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Breaking news, dramatic video shows coast guard pluck five people, pet pup, from rocky south carolina shoreline.

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Dramatic US Coast Guard video captures the daring rescue of five people and their pet pup who were stranded when their boat ran aground on a rocky stretch of a South Carolina barrier island on Sunday.

Coast Guard officials said they got a call about 2 p.m. that a crew of boaters were stuck on a section of Fripp Island after their 23-foot craft got stuck on the rocks, according a press release .

The agency dispatched an MH-65 Dolphin chopper from the Savannah air station, which lowered a crew member and a stretcher, pulling everyone to safety aboard the helicopter.

“Due to the high number of people, this turned out to be a fairly complex evolution that requires multiple trips to the vessel in distress,” Lt. Commander Carl Luxhoj, aircraft commander of the station, said.

“Our crew did a great job of managing aircraft weight and power margin to conduct the hoists,” Luxhoj added. “Due to the impressive range of tides in the Lowcountry region, we recommend all mariners check tides and currents before going out on the water.”

The Coast Guard said a two-member airboat from Beaufort County Marine Rescue was also dispatched to the stranded boat and helped in the rescue from the ground.

The rescued boaters were flown to Beaufort Executive Airport and no injuries were reported.

The stranded boat and the airboat were both later recovered by the marine rescue group.

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The most boats ever will compete in the 100th Bayview Yacht Club race to Mackinac Island

Billed on its website as the “world’s longest continuously run long-distance freshwater yacht race,” the 100th Bayview Mackinac Race is set to start Saturday.

A record-setting 334 boats have registered for the 100th year of the race, shattering the record of 316 in 1985 and a huge contrast compared with the 200 boats that raced last year, said David Stoyka, spokesman for the Bayview Yacht Club, which puts on the race.

Bayview Yacht Club says boats start leaving the Black River in Port Huron around 8 a.m. on race day and will continue leaving until around noon. From the Black River, they will proceed up the St. Clair River, under the Blue Water Bridge, into Lake Huron.

The first scheduled start time in Lake Huron is 11:30 a.m., with starts every 10 minutes until approximately 1:30 p.m. The starts may be delayed due to weather conditions.

This year, for the 100th running, the race will follow the original 1925 route and span 204 nautical miles. From the starting point, the boats will head north along the Michigan shoreline, passing south of Bois Blanc Island, sailing west to east at the finish line between Round Island and Mackinac Island, organizers said.

The range of boats are expected to finish in between 30 and 60 hours.

The sailors

Teams at all skill levels have entered the race, which draws competitors from around the world.  The highly skilled racers know they will cross the bow of competitors within inches. Still, there's always risk of a crash with the slightest miscalculation.

"Everybody recognizes this is super intense," said champion sailor  Tim Prophit , 65, of St. Clair Shores, past commodore of Bayview Yacht Club and owner of Fast Tango, a North American 40 sailboat.

The teams are vying for trophies and flags to show their accomplishments.

The J.L. Hudson Trophy is awarded to the boat with the best corrected time in Division I, and the Canadian Club Classic Trophy is awarded to the boat with the best corrected time in Division II.

How can spectators follow the race?

Spectators can go to bycmack.com during the race and click on “RaceTracking” link to watch real-time GPS positioning of all the race boats, or, on your mobile device, download the free app YB Races and select the current race.

Boats will start arriving at Mackinac Island on Sunday afternoon and continue until Monday evening, all dependent upon the wind.

Finishes can be seen from Windermere Point on Mackinac Island at the south end of Main Street.

Sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac races are called “Old Goats,” according to the club, while those who have completed 50 are called “Grand Rams.” 

"Double Goats" are sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac races and 25 Chicago Yacht Club race to Mackinac races. This year’s Chicago to Mackinac race encountered strong winds in Lake Michigan , snapping some boats’ masts and tossing one sailor overboard. No one was hurt.

Volunteers who have served for 15 years on the Race Committee are honored with the title “Old Forts,” as designated by the Race Committee.

This story includes material from a staff report by former Free Press reporter Phoebe Wall Howard and from the Bayview Yacht Club.

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FACT FOCUS: A look at false claims around Kamala Harris and her campaign for the White House

Democrats are quickly rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris as their likely presidential nominee after President Joe Biden’s ground-shaking decision to bow out of the 2024 race.

