Vice President Kamala Harris’ pop culture-centered, policy avoidant campaign paints a telling picture of the low regard in which the Democratic Party views young women.
Despite being the second-in-command of an administration that enacted an executive order allowing biological males to enter women’s private spaces and supporting a California proposition that categorizes rape of an incapacitated person as “nonviolent,” Harris has centered much of her campaign around being a feminist folk hero. With her Clinton-esque pantsuit girlboss persona and promise to keep the evil orange villain from turning America into the Republic of Gilead, she has won the hearts and minds of many women in the over 35 crowd. With Gen Z and younger millennial women, it is not so easy. For many of us, she is reminiscent of an awkward college English professor trying to relate to students with an outdated playlist of “girl power” anthems and years-old memes in her PowerPoints.
With young people, Harris had an opportunity to make her campaign one of substance. She could have outlined tangible policy and plans for her presidency regarding how to prevent us from inheriting an economy in which it is growing increasingly difficult to provide for oneself, let alone start a family. (Although, as vice president, she was already in a position to do something on these issues the past four years.) She could have presented foreign and climate policy talking points addressing growing fears of coming of age in a world rife with armed conflict and natural disaster.
Instead, she invited social media influencers to the Democratic National Convention and appeared on a sex podcast while Americans were dying in a hurricane. Her campaign proves the Democratic Party believes young women are as vapid and easily distracted by shiny objects as their leading lady.
Being ‘Brat’
Let’s break down Kamala’s attempts at being hip with the cool girls. In early June, British pop singer Charli XCX released her album “Brat.” Most easily recognized by the title printed in Arial font on a Shrek-colored background, “Brat” became a cultural phenomenon. Summer 2024 was quickly declared “Brat Summer.” Suddenly, everyone wanted to be “brat.”
So, what does “brat” even mean? According to Charli XCX herself, “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels 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. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.” On a cultural level, “brat” is a social rebellion against the ruling “clean girl” and “old money” aesthetics that espouse sophistication, discipline, and tastefulness. However, the cultural quickly became political.
As soon as President Joe Biden announced that he was stepping out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris, Charli XCX tweeted “Kamala is Brat.” Punch drunk on cultural relevance, Harris underwent a rebranding. The vice president’s X background quickly turned the same green as the “Brat” album cover, with “Kamala HQ” written in Arial font. Several of her team’s TikTok videos included a song from the album in the background. Influencers danced to songs dubbed with Harris’ more agonizing phrases including, “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you” and “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”
During a summer in which intelligence officials warned of imminent terrorist attacks and a report indicated government complacency in the trafficking of minors at the border, Harris was preoccupied with a Brit giving her unsolicited opinion on American politics. Additionally, why on earth would anyone want the leader of the free world to be “brat?” I, for one, do not want a president who identifies with being “messy” and saying “dumb things sometimes.” Perhaps Harris doesn’t even identify with the phrase and hopes fad-based campaigning will give her a seat at the cool kids’ table.
Locker-Room Talk
Earlier this month, Appalachia was devastated by Hurricane Helene, with at least 230 people killed. Many more lost their homes, belongings, electricity, and access to running water. Both the morally correct and politically savvy choice for Harris was to be on the ground, showing support and assisting in providing aid to those in this historically red voting region. But that would have required both empathy for the common person and a semblance of intellectual competency, two traits of which this presidential hopeful is tragically devoid. Instead, she appeared on a podcast described as “female locker room talk.” Run by party-girl-turned-fourth-wave-feminist Alexandra Cooper, “Call Her Daddy” provides young women with advice including “cheat or be cheated on” and how to perform oral sex on a man.
Harris spent a large portion of the podcast stoking hysteria around the topic of abortion. I will give credit where credit is due. Harris said she became a prosecutor after watching her high school friend suffer the traumatic effects of a sexual assault. The epidemic of violence against women is pervasive. Almost every woman knows at least one person who has survived a sexual assault, if she hasn’t survived one herself. However, any credibility dissipates with Harris, given that her policies on crime and stance on the Second Amendment and gender ideology all but declare an open season on women. If Harris cared so much about women, why is she on a podcast that once interviewed a man who referred to women as “holes?” Maybe she doesn’t care about anybody but herself and is willing to act the fool if it will win her the election.
Young women are not “brat” and we certainly are not buying what Harris is selling. Most of my peers are intelligent, resilient, and often witty women with a desire to be a catalyst for positive change. We not only came of age but thrived in a time where we are expected to pretend that men are women, jihadi terrorists are victims, and we are selfish if we do not want to sacrifice our social interaction, economic future, and possibly our fertility to quell the fears of the paranoid.
Harris’ campaign strategy insinuates that young women are not empowered and informed voters deserving of a politician earning our votes. Instead, we are airheads incapable of independent thought and only able to be reached by celebrity endorsements and consequence-free unprotected sex.
I will not tell you whom to vote for, because, unlike our vice president, I believe that you are capable of thinking for yourself. However, I will share the advice a friend gave me almost a decade ago after I was snubbed by my high school crush: When somebody shows what they think of you, believe them.
Jillian Butler is a journalist, researcher, and geopolitical analyst. Much of her writing covers foreign affairs, veteran’s advocacy issues, and advocacy for conservative young women.
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