(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris, quoting her mother, told a group of newly sworn-in commissioners for a White House initiative for Hispanics that their work on education and economic opportunity would be done in the context of their communities. “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” Harris said in May 2023, laughing. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” It went viral. First, as a criticism of Harris on right-wing social media accounts, including @RNCResearch, the rapid response account of the Republican National Committee. But slowly, then all at once — around the time she became the presumptive Democratic nominee — it was co-opted by her supporters, who remixed and reposted the meme and catapulted Harris onto the “for you page” for TikTok users across the country and globe. For years as vice president, Harris has been quietly laying the digital groundwork behind the scenes — meeting with young voters, social media influencers an...
