearing edit. After being invisible for four long years, America was reintroduced to Harris… as a happy meme!
In the hands of her online fans, Harris’s word salad has been replated as hypnotic internet speak. Her confounding coconut tree quote — “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” she went on to say — now circulates as a symbol of the giddy high produced by her dizzy rise in a destabilized campaign. Her dance moves have been set to Charli XCX songs and filtered through Charli’s lime-green “Brat”-era branding, bathing Harris in her chill hot-mess pop star glow. Even “Kamala Harris is a cop” has been reclaimed, with an exaggerated wink, by supporters eager to fashion it into a winning general-election pitch.
No one is talking about what this new Kamala will do. It’s all about how she makes Democrats feel: a “euphoric giddiness”—reflected in edits like this:
Harris isn’t ‘likeable enough’. She’s your “Xanned out aunt”—or more recently, brat—having a jolly good time. Who doesn’t want that after eight years of angry old white men? Or as one tweet summed it up:
I’m all in on President Kamala. We need a Gemini Rising woman President from California who is on pills+wine, is campy, and didn’t get married until she was middle aged because she was too busy being a 365 party girlboss. Who cares if she’s weird? At least she’s not a felon or 80.
Data point to note: As of yesterday, the percentage of people who view her favourably jumped from 35% to 43%. Trump’s numbers went from 40% to 36%. More Dems are enthusiastic about their candidate—88%—than Republicans are about Trump (82%).
But, but, but: Can she beat Trump?
Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who is the memeable of them all? Is that what the US presidential race has become? Billionaire Democrat Mark Cuban offered this prescient take—just before Biden exited the race:
This seems to be a race where everyone’s frame of reference is influenced more by the narratives delivered by the algorithms we consume than the actual events themselves… A candidacy that is expert at online algorithms and video production could win, if the candidate is personable enough… If they can receive hundreds of millions of views on each platform that sells the candidate as the best choice, while entertaining viewers.
That’s pretty much how Harris is winning—at least for now.
A TikTok marathon: The internet feeds on novelty. Harris may lose hers by November. All that TikTok love doesn’t mean the kids will vote on Election Day. Also: she is up against a man who has captured and held the public’s attention for decades:
Whatever you think of Mr. Trump, he’s been around long enough and done enough that his followers buy into his charisma and vision. Democrats are evidently true believers in Ms. Harris, though she’s given them little to believe in. Time will tell if she has the personality to match the cult.
Donald is the emperor of memes—his supporters ready to spin his every appalling flaw into a triumph of machismo. Like so:
James Poniewozik in the New York Times famously argued:
Try to understand Donald Trump as a person with psychology and strategy and motivation, and you will inevitably spiral into confusion and covfefe. The key is to remember that Donald Trump is not a person. He’s a TV character.
He is also a funny character–which is another reason moral outrage rarely damages him. A good example: This negative meme comparing Trump with Obama:
That doesn’t insult or upset Trump supporters. It makes them laugh.
But, but, but: There’s always JD Vance. Trump’s running mate has proved highly meme-able in all the wrong ways. He may be the first politician in the world to endure a PR crisis over fake allegations that he had sex with a couch?! It also speaks to how memes work in politics today. They don’t have to be true–to either make or break you. OTOH, the memes are priceless:)
The bottomline: Can Kamala win this election? Sure. But how she wins it may be far more important for the rest of the world:
Harris has now filled a most unlikely role: a Democratic presidential nominee who’s entertaining to watch, even if you don’t agree with everything she stands for… This, ultimately, is the power of memeability, or the talent of a candidate to transcend politics and become a legible cultural brand.
That’s good for Harris—and probably for TikTok. But is it good for democracy?
Reading list
New York Times, Washington Post (splainer gift link), The Guardian and Vox all have interesting takes on the meme-ification and memeability of Kamala Harris as a potential POTUS. Politico offers detailed reporting on Trump’s struggles to find a consistently effective criticism of Kamala. To understand Mark Cuban’s argument on social media algorithms determining electoral narratives, check out The Hill.