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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The announcement that Vice President Kamala Harris will seek the Democratic nomination for president is inspiring a wave of false claims about her eligibility and her background. Some first emerged years ago, while others only surfaced after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his bid for a second term.

Here’s a look at the facts.

CLAIM: Harris is not an American citizen and therefore cannot serve as commander in chief.

THE FACTS: Completely false . Harris is a natural born U.S. citizen. She was born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, according to a copy of her birth certificate, obtained by The Associated Press.

Her mother, a cancer researcher from India, and her father, an economist from Jamaica, met as graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley.

Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, anyone born on U.S. soil is considered a natural born U.S. citizen and eligible to serve as either the vice president or president.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” reads the amendment.

There is no question or legitimate debate about whether a citizen like Harris is eligible to serve as president or vice president, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School.

“So many legal questions are really nuanced — this isn’t one of those situations,” Levinson told the AP on Monday.

Still, social media posts making the debunked assertion that Harris cannot serve as president went viral soon after Biden announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the race and would back Harris for president.

“Kamala Harris is not eligible to run for President,” read one post on X that was liked more than 34,000 times. “Neither of her parents were natural born American citizens when she was born.”

False assertions about Harris’ eligibility began circulating in 2019 when she launched her bid for the presidency. They got a boost, thanks in part to then-President Donald Trump, when Biden selected her as his running mate.

“I heard today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” the Republican said of Harris in 2019.

CLAIM: Harris is not Black.

THE FACTS: This is false. Harris is Black and Indian . Her father, Donald Harris, is a Black man who was born in Jamaica. Shyamala Gopalan, her mother, was born in southern India. Harris has spoken publicly for many years, including in her 2019 autobiography , about how she identifies with the heritage of both her parents.

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Despite ample evidence to the contrary, social media users are making erroneous claims about Harris’ race.

“Just a reminder that Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris isn’t black,” reads one X post that had received approximately 42,000 likes and 20,400 shares as of Monday. “She Indian American. She pretends to be black as part of the delusional, Democrat DEI quota.”

But Harris is both Black and Indian. Indeed, she is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president. This fact is highlighted in her biography on WhiteHouse.gov and she has spoken about her ethnicity on many occasions.

Harris wrote in her autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” that she identifies with the heritage of both her mother and father.

“My mother, grandparents, aunts, and uncle instilled us with pride in our South Asian roots,” she wrote. “Our classical Indian names harked back to our heritage, and we were raised with a strong awareness and appreciation for Indian culture.”

In the next paragraph, she adds, “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters.” Harris again refers to herself as a “black woman” in the book’s next chapter.

CLAIM: Harris got her start by having an affair with a married man, California politician Willie Brown.

THE FACTS: This is missing some important context. Brown was separated from his wife during the relationship, which was not a secret.

Brown, 90, is a former mayor of San Francisco who was serving as speaker of the California State Assembly in the 1990s when he and Harris were in a relationship. Brown had separated from his wife in 1982.

“Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago,” Brown wrote in 2020 in the San Francisco Chronicle under the article title, “Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?”

He wrote that he supported Harris’ first race to be San Francisco district attorney — just as he has supported a long list of other California politicians, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Harris, 59, was state attorney general from 2011-2017 and served in the Senate from 2017 until 2021, when she became vice president. She has been married to Doug Emhoff since 2014.

Harris’ critics have used the past relationship to question her qualifications, as Fox News personality Tomi Lahren did when she wrote on social media in 2019: “Kamala did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown.” Lahren later apologized for the comment.

Trump and some of his supporters have also highlighted the nearly three-decade old relationship in recent attacks on Harris .

CLAIM: An Inside Edition clip of television host Montel Williams holding hands with Harris and another woman is proof that Harris was his “side piece.”

THE FACTS: The clip shows Montel with Harris and his daughter, Ashley Williams. Harris and Williams, a former marine who hosted “The Montel Williams Show” for more than a decade, dated briefly in the early 2000s.

In the clip, taken from a 2019 Inside Edition segment , Williams can be seen posing for photographs and holding hands with both women as they arrive at the 2001 Eighth Annual Race to Erase MS in Los Angeles.

