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Vice President Kamala Harris laughed at her own joke Tuesday during a speech in Prince George’s County, Maryland, when most of the students in the audience didn’t seem to understand the reference.
“I ask of you this … that you will not walk away. That you will stay true to your spirit and your sense of purpose. That you will continue to fight for the promise of America,” Harris said to the group of students.
“And I ask you to remember the context in which you exist. Yeah, I did that. Uh-huh,” she continued, laughing at her own comment.
While some in the crowd responded with cheers and laughter, many appeared confused by her reference.
.@VP Harris: "I ask of you this…that you you will not walk away. That you will stay true to your spirit and your sense of purpose. That you will continue to fight for the promise of America. And I ask you to remember the context in which you exist. Yeah, I did that. Uh huh." pic.twitter.com/tzu2TovJTM
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 17, 2024
Harris was recalling a speech she gave to young Hispanic leaders at the White House in May 2023, in which she quoted her mother, an immigrant from India. Harris recalled that her mother would humorously tell her, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”
On that occasion, there was also some polite laughter, but mostly it was Harris laughing at her own joke as she recounted the story.
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” she explained, conveying a message she believed was important for her audience.
While the Harris campaign and her supporters celebrated the “coconut tree” story in 2023, labeling it as a humorous reference to “providing context,” it seems fewer people understood the joke on Tuesday than Harris may have anticipated.
In the 2024 election, Harris struggled to connect with younger voters. While President Biden had strong support among young voters in 2020, President-elect Trump made significant gains, particularly among younger men and women. According to a Tufts survey, young women shifted in Trump’s direction, and he garnered 46 percent of the vote in this demographic compared to Harris’s 52 percent—a significant increase from his 2020 results.
Despite her attempts to connect through humor, Harris faced challenges with most demographics, and her awkward moments did little to help.
