Politicians, stop trying to make ‘brat’ happen. You’re being weird

Open this photo in gallery:

Erin Gee is the host of the Alt-Text podcast.

It might be a brat summer, but politicians, I’m sorry to say that “brat” is not for you.

The girls, the gays and the theys will tell you that 2024 was tagged as a “brat” summer right after Charli XCX dropped her album of the same name in early June. Quickly the album gained momentum on social media, namely TikTok, as creators used songs such as 360 and Girl, So Confusing in their videos.

The viral nature of the album and the concept of being “brat” itself continued as the temperature rose and we entered the dog days of summer, edging further and further away from niche online content and closer to pop culture. Full mainstream saturation was achieved when U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris to be the nominee for the Democratic Party in the November election. What followed was the complete overlap of two circles of a Venn diagram representing online culture and politics. And Jake Tapper trying to explain what “brat” meant on CNN.

Before the brat phenomenon fully overtook the Harris campaign, Ms. Harris was already becoming somewhat of a meme as members of the “KHive” shared videos and used coconut emojis – a reference to Ms. Harris’s now-celebrated line from a 2023 speech, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” – to show their support. Once Mr. Biden endorsed Ms. Harris, Charli XCX posted, “Kamala IS brat,” on X and the brat memes were off to the races.

The reason the bratification – and by extension, the memeification – of the Harris campaign was successful is due to the organic nature of the memes: It was the internet, not the VP’s campaign team, that led the way. And, as with much of online culture, the memes originally came out of queer and Black communities.

Contrast this with a recent X post by Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s Environment Minister, that read, “Affordable housing IS brat,” – mimicking the Charli XCX post about Kamala Harris – alongside a video where “brat summer” was crossed out and replaced with “housing summer.” While the word “brat” was in the Charli XCX branding (chartreuse background with blurry Arial Narrow), the added text was in clear normal Arial.

This is not brat.

While it is almost impossible to define “brat,” the first thing to understand is that “brat” is a vibe. It describes someone who is somewhat messy, fun, sassy and high-energy. It’s a confidence and a devil-may-care attitude.

It is the antithesis of politics.

Conversely, politics is calculated and deliberate, an area where polling data and focus groups are king. Decisions are made after carefully weighing the pros and cons. Layers of bureaucracy are built to mitigate against risk. None of that is brat.

Mr. Guilbeault’s post almost certainly emerged from a meeting of the digital team where one staffer probably said, “You know what’s hot right now? Being brat. Housing could be brat.” After approval, the team went to work to develop the post, which likely had several other layers of approval. Even if the post was funny, it ostensibly doesn’t make logical sense. If being “brat” is having a devil-may-care attitude, how can affordable housing be brat?

Canadian politics has often sought to create its own viral moments but continually comes up short. As was the case with trying to capitalize on the virality of “brat,” Canadian politicians are, again, piggybacking on U.S. politics with Liberals trying to position Conservatives as “weird.” In Canada, this tactic started being used last week when several Liberal members of Parliament – including one cabinet minister – took to X to call Conservative Leader Pierre Poilieve and other Conservative MPs “weird.”

Using “weird” as a political attack came to be through yet another accidental viral moment when Minnesota Governor – and current running mate of Ms. Harris – Tim Walz began referring to Republican politicians as “weird” during interviews last month. It went viral because it’s authentic, spontaneous and funny to see someone holding elected office boil an argument down to a simple word. Other elected Democrats jumped on the bandwagon once they saw how the moment spread. In Canada, politicians, again, thought they could leverage someone else’s viral moment for their gain, a move that comes off as unoriginal and inauthentic.

True viral moments are organic and unplanned, chosen by the internet.

The virality of the Harris campaign was not borne of meetings. Rather, a savvy staffer likely said, “We should capitalize on this. I understand the context in which we exist.”

There is a coolness associated with being brat, one that is not associated with politics – that’s okay! Politics and politicians don’t need to be cool, they need to be measured and responsible.

So please, politicians, stop trying to make brat happen. It’s just weird.