While the Lake Forest Academy community was enjoying their summer, monumental presidential campaigns took place. A failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, nuanced campaign strategies including Kamala Harris’ new campaign developments, and an abrupt change in Democratic representation when President Joe Biden stepped down in the reelection, have all changed the future of presidential campaigns and politics. As the race to Election Day continues, and the Democratic and Republican Conventions come to an end, both parties have their official nominees ready to take action. 

On July 13th, former President and current nominee for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, was shot at while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The last event in which a past American president was shot at was Ronald Reagan in 1981. Although Trump was only wounded on his ear, it is reasonable to wonder whether or not a historical pattern seems to be occurring around assassination attempts in the political world. 

Ackim Mpofu, History and Social Sciences teacher, stated, “The Trump assassination attempt was an anomaly. The attack was premeditated because if you look at the footage, the shooter went straight to the square. “The motive is still unknown but I think it was something like the last one.”

With a large amount of press focusing on the events surrounding the presidential campaigns, it can be difficult to vote thoughtfully–especially for younger voters. Thus, having an understanding of how polls work is crucial. 

When asked about the reliability of polls during elections, Mpofu explained, “We can say that polls are not reliable because we can see the predictions that come from polls; but we can see polls as something that will potentially come up to support some views. Have they been inconsistent in predicting presidential elections recently? Yes, they have.” Mpofu acknowledged the importance of understanding how polls work and their reliability for young voters. 

Kamala HQ is a TikTok account that is dedicated to promoting Kamala Harris’ campaign to the younger generations. The account is seen as helpful to the Democratic party because it promotes Harris and it also pokes fun at former President, Donald Trump, and his running mate, J.D. Vance. 

Teddy Berghammer, Co-Leader of the Current Events club stated that, “the Democratic convention was hilarious, it was like this actual game show… I think they are really trying to appeal to the TikTok generation.” This campaign could be helping Harris, due to the fact that unlike the Republican Convention, the Democratic Convention was seen as more energetic and engaging. Berghammer added that “any attention, even negative, is better than no attention.” 

A speech that Harris made sparked the emergence of Project Coconut, the memeification of Kamala Harris’ campaign. The speech was about the importance of context in shaping lives and opportunities. Harris mentioned a saying her mother used to tell her, and the audience took their favorite part, “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” and turned it into various trends. In turn, people began referencing Harris’ presidential campaign as “Project Coconut.” Many Democrats and celebrities have used this meme to support her, often using coconut emojis as a symbol of her campaign. 

From this, the term “coconut-pilling” emerged, which signifies the people that believe in Harris’ campaign and the values she represents. Many have also referred to Project Coconut as an antithesis to the Project 2025 campaign. Project 2025, as Democracy Docket explains, is “a collection of policy transition proposals that outline how [one] can vastly remake the federal government…to carry out an extremist far-right agenda.” 

Both presidential parties have held solid conventions and promoted themselves in various ways. Harris captured the interest of younger generations by engaging with them on various social media platforms while Trump gained more attention and support due to his assassination attempt. Both parties and candidates have secured many supporters and adversaries; the people of the US are in for a fiery battle.