Kamala Harris’s Laugh Isn’t Baffling At All
The U.S. Vice President’s cackle in the context of what came before.
At their first joint rally in Philadelphia on August 6, running mate Tim Walz said to presidential candidate Kamala Harris: “Thank you for bringing back the joy.” Walz was alluding to the renewed enthusiasm among Democrats in their 2024 campaign. But Harris has also brought joy in a more literal sense, through her unmitigated, frequent bouts of laughter.
Since Harris’s rise to the top of the presidential ticket, people have analyzed her cackle, compared its beats per minute to Rihanna and Kylie Minogue hits, and even gone viral for impersonating her. One video of Harris laughing with sister Maya has the caption, “Does the ijbol run in the family omg,” referring to “I just burst out laughing.” Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, meanwhile, has birthed a new nickname for the VP: “Laughing Kamala.”
Critics use the laugh as proof Harris is the devil incarnate, while her supporters see it as the manifestation of aunty behavior. Both groups, however, might be guilty of forgetting, well, the context that has come before.