An estimated 40 million Gen Z voters -those born in the late 90s and early 2000s -will be eligible to cast ballots in the 2024 elections, and both sides are turning it on social media to win a constituency adept in online sparring.
Democrats appear to have an advantage in this sphere given their support among urban, college-educated youth compared to the more rural, older voter orientation of the GOP. While Trump offers comedic gold dust on an every day basis for Democratic operatives, MAGA online warriors are leaving no stone unturned in portraying Kamala Harris as a “radical left lunatic” out to destroy America.
From Trump’s purported incontinence to incoherence, to Kamala’s “kamunism” and “Kackling” video clips, cartoons, and memes are flooding social media in an information age with low attention span. Even the geriatric Joe Biden, himself the subject of jokes about his age, got caught up in the smackdown syndrome, characterising his predecessor as “Donald Dump” at one campaign event.
While Harris herself has chosen to take the high road compared to her opponent, her supporters are dumping on Trump where it hurts with biting humor, satire, and sarcasm, caricaturing him as “Diaper Don” in one meme, and ridiculing him for alleged treason and dementia in others.
One spoof of a poster of the movie The Lion King showed Trump as “The Lyin’ King” while another poster showed the words “Super Callous Fascist Racist Extra Braggadocious” imprinted on his face – taking off from the hit song in the Disney movie Mary Poppins.
Even Trump’s attempt to hold Harris accountable for the undeniable price rise and inflation by showcasing the high cost of groceries was turned around on him by Democratic online warriors in a meme that read: Nothing says “I understand the economy” better than a billionaire standing outside his $ 250 million golf club in front of grocery products he has never purchased in his life.”
Trump supporters hit back with a poster showing Kamala Harris grinning against the backdrop of empty grocery shelves with the caption “Unburdened by what has been,” an exhortation she has used to tell young people to look positively to the future.
Ahead of the Democrats convention in Chicago starting Monday, one MAGA meme showed Kamala Harris, dressed in red, speaking to supporters in a sea of red against the backdrop of a red flag with hammer and sickle to suggest a gathering of communists.