But social media users are misrepresenting the clip, using it as alleged evidence that Harris was Montel’s “side piece” — a term used to describe a person, typically a woman, who has a sexual relationship with a man in a monogamous relationship.

Williams addressed the false claims in an X post on Monday, writing in reference to the Inside Edition clip, “as most of you know, that is my daughter to my right.” Getty Images photos from the Los Angeles gala identify the women as Harris and Ashley Williams.

In 2019, Williams described his relationship with Harris in a post on X, then known as Twitter.

“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single,” he wrote in an X post at the time. “So what? I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate?”

CLAIM: Harris promised to inflict the “vengeance of a nation” on Trump supporters.

THE FACTS: A fabricated quote attributed to Harris is spreading online five years after it first surfaced.

In the quote, Harris supposedly promises that if Trump is defeated in 2020, Trump supporters will be targeted by the federal government: “Once Trump’s gone and we have regained our rightful place in the White House, look out if you supported him and endorsed his actions, because we’ll be coming for you next. You will feel the vengeance of a nation.”

The quote was shared again on social media this week. One post on X containing an image of the quote was shared more than 22,000 times as of Monday afternoon.

The remarks didn’t come from Harris , but from a satirical article published online in August 2019. Shortly after, Trump supporters like musician Ted Nugent reposted the comments without noting they were fake.

CLAIM: A video shows Harris saying in a speech: “Today is today. And yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. So live today, so the future today will be as the past today as it is tomorrow.”

THE FACTS: Harris never said this. Footage from a 2023 rally on reproductive rights at Howard University, her alma mater, was altered to make it seem as though she did.

In the days after Harris headlined the Washington rally, Republicans mocked a real clip of her speech, with one critic dubbing her remarks a “word salad,” the AP reported at the time .

Harris says in the clip: “So I think it’s very important — as you have heard from so many incredible leaders — for us, at every moment in time, and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past, but the future.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights nonprofit whose president also spoke at the rally, livestreamed the original footage. It shows Harris making the “moment in time” remark, but not the “today is today” comment.

The White House’s transcript of Harris’ remarks also does not include the statement from the altered video. Harris’ appearance at the event came the same day that Biden announced their reelection bid .

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck .

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Man charged after car drives off Galveston's Pier 21, 3 presumed missing found safe, police say

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A 21-year-old has been charged after a car was driven off Pier 21 in Galveston, which spurred a search for three possibly missing passengers who were found safe, according to police.

Galveston police received a call about a vehicle that drove through the chain and into the water at 21st Street and Harborside Drive around 1 a.m.

Investigators arrived and learned at least one man, identified as 21-year-old driver Caleb Joseph Hayes, managed to escape from the submerged vehicle.

Hayes was taken to UTMB Health Galveston, where he was questioned and treated.

Port of Galveston Police and the U.S. Coast Guard started a search after Hayes told police three others were inside the sunken car, using helicopters, boats, and dive teams.

As of 6:15 a.m., police told ABC13 that they had located the vehicle, but it was still underwater. According to Galveston PD, the vehicle was pulled from the water at 8:30 a.m., but no occupants were found.

According to a press release, it was later discovered that the three other presumed missing passengers had been found safe by officials and appeared not to have been inside the vehicle then.

Police said the driver was released from the hospital and subsequently charged with DWI.

An investigation is ongoing.

For more on this story, follow Rosie Nguyen on Facebook , X and Instagram .

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Two men injured after boat collides with whale off coast of Western Australia

Two men have been injured in an incident involving a boat that collided with a whale off the coast of Kalbarri. 

It comes after multiple dead whales have washed up on beaches across the Midwest region this week in WA. 

What's next?

One man was flown to Royal Perth Hospital and is in a critical condition, while the other man was taken to Geraldton Hospital in a stable condition and has since been discharged.

West Australian police say two men were injured, one critically, when their boat apparently collided with a whale. 

Police were called about 7pm on Tuesday over an incident involving two injured occupants of a boat about 18 kilometres off the coast of Kalbarri, 574km north of Perth. 

The Water Police Coordination Centre in North Fremantle deployed Department of Fire and Emergency Services Marine Rescue Kalbarri to the scene, who escorted the vessel back to shore. 

A DFES spokesperson said the two men were in a 7-metre catamaran when it collided with a whale, seriously injuring one of the occupants on board. 

