Social media was ready to pounce as Kamala Harris brought back one of her most famous phrases at a campaign speech on Monday.
The vice president has often won both praise and derision for her quirky manner of speech, often dumbing down her answers to the point they become more confusing to the general public and often throwing in an awkward laugh.
On Monday in Pittsburgh, Harris repeated a famous line of hers when she said: ‘We have dreams. We can see what is possible, unburdened by what has been.’
Harris initially uttered the odd line when she spoke about what the word innovation meant to her during a March 2023 speech during a trip to Ghana.
Speaking to young people back then, she explained that innovation was ‘one’s ability not only to see, but to do things differently’ and ‘challenging the premise, questioning the status quo, and bold thinking,’ but also her personal catchphrase, ‘the pursuit of what can be unburdened by what has been.’
People online – both in favor of and against Harris – made memes out of the speech, acting as if Harris had played one of her greatest hits again.
Social media was ready to pounce as Kamala Harris brought back one of her most famous phrases at a campaign speech on Monday
Multiple people referenced a famous episode of The Simpsons in which Bart Simpson becomes a celebrity for repeating an inane catchphrase and is begged by onlookers to ‘say the line’.
Another used the famous Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the television meme in the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
One poster hoped she would bring back other famous flubs from her years in public office, including her infamous ‘you think you fell out of a coconut tree?’ remark and ‘We did it, Joe!’
A Trump-affiliated campaign account was much more blunt in its assessment of the speech.
‘Kamala gets flustered, defaults to her favorite cringe, recycled line: ‘We can see what is possible, unburdened by what has been!”
The origins of the line are from a speech in Ghana nearly a year and a half ago.
Harris has a unique style of dumbing down her answers to the point they become more confusing to the general public and often throwing in an awkward laugh.
Other times, Harris skirts a question by defining the topic under discussion in plain terms but offering no clear answer, leaving audiences and hosts bewildered.
On Monday in Pittsburgh, Harris repeated a famous line of hers when she said: ‘We have dreams. We can see what is possible unburdened by what has been’
And she does it in her signature ‘word salad’ style that often convolutes her answers even more.
One of Harris’ most confusing outbursts was to burst into laughter after uttering the phrase ‘you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’, while giving a speech on equality and advancement for Hispanic people.
She appeared to be trying to explain the need to focus on the wider community, adding that ‘nothing exists in a silo’.
After a clip of the speech went viral earlier this year, it became a popular internet meme that was widely circulated by her supporters, who are informally known as the ‘K-hive’.
One ‘K-hive’ member wrote: ‘To anybody who thinks it shouldn’t be Kamala Harris: you do know a new candidate can’t just fall out of a coconut tree, right?’
Earlier Monday, Harris was slammed by those who claim the vice president nominee used a ‘fake accent’ when speaking to a teachers union during a swing state campaign push in Michigan on Monday.
Social media erupted with accusations the Democratic presidential candidate altered her voice during the remarks praising teachers union members at a Detroit high school.
Harris has faced allegations and mockery of allegedly using different accents before, and the claims, and they are now emerging with just two months until election day.
Harris has a unique style of dumbing down her answers to the point they become more confusing to the general public and often throwing in an awkward laugh
‘New Kamala accent just dropped,’ one X user wrote in response to a clip of Harris speaking to a teacher’s union at a high school in Detroit, Michigan on Monday.
In her remarks, social media users claim that Harris adopted an urban accent to relate to the working class crowd.
Harris is traversing the country while she prepares for her first debate with Donald Trump on September 10 in Philadelphia.
