Meanwhile, the gay guys of New York City, who received the news of Biden pulling out whilst in their natural habit (Fire Island), quickly made
crop tops in the exact same style of
brat. A
mashup cut of one of Harris' cringiest lines—some anecdote about coconut trees—was set to Charli XCX's song "Von dutch." It has received over 4 million views.
"The internet is going crazy for Harris' campaign,"
declares The 19th, a gender and politics website. Harris' "meme stock is bullish,"
adds CNN, which devoted a
panel to the topic, in which a suit-wearing boomer tried, inartfully, to explain the craze to the rest. "Is Kamala Harris 'brat'?"
asks The Economist, calling 2024 "America's TikTok election." "Younger celebs are aiming to help Harris by tying her to their viral and loyal social media brands,"
explains the Associated Press rather clinically.
"A brat should exude the je ne sais quoi of the famous-but-not-A-list women,"
writes Shirley Li, giving the phenomenon an overly intellectualized treatment typical of
The Atlantic. "The brat is a classic feminine archetype, right up there with the jezebel, the crone, the bimbo, the career girl,"
writes Kat Rosenfield for
The Free Press. "Brats are Cinderella's stepsisters, lacking both social graces and appropriate gratitude for the privileges they enjoy."
But what the hungry internet, full of writers looking for takes, and the Harris campaign miss is that being "brat" is not really a compliment.
"Brat" is someone who, per Charli XCX's own description, walks around with a "pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra." A girl "who feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things."