The Trump campaign has no grassroots Gen Z meme energy

Harris has seized the memes of production in the context

Did the Trump campaign just fall out of a coconut tree?

MAGA has no grassroots Gen Z meme energy. It comes across as top-down, slow, and stagnant.

In 2016, Trump faced a hostile media but had tremendous grassroots enthusiasm. MAGA back then was wild and chaotic and obnoxious, but there was a sense of enthusiasm and passion and innovation.

Harris’s Brat aesthetic. I’m too Gen X to get it tbh. (image via Axios)

Today, Trump has neither the backing of establishment media nor joyful grassroots enthusiasm. Many people still support him, but the memetic exuberance has shifted to the other side.

The media has noticed.¹ Harris supporters have noticed. Even people to the right of Trump have noticed.

“All the people from 2016 who brought the meme energy are now gone,” the controversial 20-something commentator Nicholas Fuentes pointed out in a recent livestream.² “They’re not on the Trump side. You know who is on the Trump side? GOP shills.”

By contrast, Harris is tacitly backed by the media and also has grassroots, bottom-up memetic energy from young people. You can see this in her campaign’s embrace of the Brat aesthetic and in countless TikTok videos and memes. A growing number of people are straight-up coconut-pilled.

Harris’s grassroots support has become even more pronounced since selecting Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. There’s a sense of excitement and, yes, joy among her supporters. Her rallies yesterday in Detroit and Eau Claire Wisconsin drew 15,000 and 12,000 attendees respectively.³

The Midwest dad memes have come out in force.

Trumpists like to say “the left can’t meme” but the weird and sofa attacks have not only proved this isn’t true but suggest that the left may have the upper hand at this point.

Have Democrats seized the memes of production in the context?

This past weekend I was quoted in a New York Times Sunday Styles article by Joseph Bernstein called “The Life and Death of a Political Meme.”⁴

I shared my assessment of the two campaigns and talked through the concepts of memetic fitness (the durability and transmission of an idea) and Boyd’s OODA loop (agile decision-making) as it relates to political memes.

“The Harris campaign are faster and more agile,” Mr. Giesea added. “They are responding and adapting more quickly to the changing media environment.”

Some might point out that memes and grassroots energy are fluffy and meaningless. Organizing is what matters. Fundraising is what matters. Voting is what matters. All good points, but the Trump campaign is falling behind in these areas too.

Just weeks ago, when there was a failed assassination attempt and a doddering Biden was determined to stay in the race, it felt inevitable that Trump would run away with the 2024 election. But when Biden dropped out and Harris took over, what felt like a liability turned into an asset. The Harris campaign and Democratic apparatus used the switch as as springboard to innovate and adapt, and they have executed on it brilliantly.

I noted in a post earlier this week that the Harris campaign is flanking Trump on white male outreach, and they are innovating in organizing other groups as well. It helps that they have the tacit support of the media and much of the political establishment, but still.

All of this memetic, grassroots, organizing energy is translating into dollars and votes. In July, Harris’s fundraising surged to $310 million, about double what Trump raised that month.⁵ In the latest NPR/PBS/Marist poll, Harris jumped ahead of Trump and now leads 51-48%.⁶

Meanwhile, I look at the Trump campaign and GOP apparatus and wonder, what the hell are they doing? RNC Head Lara Trump, who is totally not a nepo choice, seems consumed with promoting herself as an influencer rather than organizing the Trump base.

Trump’s TruthSocial page is full of boomer memes and unhinged rants — seriously, look.⁷ Vance is trying hard and floundering. Bannon, who provided strategic brain power in the past, is in federal prison. Perhaps my perspective is skewed, but I am not seeing a strategic, aggressive, or competent effort to win from the Trump campaign. I understand the campaign was set up to counter Biden, but even accepting some allowance for the switch, where is the innovation and adaptation in the wake of Harris’s elevation? I just don’t see it.

Harris is on a high right now, and the Walz honeymoon will likely level off. November is still a long way away in this political and media environment. The election remains up for grabs. Anything can happen. But from my perspective, Harris has all the juice right now.

There are a lot of Palm Trees on Mar-a-Lago. Trump better watch out for falling coconuts.

1. https://abcnews.go.com/538/harris-ride-memes-white-house/story?id=112522095

2. https://x.com/scksgrypr/status/1821371059490480470

3. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/07/harris-walz-wisconsin-rally

4. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/04/style/harris-trump-political-memes.html

5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/07/trump-election-campaign

6. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/06/g-s1-15701/election-poll-harris-trump

7. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump