In the midst of a heated presidential election, political memes provided moments of levity — and frustration — for voters.
The presidential candidates and their running mates tried to use social media to their advantage as they attempted to go viral — for the right reasons — every chance they got. Here are five meme-worthy moments from 2024.
Coconut-pile and ‘BRAT’
Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t win the presidential election but created a stir online even before she entered the presidential race after replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
A viral clip from her speech from May 10, 2023, began circulating in February 2024. In the clip, Harris advises a room full of commissioners during a swearing-in ceremony to consider the cultural context when addressing the needs of young people.
Referring to the late Shyamala Gopalan, Harris said, “My mother … would give us a hard time sometimes, and 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?’”
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” Harris said.
In June 2024, amid the speculation that President Joe Biden would step aside, her supporters, and an online community that called itself the #KHive, created the term “coconut-pilled” to indicate their support. They reclaimed the viral clip that Republicans mocked for being clumsily worded and turned it into an ambiguous, humorous and central part of her presidential campaign.
Memes taking snippets of phrases from Harris’ speech flooded online. Of course, Charlie XCX’s “BRAT” album also got linked to the Harris campaign, as videos of coconut trees and Harris with neon green filters appeared online.
In case, you’re wondering, yes, Harris knows about the memes.
‘Childless cat ladies’
In the weeks after President-elect Donald Trump picked Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, videos of Vance’s comments related to “childless cat ladies” went viral online.
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, with Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. | Matt Rourke
In the 2021 interview, Vance tells then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the U.S. government is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Calling out Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vance added, “The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
He then asked, “And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
The Harris campaign, again, attempted to own the criticism and a broad coalition of supporters — including pop star sensation Taylor Swift — wore “childless cat ladies” tags in proud support of Harris. Her campaign began minting pins and mugs with Vance’s phrase in no time.
Trump’s dance moves
At Trump rallies across the country during the presidential campaign, the president-elect would break out his signature dance moves to the song Y.M.C.A., sparking many social media memes and copycats.
The “Trump dance” has popped up in the end zone at NFL games, at a country music concert, and at a UFC match.
Biden’s eye-popping reaction to MTG
Ahead of delivering the State of the Union address in 2024, President Joe Biden came face-to-face with a member of the House of Representatives who he typically disagrees with — Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. In a room full of black and blue suites, Greene wearing a red MAGA hat, paired with a red suit jacket, greeted Biden.
The president was taken aback, and his eye-popping reaction made the rounds on social media.
Trump in the garbage truck and at McDonald’s
In November, Trump held a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden and invited big names like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson to warm up the crowd ahead of his remarks.
But it was comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rican that earned the most attention and criticism online.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said, among other controversial remarks about Latinos, Jewish and Black people.
The Trump campaign attempted to distance itself from the joke, but then Biden turned the spotlight on himself by calling Trump’s supporters “garbage.”
Biden tried to correct his gaffe, saying he was responding to the “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico.”
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
Next thing you know, Trump is wearing an orange and yellow safety vest and sitting in a garbage truck. “This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” he said.
Trump’s attempt to troll Harris didn’t stop there. He also took on a shift a McDonald’s — he wore an apron and worked as a fry attendant. Both of the stunts went viral.
