From coconut trees to a fascination with Venn diagrams, Kamala Harris has become subject to memes

Kamala Harris is notorious for gaffes and “word salad” speeches — and the internet is turning her old clips into viral memes.

Vice President Kamala Harris has endured considerable ridicule over the years due to her frequent word salads, memorable sound bites, and moments of ill-timed laughter.

And now, after becoming the Democratic frontrunner for the 2024 election, Ms Harris’s series of blunders in interviews, press conferences and even in statements, have become the centre of attention once again.

From her confusing love of being “unburdened by what has been,” to her tales of falling out of coconut trees and fascination with Venn diagrams, the 59-year-old has not only become fodder for social media ridicule but also inspired late-night TV sketches.
Here are some of the vice president’s most embarrassing moments.

BEING ‘UNBURDENED’

A phrase often repeated by Ms Harris, “What can be, unburdened by what has been”, has become a rallying cry, even after being subject to mockery.

“I can imagine what can be, and be unburdened by what has been,” she had said repeatedly, often with a knowing smile — with one compilation of her saying it over the years stretching out to four minutes.

Another mashup features her solemnly repeating the perplexing line more than 20 times, leaving many commentators still puzzled about its exact meaning.

Some critics have asked, “Can we just be unburdened from her?” — while others have mocked her for being “unburdened by complacency.”

VENN DIAGRAMS

Her strange obsession for Venn diagrams has also provided plenty of amusing content.

“I love Venn diagrams. I really do, I love Venn diagrams. It’s just something about those three circles and the analysis about where there is the intersection, right?” Ms Harris once gushed in a viral clip that first surfaced in October 2022.

Kamala Harris: “I love Venn diagrams, I really do, I love Venn diagrams, it’s just something about those three circles and the analysis about where there is the intersection” pic.twitter.com/AvOJyx2zXm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 28, 2022

Ms Harris has repeatedly insisted that Venn logic is her favourite method to deal with conflict.

She even expressed her admiration for the tool once more in February 2023, revealing at a White House event that she routinely asks aides if they have one available.

“I love Venn diagrams,” she said. “Always ask, ‘Is there a Venn diagram for this?’ I’m telling you, it’s fascinating when you do. So, Venn diagram, those three circles, right?”

Her 2024 campaign is now trying to capitalise on the strange obsession, with the Kamala HQ X account tweeting out an image declaring the need for “Holding Trump accountable.”

pic.twitter.com/eddaAKJ8s6

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 22, 2024

THE COCONUT TREE

Harris and her team have successfully embraced a particularly meme-worthy remark she made while in office: the coconut tree.

It refers back to a speech Ms Harris delivered in May 2023 when she was swearing in commissioners for the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.

During the speech, she tried to explain the need to invest in the next generation of Americans — bringing up a quote her mother used to say to her regarding how something doesn’t exist without a predecessor.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people, you think you just fell out of a coconut tree,” Harris said midway through — breaking into a wild cackle. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what you came before you.”

Madam Vice President, we are ready to help. pic.twitter.com/y8baSx44FL

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) July 22, 2024

And after Ms Harris was endorsed as the next presidential candidate, the meme resurfaced and went viral again.

Even her party has gotten the meme memo, with many Democrats using coconut tree emojis in their endorsement posts for her.

Her campaign is also capitalising on memes created about her.

Her Instagram bio has, “Providing context,” in reference to the coconut tree memes that erupted on social media after her speech.

A CACKLING LAUGH

One of Ms Harris’ cherished Venn diagrams would reveal a common element in many of her meme-worthy moments: her infamous laugh.

Her uncontrollable laughter, often at inappropriate times, has made her a frequent subject of memes. Libs of TikTok even posted a two-minute-long compilation of her roaring with laughter.

The vice president has had mixed reactions to her awkward laughter during interviews and events over the years.

CLAPPING ALONG

In March 2024, a smiling Ms Harris was caught on camera innocently clapping along as a man began singing in Spanish outside a community centre in Puerto Rico — only realising what he was singing after being informed.

She had ventured into a courtyard after her visit to the Goyoco community centre in San Juan when the protester broke into song in Spanish.

“We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know,” the man sang. “The vice president is here making history. We want to know what she thinks of the colony.”

“Long live Free Palestine and Haiti, too,” he added — with Ms Harris’ huge grin and eager clapping only stopping after an aide appeared to inform her of the lyrics.

Kamala Harris applauds during a tour of the Goyco Community Center Puerto Rico, before she realised what they were saying. Picture: AFP

WHEELS ON THE BUS

Videos of Harris singing “The Wheels on the Bus” nursery rhyme with a completely different melody have surfaced multiple times over the years.

The initial footage, captured during the 2020 campaign, showed a cheerful Ms Harris approaching her campaign bus, exclaiming, “I love it.”

She then belted out the lyrics “The wheels on the bus go round and round” before erupting into laughter.

Similarly, Ms Harris drew renewed ridicule in late 2022 when she expressed affection for “yellow school buses” during a visit to Seattle to promote electric school vehicles.

“Who doesn’t love a yellow school bus, right? Can you raise your hand if you love a yellow school bus? Many of us went to school on the yellow school bus, right? It’s part of our experience growing up,” she said.

“It’s part of a nostalgia, a memory of the excitement and joy of going to school to be with your favourite teacher, to be with your best friends and to learn. The school bus takes us there.”

WORD SALAD

Ms Harris has been mocked for her frequent word salads during various public events and interviews over the years.

She drew mockery for an incoherent phrase she uttered at a music festival in New Orleans in July 2023 when she gave a repetitive definition of the word “culture” — before breaking into her trademark laugh.

“Culture is — it is a reflection of our moment in our time, right? And in present culture is the way we express how we’re feeling about the moment,” she said.

Just months earlier, the vice president spoke at a White House event for Women’s History Month in March 2023 to “honour the women who made history throughout history.”

Later, in December 2023, she faced mockery once more for stumbling over her words during an MSNBC interview, declaring the 2024 race for the White House as “the most important election of our lifetime.”

Ms Harris had another puzzling “moment” in April 2023 when she addressed an abortion rights rally at Howard University.

“So, I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders, for us at every moment in time — and certainly this one — to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualise it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future,” she told the crowd.

Even “The Daily Show” poked fun at her unintelligible outbursts, pretending in a skit that Ms Harris was trained by a “holistic thought adviser” named Dahlia Rose Hibiscus to “speak without thinking.”

“Words have vibrations. The feeling that they give you is so much more powerful than what they mean,” the pretend coach quipped of Ms Harris’ often confusing statements.

Originally published as From coconut trees to a fascination with Venn diagrams, Kamala Harris has become subject to memes