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What is the Kamala Harris coconut tree meme? Explaining the vice-president’s viral quote
A viral quote by US vice-president Kamala Harris, who is seemingly the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, has been taking the internet by storm.
An eye-catching quote by Kamala Harris is once more going viral on social media, as the US vice-president seemingly leads the race to become the Democratic nominee for this year’s presidential election.
Harris backed as Biden pulls out
Joe Biden has endorsed Harris as the Democrats’ potential opponent to Republican Donald Trump in November’s ballot, after the US president on Sunday stepped aside as the party’s presumptive nominee. Biden, 81, announced his decision to withdraw amid overwhelming pressure from fellow Democrats, who had become increasingly concerned over the aging president’s fitness to run.
At the time of writing, Harris had been endorsed by nearly 200 congressional Democrats, per a Washington Post tally. Among those to back the 59-year-old are individuals who had been viewed as potential alternative Democratic nominees, including California governor Gavin Newsom and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.
Harris has also been endorsed by major Democratic figures such as former president Bill Clinton and his wife, ex-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who was the party’s presidential nominee in 2016.
The identity of the Democrats’ candidate for the 2024 election will be confirmed at this summer’s Democratic National Convention, which is due to take place in Chicago in mid-August.
“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”
As calls have grown for Harris to replace Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, and in the wake of the president’s announcement this weekend, supporters of the former senator from California have been expressing their backing for her by posting on social media about… coconuts and coconut trees.
What’s that all about?
It stems from a speech Harris gave in May last year, during a swearing-in ceremony for commissioners of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
Stressing that the programme not only needed to focus on “young leaders and young people”, but also the needs of “their parents and their grandparents and their teachers and their communities”, Harris said: “None of us just live in a silo. Everything is in context.” Doubling down on her point, a loudly-chuckling Harris added: “My mother used to - she 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.”
“Coconut tree” line takes internet by storm
Given the striking nature of the “coconut tree” line, and the exuberant manner in which Harris delivered it, it quickly spread across social media last spring - and became the subject of a wealth of internet memes and musical remixes. For example, it has been worked into a song by the pop icon Britney Spears.
Over the past month, since pressure on Biden started to grow after his poor debate performance against Trump, Harris’s quote has gained renewed traction online. NPR notes that Google searches for “coconut tree” began rising early this month.
“Operation Coconut Tree”
References to coconuts and coconut trees have been used by Harris backers as a light-hearted symbol of their support for the vice-president. Notably, the effort to secure her nomination as the Democratic candidate in Biden’s stead has become widely known as “Operation Coconut Tree”.
And after the president confirmed his withdrawal on Sunday, pro-Harris Democratic politicians have been busy harnessing the coconut tree meme in social-media posts.
Colorado governor Jared Polis published an emojis-only message on X that consisted of a coconut, a palm tree and the US flag, before including the images on a statement that read: “I am thrilled to support Vice President Harris - Kamala has a vision of hope and a future we all can believe in.”
Meanwhile, Brian Schatz, a US senator from Hawaii, took to X to post a photo of himself climbing a coconut tree, with the message: “Madam Vice President, we are ready to help.” He added in a statement: “I strongly endorse Kamala Harris’ candidacy for president [...]. Having worked with the vice president both during her time in the Senate & in the Biden-Harris administration, I’m confident that she has what it takes to beat Donald Trump.”