What do coconut trees have to do with the US elections?

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”: a philosophical and stimulating question, linked in some places to Marxist dialectics. The speech by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, delivered in May 2023, became a viral meme that captured the public's imagination. With the news of her potential candidacy as a Democratic representative, her message is now a central theme on all social media platforms. But why has a speech like this received such a burst of attention? The answer may lie in the perception of a glimmer of hope for the party to prevail in the upcoming November elections. Harris, nicknamed the "IJBOL (I Just Burst Out Laughing) President" for her surprising and genuine laughter, is trying to gain the support of young voters, who could prove decisive for her presidential ambitions. From the rebranding of the entirely chartreuse campaign even discussed by CNN, to the support via X from Charli XCX herself, it's a brat summer also for Kamala Harris.

The tropical metaphor, which might seem out of context at first glance, manages to encapsulate a deep discourse on the importance of one's roots. On May 10th, 2023, with a genuine smile and her now iconic laughter, Kamala Harris concluded a speech at the Initiative for Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics emphasizing that, as human beings, none of us just simply “landed” on this planet. Harris asserts that we are all a product of the generations that came before us and the environment around us, a reasoning that might seem strange but encourages a broader reflection on human connections. Until April, Harris's words had not attracted much media attention, but they were then picked up by hopecore content creators, becoming a viral phenomenon. Remixes, edits, and comments on social media have turned a philosophical reflection into a symbol of a viral movement, giving new visibility to the politician. With the subsequent announcement of Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Kamala Harris's figure has emerged as a potential symbol of change for the Democratic Party. The visibility gained on social media has helped solidify "Project Coconut", a now-viral campaign that aims to promote Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate and, possibly, as the future President of the United States.

Despite the growing enthusiasm and support from influential political figures such as Biden and the Clinton spouses, the guidelines for selecting the Democratic candidate have not yet been officially defined. Former President Obama has called for an open process at the upcoming National Party Convention scheduled for August. However, in the U.S. ballots must be requested months before the vote, as it is possible to vote both by mail and in person. For this election, the deadline to request it in key states like Ohio and Virginia coincides with the dates of the Convention. For this reason, the Democratic Party will likely want to have a candidate before these dates to persuade voters to cast their ballots.

Although Harris has a good chance of becoming the chosen one, the question remains whether she can truly win. One point in her favor is the youth vote: many Gen Z and Millennial voters had expressed a willingness to abstain or vote independently rather than choosing between Trump and Biden, considering both candidates' advanced age. In the last election, Biden's victory was not due to his campaign or ideals, but rather to the public's view of him as the “lesser of two evils”. A notion that, unfortunately, after his four years in the White House, no longer held, given the strong following - sometimes reminiscent of a religious cult - of Trump, now stronger than before after the recent attack. At the same time, Harris’s potential candidacy has led to a surge in donations to the Democratic Party, which reached 81 million dollars within the first 24 hours of the news. In historically Republican or swing states like Florida and Minnesota, Gen Z has shown increasing enthusiasm for Harris's campaign. The grassroots organization Gen Z For Change, with 1.8M followers on TikTok, has officially endorsed the Vice President, something that did not happen with President Biden’s reelection campaign. If elected, Kamala Harris would also be the first woman of color with Indian and African American roots in U.S. history. It all comes down to providing the right context for voters and maybe managing to fall from the coconut tree into the Oval Office.