It’s 2024 and CNN can’t seem to accurately report on the pop culture trends that resonate with Americans under the age of 35. Yesterday, on his show “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” the 55-year-old anchor mischaracterized presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ adoption of a meme that’s popular among young people online.
He first steered the conversation towards what he called the Kamala Harris campaign’s “appeal to Gen Z.” He began: “Singer Charli XCX tweeted last night ‘Kamala is a brat,’ a reference to her album Brat.” So far so good.
Then the first sign of trouble came: “Kamala has branded her Kamala HQ Twitter page with the same aesthetic as the album,” he said, adding, “It’s another Gen Z word: aesthetic.”Unfortunately, “aesthetic” isn’t a Gen Z word, it’s just a word.
And to find out more about this “Generation Z” phenomenon, Tapper turned to 69-year-old correspondent Jamie Gangel, who, by her own admission, is not the right person for the job. Still, she says, “First of all, for producer Elizabeth Stewart, who spits her coffee out when I say this, she’s supposed to say, ‘That’s sassy,'” before adding sarcastically, “And for people who don’t know as much as I do, [brat] It’s cool stuff.”
See also: YouTube lets you make AI music like Charli XCX (with permission)
As she continued, Gangel held up a printout of Kamala HQ’s Twitter page: “It has a color. It’s the color chartreuse. Kamala Harris has adopted that color for whatever social media page it is,” she said, looking at the paper and shaking her head as she said the last part.
Gangel then puts on her reading glasses and recites a quote from her phone, written in big, bold letters that are legible even when filmed over her shoulder: “You’re the kind of girl who’s kind of messy, likes to party, and sometimes says stupid things.”
Mashable Top Stories
Tapper is predictably confused. “Do you think we’re all just kids?” he asked the group at the table. “And Vice President Harris is just a kid?”
That’s when Kaitlan Collins, the youngest person in the room at 32, finally blurted out the facts. “I don’t know if you’re a brat,” she told Tapper (and she’s right). “You have to aspire to be a brat, you don’t just become a brat. You have to work at it.”
Collins articulates the essence of bratcore: It’s just who you are, an enviable, intangible thing. As a compliment, it evokes the same ineffable allure as an It girl, but bratcore people may have a more outspoken or provocative approach to life.
Nonetheless, Tupper dismissed Collins. “The point is, [Harris]or the very smart people who work for her. [Gen Z] In their own language that apparently no one at this table speaks.” When Caitlin raised her hand in protest, Tapper blithely said, “I make an exception because I think you’re 23. You’re a millennial, take it easy.”
Ironically, while much of Charli XCX’s “brat” culture is popular among Gen Z, it’s mostly produced by millennial women and gay men. Charli XCX, 31, is a millennial himself, and has been making music for the generation since 2013.
It’s really easy to dismiss CNN’s short, tongue-in-cheek report on America’s youth political culture as trash. But the reality is, Gen Z could be the kingmaker in this election. According to NBC exit polls from the 2020 election, 65% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 (almost all of them Gen Z) voted for President Joe Biden, 11% more than any other age group. Gen Z and millennial support has been consistently elusive for the president ever since.
Now, with the addition of millennial Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, this base may be more important than ever. And Kamala Harris could win these voters back by, as Tapper puts it, speaking to them on their terms. Tapping into a highly popular and relatively harmless meme is an easy first step to energizing a younger voter base disappointed with Biden.
CNN could follow Harris’ example and hire journalists who understand and respect the voters they cover, because while CNN’s grey-haired pundits may not understand how to connect with millennial and Gen Z voters, the Harris campaign certainly does — and that could be what wins the election.
