President Joe Biden delivered an embarrassingly bad debate performance last week that’s sent Democrats into a panic about whether the 81-year-old should be replaced with a new candidate. Any change this late in the campaign would be tricky and fraught with risk, but one person has emerged as the most likely replacement. And the internet has lit up with memes about her as our only hope to fight off fascism.
Kamala Harris, like all vice presidents, hasn’t gotten much attention as Biden’s second in command. But ever since the president’s debate with Trump last week, her poll numbers have improved and she’s actually doing better than Biden among likely voters, according to CNN. And since most normal Americans realize another Trump presidency would effectively be the end of U.S.-style democracy, even the most unlikely Harris supporters are rallying behind her online.
“Ironic khive posting is unironically the most energized the twitter Dem electorate has been in about a year and I think there’s probably something optimistic in that,” author Kelly Weill wrote on X Tuesday.
“Call yourself ‘coconut-pilled’ or whatever. declare yrself a context fan. we might actually twet thru this one,” Weill continued.
And that’s exactly what people are doing on social media. We’ve compiled memes that have been circulating on X and TikTok over the past couple of days. Many of the jokes are references to the time Harris told a story from her childhood about her mom discussing a coconut tree. Others refer to “Momala,” or the way she laughs.
There are also frequent references to the KHive, the online community of Harris fans who first emerged during the Democratic primaries of 2020 and is a play on Beyoncé Beyhive. The KHive was widely considered cringe, but it’s precisely that kind of cringe that has inspired the genuinely supportive memes that are now getting so popular.
And even though the internet is filled with jokes, everyone seems to understand the stakes. Just yesterday the president of the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation appeared on the far-right Real America’s Voice network and threatened violence against his political enemies.
“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Kevin Roberts, the foundation’s president, said.
Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling: “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be” https://t.co/ndMJlNlUKH
— Media Matters (@mmfa) July 3, 2024
We joke now, but if Trump becomes president again no decent person is going to be laughing. Help us, Momala. You’re our only hope.
Side by side
— ꧁ R I L E Y ꧂ (🥥🌴 Era) (@RileyTX) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
The Meme-trix
“You take the malarkey pill, you stay up in Biden-land and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the coconut pill… and I show you how deep the context goes” pic.twitter.com/Jar6fGMycM
— Michael (@having__trouble) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Malarkey
Malarkey leaving my body after I get coconut pilled pic.twitter.com/AGb4evMesO
— black (@NoirGod_) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
An apology
— Jordan – KHIVE’s strongest soldier (@SLCLunk) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Mr. Gorbachev….
“mr. gorbachev, tear down this coconut tree!” pic.twitter.com/2ZvmfuUWL0
— gregor samsung 𖢥 (@slimjosa) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Livin that life
why did I stay up till 3am making a von dutch brat coconut tree edit featuring kamala harris and why can’t I stop watching it on repeat pic.twitter.com/hqcmerD1Pb
— ryan (@ryanlong03) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Coconut tree summer
Coconut tree summer pic.twitter.com/6w1wLpkbNX
— Who Ossé (@OsseChi) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
That coconut stare
— beer person (@CantEverDie) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
The Devil Wears Coconuts
Did you fall out of the coconut tree and smack your little head on the context of all in which you live and what came before you? pic.twitter.com/3a9kGhgPSz
— Tom Zohar (@TomZohar) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
The fight against fascism makes strange allies
Bernie bros & K-hive uniting to save democracy & the world pic.twitter.com/mk4wh9KOqR
— Leftward Bound 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 (@LeftwardBound) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
You’re such a Samantha
“And as the Democratic base was rapidly losing confidence in Joe Biden I had to wonder….was I…coconut pilled?” pic.twitter.com/4kDPUegBUp
— meredith 🍉 (@merrycat45) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
I was jealous of her xaned out demeanor
Someone posted this on their insta story I’m dead pic.twitter.com/FFB2FKb1C8
— umichvoter 🏳️🌈 (@umichvoter) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
For the history books
Coined during the 16 year reign of President Kamala, a “Coconut Republic” is a democracy that exists within the context of all in which it lives and all that came before it
— Adso Of Belk 🧃 (@AdsoOfBelk) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Hot damn
chief of staff: madam President, very good news. You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.
Kamala Harris [ munching kerrygold block of unburned by what has been ]: hot damn. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Born to fall
Born to fall out of a coconut tree, forced to live in the context
— Daniel (@growing_daniel) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Chaos
— Political science B.A. (@InternetHippo) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Bernie Bros get coconut-pilled
What a Harris/Sanders ticket would look like: pic.twitter.com/qsLh5O2yMb
— jordan (@JordanUhl) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
dry
— P.E. Moskowitz (@_pem_pem) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Freedom
Me, shedding my toxic Bernie Bro baggage and embracing the warmth of Momala’s embrace beneath the coconut tree pic.twitter.com/uOTC37mNe4
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Operation Coconut Tree
Kamala… Execute Operation Coconut Tree… We need you
— Stylianos Karolidis 💻⚡ (@stylianos_k) June 28, 2024
Via Twitter
Both pills
— sophie (@netcapgirl) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
That’s cinema
even falling out of a coconut tree feels good in a place like this pic.twitter.com/qnSNI49lEH
— francis wolf (@francisxwolf) July 3, 2024
Via Twitter
Lock him up
Unironically this is a winning theory for a Harris presidential run pic.twitter.com/0nD7J09VRB
— Joey Mauro (@JoeyMauro1) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Let’s go
I am joining the K-Hive and falling out of the coconut tree pic.twitter.com/z9zoRGlbH8
— Kristi Yamaguccimane (@TheWapplehouse) July 2, 2024
Via Twitter
Reason for behavior