It's understood the vessel was moving at the time of impact. 

Two marine rescue volunteers provided first aid to the men on the catamaran.

It took one hour to complete the ocean rescue. 

A St John Ambulance spokesperson said the men, aged 39 and 69, were assessed by ambulance crews, with the 69-year-old man believed to have received serious injuries in the incident.

The 39-year-old man was transferred from the Kalbarri nursing post to Geraldton Regional Hospital for X-rays, and was in a stable condition. 

He was soon discharged from hospital. 

The 69-year-old man was flown by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Royal Perth Hospital just after midnight and remains in a critical condition. 

The St John spokesperson said the 69-year-old is currently being assessed in the emergency department.

It comes after multiple dead whales washed up on Midwest beaches this week. 

An injured whale was also spotted off Jakes Corner near Kalbarri yesterday during the day, about 160 kilometres north of Perth. 

Boat strike not uncommon

University of Western Australia marine mammal researcher Kate Sprogis said there were a variety of factors that contributed to boats colliding with whales. 

"It happens at night time because the boats can't see the whale," she said. 

"Or even during the day when the whales are underwater, there's low visibility, the boat's going fast and the whale needs to surface to breathe."

Dr Sprogis said an increase of boating in WA waters made whale strikes more common. 

"These interactions are going to happen, which is really unfortunate, especially in areas where there is a migration corridor for our whales and a shipping lane," she said. 

The Department of Transport will investigate the incident.

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Internationale Pressestimmen nach Bidens Rückzug »Harris wirkt auf das konservative Amerika wie ein rotes Tuch auf einen Stier«

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US-Präsident Joe Biden und seine Vize Kamala Harris: Chance für einen Neustart

Joe Biden hat sich aus dem Präsidentschaftswahlkampf zurückgezogen  und seine Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris als Nachfolgerin empfohlen. Noch ist sie nicht auf dem Parteitag der Demokraten nominiert worden. Doch Medien aus aller Welt kommentieren bereits den Rückzug Bidens zum einen – und eine mögliche schwarze US-Präsidentin zum anderen.

»Harris ist die große Favoritin, um aus dem Parteitag der Demokraten in Chicago nächsten Monat als Standartenträgerin hervorzugehen«, schreibt  die »Washington Post« am Montag. Bidens Entscheidung zum Rückzug biete nun die Chance für einen Neustart, »nicht nur für seine Partei, sondern für die US-Politik im Allgemeinen«. Die US-Zeitung warnt aber zugleich davor, dass, auch wenn die Demokraten sich nun hinter Harris vereinen, es zugleich eine Schlammschlacht um das Vizeamt hinter ihr geben könnte.

Die »Neue Zürcher Zeitung « aus der Schweiz bewertet  die Nominierung von Harris durch Biden als »Weg des kleinsten Widerstandes«. Es möge am einfachsten sein, seiner Vize den Weg freizumachen, doch die Kandidatur von Kamala Harris sei nicht in Stein gemeißelt. Mit dem Parteitag der Demokraten könnten aber die Karten im Wahlkampf neu gemischt werden, so die »NZZ«. »Vor einem Monat sah es aus, als ob zwei alternde Erzfeinde nochmals gegeneinander antreten würden.« Insbesondere für die amerikanischen Wählenden der jüngeren Generation sei der Personalwechsel nun eine gute Nachricht.

In der britischen Zeitung »The Guardian« wird der Rückzug Bidens ebenfalls positiv aufgenommen  . Hätte Biden an der Kandidatur festgehalten, wäre er »als der Mann in Erinnerung geblieben, der 2020 die Demokratie rettete, nur um sie 2024 auf dem Altar seines eigenen Ehrgeizes zu opfern«. Nun könne er für legislative Erfolge in Erinnerung bleiben – und dafür, »dass er seiner Partei eine Chance gegeben hat, Trump erneut zu schlagen.«

Für die britische Konkurrenzzeitung »The Telegraph« kommt der Rückzug Bidens hingegen zu spät  . Die Entscheidung hätte schon vor Monaten getroffen werden müssen: »Das hätte den Demokraten Zeit verschafft, einen Kandidaten zu bestimmen, der es bei den Wahlen im November mit Trump aufnehmen könnte. Es gereicht der Regierung und der Demokratischen Partei nicht zur Ehre, dass diese Entscheidung so spät gefallen ist.«

