T he November election cycle is in full swing – and it’s shaping up to be one full of buzzwords and online trends as the competing candidates grapple to pull in votes from the American public. There’s the term “weird”, which was coined by the new Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to describe Donald Trump and JD Vance. There’s “brat”, with Charli XCX ’s hit summer album becoming synonymous with Kamala Harris’s campaign.
There’s also the offensive phrase “childless cat ladies” which Vance continues to face backlash over. Not to mention a whole host of other buzzwords, from coconut trees to bears and Project 2025. Here, The Independent takes a look at the top buzzwords and how they have dominated internet discourse so far.
Perhaps the most successful labels wielded by the Democrats so far have been “weird” and “brat”. When President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic presidential candidate, many female celebrities were quick to endorse Harris to replace him. Among them was British pop star Charli XCX, whose sixth album Brat has been her biggest success yet, with Gen-Z women in particular championing the concept of a “ Brat summer” .
“Kamala IS brat”, Charli posted on social media. This spurred an online frenzy which led Harris’s campaign HQ to change its background image to the album artwork, and even prompted Fox News hosts to discuss whether they “really want brats to run this country”. Online searches for “.