Kamala Harris is a brat—but you must understand, this is supposed to be a good thing. After the VP announced she’d be running for president, the singer Charli XCX tweeted: “Kamala Harris IS brat,” “brat” being both the title of the pop artist’s stratospherically popular new album and the summer’s biggest vibe, as decreed by Gen Z.
The internet went crazy. There were memes; there were t-shirts with Kamala’s name spelled out in the “brat font”; there was Kamala’s actual campaign, rebranding its actual page on X to look like the cover of Brat. As of this writing, the country has become so consumed by brat madness that everyone from random TikTokers to a literal senator are overlaying pictures and videos of Kamala with a brat-colored filter, an eye-searing shade of green described by its aficionados as “slime.”
In case you hadn’t heard, it’s Brat Girl Summer, as Gen Z returns once more to its annual tradition of spending the months between Memorial and Labor Day engaged in the self-conscious performance of some archetypal vibe. Perhaps you remember this trend from its previous hits, including Hot Girl Summer, Blob Girl Summer, or Feral Girl Summer—or one of various adjacent phenomena, such as Girl Dinner or Hot Girl Walks.
But what does it actually mean to be “brat”?
The best summary of bratdom might come from my Free Press colleague River Page, who quips, “Brat Girl Summer is just women acting like gay guys.” On TikTok, Charli XCX herself described the quintessential brat as “just that girl who is a little messy and maybe says dumb things sometimes, who feels herself but then also maybe has a breakdown but parties through it. It is honest, blunt, and a little bit volatile”—which maybe explains why she felt it appropriate to bestow the moniker on Kamala. But it’s harder to see the VP in Charli’s official song of the Brat Girl Summer, “365,” which describes a lifestyle defined by clubbing from dusk till dawn, decked out in slime-colored clothing and sustained by a steady diet of self-regard and cocaine.
If this sounds a lot like the ’80s to you, that’s not a coincidence. The Brat Girl shares both aesthetic DNA and a partial moniker with the original Brat Pack, the group of young actors once beloved by director John Hughes, who are currently the subject of a new documentary, Brats. The personal lives of the Brat Pack were plagued by the moneyed, druggie excesses of the era; several of them famously struggled with addiction, alcoholism, and various and sundry other scandals. But on-screen, these actors—who were mostly adults in their 20s—embodied the potent mix of teenage angst and apathy that defined Generation X, and it’s not hard to trace a line from this early version of extended adolescence to the contemporary brat. Indeed, this summer’s most famous brat girls are all very much adult women: Charli XCX is 31. She did a collaboration with Lorde, who is 27. She references Julia Fox, who’s 34.
At 59, Kamala would have been about the right age to be a member of the original Brat Pack, but hardly fits the party girl standard in her present form.
Granted, if Kamala wanted to position herself as a younger, hipper alternative to the decrepit outgoing POTUS, this is definitely one way to do it—at least as long as her otherwise cringeworthy how-do-you-do-fellow-kids posturing has the explicit blessing of the brat queen herself. But she should also beware: despite the youthful quest to redefine brathood as something aspirational—“putting yourself out there, being out, being about, being the center of attention,” per Julia Fox—the term can never be fully divorced from its original cultural context. As Kamala herself might say, it is not possible for brat to be unburdened by the brattiness that has been.
Indeed, the brat is a classic feminine archetype, right up there with the jezebel, the crone, the bimbo, the career girl. Brats are Cinderella’s stepsisters, lacking both social graces and appropriate gratitude for the privileges they enjoy. She’s Daniel Deronda’s Gwendolen Harleth, who fancies becoming an actress, and is shocked to learn that just being pretty isn’t enough to guarantee her success. She’s Veruca Salt, standing defiantly with her hands on her hips, shrieking the trademark catchphrase of her kind: “I want it NOW!”
In her ambition, the brat is clearly the heir to the throne left vacant by the girlboss, who was famously toppled in 2020 for being an avatar of problematic white feminism. But where the girlboss had to strive for her success, the brat simply expects it. The idea that she should have to earn the things she wants, rather than having them handed to her, is not just an affront; it is unfathomable. Don’t you understand? She wants it! She wants it now!
As such, the brat is a living embodiment of feminism as imagined by Gen Z, as infantilizing as it is superficial. She is the “if you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best” meme that used to circulate on Facebook in the early 2000s, except now she’s dancing on TikTok in a green vinyl miniskirt. Brats are selfish, self-involved, superficial, and careless with other people’s feelings—and convinced that in being like this, they are living their best lives. In her purest form, the brat marries the arrogance of a demanding toddler with the self-conscious slyness of an adult scam artist. She knows she’s behaving badly; she just thinks she should get away with it.