»Im US-Wahlkampf wird es tatsächlich noch einmal richtig spannend«

In der niederländischen Zeitung »De Telegraaf« sieht man den möglichen Wechsel kritischer. »Harris wirkt auf das konservative Amerika wie ein rotes Tuch auf einen Stier«, so die Zeitung. Die Republikaner könnten nun umso mehr ihr Lager mobilisieren. »In einem Land, in dem normalerweise die Hälfte der Wähler zu Hause bleibt, kann das den Unterschied ausmachen.«

Die in Dublin erscheinende »Irish Times« lobt  die schwere Entscheidung Bidens, sich zurückzuziehen. »Die Aussicht auf eine zweite Trump-Präsidentschaft stellt eine echte Gefahr für die amerikanische Demokratie und ihre internationalen Verbündeten dar«, schreibt die Zeitung und Biden sei nun mal der Demokrat gewesen, der Trump geschlagen hatte. »Bidens Rückzug ermöglicht es den Demokraten, sich in einem Wahlkampf neu zu formieren, den sie anscheinend immer noch gewinnen könnten.«

Die »Badische Zeitung« aus Deutschland hält Bidens Rückzug für »überfällig«  . »Mit einem jüngeren und diverseren Team als die Konkurrenz können die Demokraten nun punkten«, so die Zeitung. Schon jetzt würden die wütenden Reaktionen führender Republikaner beweisen, dass ihnen »ein angeschlagener, greiser Joe Biden« als Wunschgegner lieber gewesen wäre. »Dieses Kalkül geht nun nicht auf. Im US-Wahlkampf wird es tatsächlich noch einmal richtig spannend.«

Die rechtsliberale dänische Tageszeitung »Jyllands-Posten« nennt  den langsamen Rückzug Bidens einen »Verkehrsunfall in Zeitlupe«. Die Demokraten hätten es jahrelang versäumt, einen konstruktiven Vorschlag für die Zukunft zu unterbreiten. Die Partei wirke »flügellahm und orientierungslos – und das schon seit Langem«. Harris sieht der Kommentar nicht gesetzt: »Es wird spannend sein, zu sehen, mit wem die Demokratische Partei nun zur Wahl gehen wird. Wird es Kamala Harris, oder ziehen sie ein Kaninchen aus dem Hut? Zumindest darf man glauben, dass sie nicht wieder auf die Mottenkiste zurückgreifen werden.«

Die italienische Zeitung »Corriere della Sera« zweifelt an, ob der Wechsel ausreicht, Trump bleibe schwer zu schlagen. »Aber jetzt, da Biden in den Ruhestand tritt, sieht auch er plötzlich sehr alt aus und manchmal auch verwirrt«, so die Zeitung. »Für seine eigenen Leute ist er mehr als ein charismatischer Führer, bis hin zum Boten des Allmächtigen. Aber die Gesetze der Politik sind unbarmherzig, und an der nächsten Ecke lauert stets der Verrat.«

Der »Boston Globe« attestiert  Biden eine erfolgreiche Amtszeit. »Künftige Generationen werden sich an ihn erinnern, dass er nach den turbulenten Jahren der Trump-Regierung den Anstand ins Weiße Haus zurückbrachte«, so die Zeitung. Sein Rückzug helfe nun, dieses Vermächtnis zu sichern. »Indem er aus dem Rennen ausstieg, gibt er seinen demokratischen Parteifreunden eine Kampfgelegenheit, um das Weiße Haus zu sichern, und den früheren Präsidenten Donald Trump , der versuchen würde, alles, was Biden erreicht hat, rückgängig zu machen, an der Rückkehr zur Macht zu hindern.«

Zu einer möglichen Präsidentschaftskandidatur von Harris meint  die belgische Zeitung »De Tijd« , Harris habe als Vizepräsidentin keinen großen Eindruck gemacht und sei ist nicht besonders beliebt. »Aber sie ist die beste Chance für die Demokraten, noch aus der Misere herauszukommen, in die sie sich selbst gebracht haben, indem sie auf Joe Biden setzten.« Jemanden aus der zweiten Reihe dürfte ein noch größeres Risiko darstellen. »Harris kann nun das tun, was Biden nicht schaffte: die Bilanz seiner Präsidentschaft hervorzuheben.« Insgesamt habe Biden Trumps Bilanz bei Weitem übertroffen.

