Social media was ready to pounce when Kamala Harris rehashed one of her most famous lines in a campaign speech on Monday.
The vice president has often received both praise and ridicule for her peculiar way of speaking, often simplifying her answers to the point that they are more confusing to the general public and often leading to 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 without the weight of what has been.”
Harris initially uttered an odd line when she talked about what the word innovation meant to her during a March 2023 speech during a trip to Ghana.
People online, both pro- and anti-Harris, acted as if she had just re-performed one of her greatest hits.
Social media was ready to pounce when Kamala Harris rehashed one of her most famous lines in a campaign speech on Monday.
Several people made reference to a famous episode of The Simpsons in which Bart Simpson becomes a celebrity for repeating a silly line and viewers beg him to “say the line.”
Another used the famous Leonardo DiCaprio pointing out the TV meme in Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
One poster expected her to recall other famous gaffes from her years in public office, including her infamous comment “Do you think you fell out of a coconut tree?” and “We did it, Joe!”
A Trump-affiliated campaign account was much more blunt in its assessment of the speech.
‘Kamala gets nervous and resorts to her favorite, recycled and embarrassing line: ‘We can see what’s possible, without the burden of what has been!’
The origins of this phrase date back to a speech given in Ghana almost a year and a half ago.
Addressing young people, he explained that innovation was “the ability not only to see, but to do things differently” and “to challenge assumptions, question the status quo and think boldly”, but also his personal motto: “the search for what can be liberated from what has been”.
Harris has a unique style of simplifying his answers to the point where they become more confusing to the general audience and often elicit uncomfortable laughter.
On Monday in Pittsburgh, Harris repeated a famous line of hers when she said: “We have dreams. We can see what is possible without the weight of what has been.”
At other times, Harris dodges the question by defining the topic under discussion in simple terms but without offering a clear answer, leaving audiences and presenters baffled.
And he does so in his signature “word salad” style that often further complicates his responses.
One of Harris’ most confusing outbursts was bursting into laughter after uttering the line, “Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” while giving a speech about equality and the advancement of Hispanic people.
He seemed to be trying to explain the need to focus on the broader community, adding that “nothing exists in isolation.”
After a clip of the speech went viral earlier this year, it became a popular internet meme that was widely circulated among his supporters, informally known as the “K-hive.”
One member of the K-hive wrote: ‘To anyone who thinks it shouldn’t be Kamala Harris: you know a new candidate can’t fall out of a coconut tree, right?’
Earlier on Monday, Harris came under fire from those who claim the vice presidential candidate used a “fake accent” when speaking to a teachers union during a campaign rally in key swing state Michigan on Monday.
Social media erupted with accusations that the Democratic presidential candidate mangled her voice during remarks praising teachers union members at a Detroit high school.
Harris has previously faced accusations and ridicule for allegedly using different accents, and the claims are now emerging just two months before Election Day.
Harris has a unique style of simplifying his answers to the point where they become more confusing to the general audience and often lead to uncomfortable laughter.
“Kamala’s new accent just came out,” one X user wrote in response to a clip of Harris speaking to a teachers union at a high school in Detroit, Michigan, on Monday.
In their comments, social media users claim Harris adopted an urban accent to connect with working-class people.
Harris is touring the country as she prepares for her first debate with Donald Trump on September 10 in Philadelphia.