5 memes and viral moments that defined the 2024 election

As the election nears its end, the battle between Vice President Harris and former President Trump has been marked by memes and viral moments from the campaign trails.

Here are five memorable memes of the election cycle.

1) Brats and coconut trees

"Kamala is brat," the pop star Charlie XCX proclaimed over the summer, a message timed with the release of her "Brat" album.

Harris's team quickly embraced the moniker, with supporters donning lime green and changing their avatars online to match Charlie's album aesthetic.

Around the same time, TikTok users began to spread a 2021 video of Harris recounting how her mother would say, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” This was then remixed with "Brat" album music.

2) "Childless cat ladies"

After Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) became Trump's running mate, a 2021 interview resurfaced in which he dismissed prominent Democrats as "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable."

"You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he said.

Harris's campaign amplified the remarks and superstar songstress Taylor Swift mocked the comment in her Instagram post endorsing Harris, signing off as a "childless cat lady."

3) "They're eating the dogs"

During the only debate between Harris and Trump, the former president spread a baseless conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.

Trump's line "They're eating the dogs," went viral, particularly on TikTok, and was even turned into a song.

4) Dark Brandon

Before he ended his reelection campaign, President Biden seemingly embraced a persona of "Dark Brandon," which started as a pejorative lobbed at him in place of expletives: "Let's go, Brandon."

Biden's team turned it around and instead embraced "Dark Brandon" — an image of a defiant Biden with red lasers shooting from eyes that they spread when the president had positive news to share. Biden's campaign even used the image as its 404 error page on his team's website.

5) Trump's ear bandage

After a would-be assassin's bullet grazed his ear during a Pennsylvania campaign rally, Trump showed up to the Republican National Convention with an oversized bandage covering the wound.

Attendees were soon spotted at the event with their own white ear coverings in solidarity, spawning a wave of jokes on social media.

Arizona delegate Joe Neglia even told CBS News that it was an emerging fashion trend.
“Everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon,” he predicted.