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The Kamala Harris coconut tree meme, explained as best we can

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on July 10 in Dallas.

Brandon Bell / Getty Images

In the weeks before President Biden announced he would not be seeking reelection , some Democrats online rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party's new nominee. And their symbol became the coconut tree.

Not long after Biden announced on Sunday he was dropping out of the race, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis tweeted out just three emojis : a coconut, a palm tree and an American flag. EMILYs LIST, the PAC focused on electing Democratic women, explicitly endorsed Harris in a tweet and, in a more subtle show of support, also added the tree and the coconut to its username.

🥥 🌴 🇺🇸 — Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) July 21, 2024

So how did the coconut tree emerge as the emblem of Harris's most devoted, or at least most-online followers? It's a story more than a year in the making.

Why are we even talking about coconut trees?

The "coconut tree" meme originates from a May 2023 speech Harris gave at a White House event for advancing opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

At one point near the end of her remarks, Harris talked about how the initiative's work would be focused on young people, but it should also take into account the needs of their families, teachers and communities, "because none of us just live in a silo."

We’re proud to endorse @kamalaharris as the next president of the United States because we know she is a qualified accomplished leader. She is the only candidate positioned to win against Trump in November, and the best voice to define the stakes in this election! #allinforkamala pic.twitter.com/CmdgImMaDz — EMILYs List 🥥🌴 (@emilyslist) July 21, 2024

"Everything is in context," Harris said, before launching into the now-famous anecdote.

"My mother ... would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, 'I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?' " Harris said with a laugh. "You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."

The moment was first meme'd in earnest in February of this year, when for a period of time, one could not open X, formerly known as Twitter, without seeing clips of or oblique references to those remarks.

this video is literally like medicine to me. i watch it once every week or two and every time i do i get an enduring hit of light euphoria for the next 45 minutes pic.twitter.com/eIF6Rwiir0 — charlie squire (@evil_female) February 9, 2024

But the meme took on new life this summer , after President Biden's disastrous debate performance fueled speculation that he might step aside as the Democratic nominee. Harris's supporters, also known as the KHive, were waiting in the wings.

Since then, the moment has been remixed into Charli XCX's " Von Dutch " and Britney Spears' " Gimme More ." Democratic operatives have spoken of being " coconut-pilled ." The meme flourished into 2028 debate fan fiction . Google searches for "coconut tree" started climbing in the U.S. in early July.

Like all of us, the coconut tree moment exists in the context of all in which it lives and what came before it. Which is to say, it's part of a larger set of memes surrounding Kamala Harris's political persona. Harris has been spawning memes longer than she's been vice president. We Did It, Joe , is likely the most well-known. But her laugh , her bus , her dance moves and her love of Venn diagrams have all become social media fodder.

We did it, @JoeBiden . pic.twitter.com/oCgeylsjB4 — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 7, 2020

So why did the coconut tree break through?

It's impossible to say why any particular meme — political or otherwise — catches fire over another. But all of the Harris memes embrace what detractors might consider a gaffe, highlighting the vice president's loud laugh and sometimes awkward sense of humor.

Former President Donald Trump, for instance, has dubbed Harris "laughing Kamala ," saying the laugh makes her seem "crazy."

Take another example, which grew out of one of Harris's go-to lines dating back to her 2020 presidential run: “I can imagine what can be, unburdened by what has been.”

The RNC compiled a supercut of Harris being "unburdened" and shared it on social media, arguing that it shows she is "unoriginal, annoying, and highly incompetent." But her supporters have taken ownership of the line.

Another explanation is that young Democrats — who were among the most dissatisfied with President Biden as a candidate — are also among the most online. So their desire for more choices and Harris's meme-able presence were a perfect combination.

As Washington Post internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote : "Harris's new online prominence could help give the Democratic Party new prominence with young people — including major content creators — who are hesitant to vote for Biden again due to his climate policies, support of Israel's war in Gaza, mishandling of the ongoing pandemic, and signing a bill that could ban TikTok."

And, the push for Biden to "pass the torch" has, in some cases, galvanized progressives in the party behind Harris, who they criticized in 2020 over her criminal justice record.

Copyright 2024 NPR

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