All of this makes it that much more remarkable that Kamala—who is already vulnerable to allegations that she’s a “DEI candidate” who doesn’t deserve her power and influence, and whose Republican opponent is possibly one of the brattiest men on the planet—would publicly align her campaign with an archetype defined by her sense of entitlement to things she has done nothing to merit.
And yet, here we are—with the Democratic Party apparatus seemingly not far behind. The most viral posts in support of the current VP are undeniably bratty, hyping Harris in terms familiar from the moment in 2020 when Joe Biden picked her as a running mate. Her record doesn’t matter; her rhetoric doesn’t matter; her dismal performance in the one and only genuine campaign race of her life—in which she never polled above 15 percent and couldn’t muster the backing even of voters in her own home state—doesn’t matter.
Nobody advocating for Harris has argued that she’s earned your vote—only that she should get it. Why? Because she wants it now, that’s why.
Kat Rosenfield is a columnist at The Free Press. Read her piece, “America Doesn’t Need Momala Harris,” and follow her on X @katrosenfield.
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When one stands for nothing of substance, one has to pander at every opportunity, to anything and everything that might boost one's popularity, even if it means embracing a culture of entitlement, of self absorption, of inanity desperate for significance but without the discipline and self control to pursue it.
When this attitude is manifest by Brat Pack teenagers, or even some average pop star desperate for the marginal following, it might be forgiven. In someone aspiring to the greatest office in the land, it should trigger only ridicule and dismissal.
I don't care that Kamala is a woman or a person of color. She's interviewing for the biggest most important job in the whole world. If Hilary was the candidate, I'd say I don't care she's a woman. And I don't care that Obama is a black man or Trump's white or who is Christian/Catholic/Jewish, etc. Just like if i'm on a plane, I don't care who is in the cockpit and if I'm having triple bi-pass, I don't care who the surgeon is ---AS LONG AS the person(s) is the MOST qualified. I am not interested in checking off boxes and or ensuring we meet new "firsts" when my future is in the hands of whomever it is. Potus is THE person who has THE MOST power and as such, I want the most qualified person. Is that Kamala? Many say no and that doesn't make them racist or misogynistic. It means they're looking at her record. She was assigned the border and did NOT go there for years. Just like we're outraged that Cheatle said she didn't go to the site 9 days after the assassination attempt, many can very fairly state disgust that the JOB she was given, the most basic task would be to go there. To meet with the people. Those in charge. Those agents on the front lines. And she didn't. She also didn't go to Europe right then...just for the record. That said, she failed. That's not because she's black or has a v-gina---it's because she did NOT go. It's because 11 MILLION people crossed illegally into our country unvetted. That's not anti immigrant either. Do you let anyone walk into your home? Into your kids' schools? Why do we have doors, locks, TSA? Hint: because we don't want just anyone getting into the building. Kam loves to talk about being this high powered prosecutor and Trump being a felon. If she loves to prosecute, why do they let felons off? Why do they not prosecute felons right now? Why do so many felonies get lowered to misdemeanors? Suddenly she claims she loves to prosecute. Yet this admin doesn't. Why did she raise bail funds to get felons OFF during BLM riots? SHe loves to accuse trump of being a sex offender. Yet, Biden's been accused of rape. Did she not care about that? His daughter accused him of taking inappropriate showers. Did that concern her? She loves to talk about equity and diversity----yet she doesn't care about protecting Jews. She's done nothing to help get the mobs of people to stop screaming for and waving signs calling for the murder of all Jews. She has said she feels like Pro Hamas people are founded in their movement. WHAT? Her daughter has raised millions for Gaza....which all goes to Hamas. She doesn't take issue with that? Her definition of equity and freedom for all seems to handicap and /or not include Jews. She claims protecting women's rights, but why did all of us have to get vaccinated? They were happy to interfere with our healthcare rights then. And do we need to once again explain that abortion is in the voter's hands? Every state gets to decide. Women can STILL get abortions. Now, I'm pro choice and I don't love the Roe decision, but it isn't outlawed and Trump has said innumerable times NO FED ban. Dems could have codified and didn't when they could have....that's frustrating for sure. Bottom line- anyone running for office is allowed to be scrutinized. When we all look at the UK and at France and see the radicals taking over after left wing people are voted into office, we're allowed to push back on her left wing views. That's called Freedom of Choice and Freedom of Speech. We can analyze. It's all our futures. IMHO she's not right for this office. I don't love Trump either....but she's shown us she's not a fan of protecting me/my fam so i will vote for Red.