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      Kamala Harris’s Main-Character Energy

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      Accepting the nomination, the vice president completed a whirlwind ascent — and sought to finally supplant Donald Trump at the center of America’s political drama.There were a lot of big names at the Democratic National Convention. Night 1 had the unprecedented send-off of a sitting president. Night 2 had not one but two Obamas (plus a raucous roll call of states feat. Lil Jon). Night 3: You get Oprah! And you get Oprah!There were whispers and reports all day on Thursday that the biggest, most special secret guest of all would appear at the climax. Was it Beyoncé? Taylor Swift? Mitt Romney?At the end of the night, after a typical program of endorsements and character witnesses, Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, wrapped up and yielded the stage to …Kamala Harris?The rumors, it turned out, were just that. Ms. Harris was the surprise star of her own show.But in a way, that had been the theme of the entire convention. As a TV production, the event was designed to build on the Kamalanomenon and magnify it. It expressed not a platform but a vibe.Ms. Harris’s ascent was of course politically extraordinary, a whirlwind of less than a month from replacing President Biden to the convention. But it was also unprecedented as a media phenomenon — at least in politics, where images are usually built over years.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Meaning Behind Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom,’ the Harris Campaign Anthem

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      Since Kamala’s Harris’s first appearance at campaign headquarters a month ago, the rousing strains of Beyoncé’s “Freedom” have been the candidate’s spirited anthem, blaring under the campaign ads and ahead of Harris’s speeches. The song, from the 2016 visual album “Lemonade,” builds momentum with each verse and features a chorus that is a striking call: “I break chains all by myself/Won’t let my freedom rot in hell/Hey! I’ma keep running/’Cause a winner don’t quit on themselves.”It served as the driving force behind the latest campaign ad that debuted during Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention, which has itself been buoyed by energetic music throughout. It has also provided a sonic shift in messaging, offering Democrats a muscular keyword with widespread appeal to voters across partisan lines.But the song’s origins and supporting videos, and Beyoncé’s live performances of it, offer a deeper meaning for a candidate hoping to make history as the first Black and South Asian woman president.At the time of its initial release in spring 2016, “Freedom” appeared on what was, to that point, Beyoncé’s most politically explicit record to date. Its video paid clear tribute to Sybrina Fulton, Gwen Carr, Lezley McSpadden and Wanda Johnson, Black women whose sons — Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Oscar Grant III — had been recently killed in racially charged incidents. In the video, the women sit next to each other as Beyoncé, dressed in a tiered white dress, belts the song in a visual performance that heightened the intensity and cathartic potential of the music. It features a verse from Kendrick Lamar, who raps, “But mama don’t cry for me, ride for me/Try for me, live for me.”Along with Lamar’s 2015 single, “Alright,” the two artists released arguably the most enduring protest anthems of the Black Lives Matter movement within a span of months.The song’s success is already resonating with the many and riling up others. Just yesterday, Beyoncé sent a cease-and-desist to Donald Trump’s campaign for its use of the song without permission on a social music video. More

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      In Chicago, Biden and Harris Enact a Cast Change Onstage

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      The first night of the convention introduced the party’s new protagonist, and gave the old one a curtain call.Notice anything different?The organizers of the Democratic National Convention hope you did. Less than a month ago, the party upended the election when President Biden withdrew from the campaign, and Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee. Suddenly, the previously scheduled rerun of the 2020 election, tuned out by many weary voters, was new programming, with a new cast.The first night of the convention wasted little time unveiling its new star — even as it also had to finish off the last one’s story arc.Early in the evening, Ms. Harris made a surprise appearance onstage in Chicago to her campaign anthem, Beyoncé’s “Freedom.” The crowd of delegates exploded with cheers.This was an energy that the party had been missing for a while, and the prime-time production was designed to flaunt it. Ms. Harris’s kickoff remarks were brief — “We are moving forward!” — but there was a showmanship to the moment that suggested that the candidate plans to take the fight to Donald Trump where he lives, in the TV lights.If Ms. Harris’s unexpected cameo had a measure of Mr. Trump’s theatricality, however, it had a different energy: expansive and effusive rather than brassy and bold. Beaming and waving to the crowd in a camel-colored suit, she reflected the room’s energy back to it rather than basking in it and soaking it up.This was a big change from the convention Democrats anticipated having just weeks ago, under the tentative, 81-year-old Mr. Biden. The slogans onstage — “For the People, For the Future” — emphasized the message of newness.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Steve Martin Is Out. Who Will Play Walz and Vance on ‘S.N.L.’?

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      Steve Martin is out, and the roles of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump seem settled. But the internet has been busy dream-casting the rest of the “S.N.L.” election ticket.The approach of another presidential election brings with it many questions: In what direction is the United States headed? Who will be our next president and vice president? And, most crucially, who will play them on “Saturday Night Live”?Election-season comedy sketches are an “S.N.L.” staple, providing cast members with opportunities to gain visibility for their impersonations of prominent politicians and — increasingly — for the show to tap into its network of celebrity guests, friends and spouses to play these roles. When new political figures come to national attention, we can’t help but indulge our inner Lorne Michaels and imagine who we’d cast to imitate them.The show’s plans were likely scrambled last month when President Biden announced that he would stand down as the Democratic presidential nominee. That paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, and for Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota to join as her running mate. On the Republican side, former President Donald J. Trump offered his vice-presidential slot to Senator JD Vance of Ohio.These are all characters likely to appear on “S.N.L.,” whose 50th season will begin on Sept. 28. And while the show hasn’t officially announced who it intends to cast in these key roles (and NBC declined to comment for this article), there is plenty of history and wild internet speculation to sift through. Let’s take a look at where these races currently stand.Kamala HarrisHarris’s increased prominence in the campaign should lead to the same on “S.N.L.”Doug Mills/The New York TimesRudolph has already won Emmy Awards for playing Harris on the show.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe front-runnerNecessity is the mother of invention, and now that “S.N.L.” needs a Harris impersonator to play a prominent role this fall, Maya Rudolph is clearly the mother to call on. An “S.N.L.” cast member from 2000 to 2007, Rudolph began playing Harris in guest appearances during the Democratic primaries in 2019, racking up some highly GIF-able moments and winning two Emmy Awards along the way. Rudolph appeared as Harris 10 times through 2021, and the woman herself, in social media posts, appeared to approve of the portrayal. “S.N.L.” has not confirmed that Rudolph will play Harris, but Deadline has reported that production on her Apple TV+ series, “Loot,” has been pushed back to make room for her return to the show — as everyone and their mother seems to be clamoring for.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Taylor Swift Fans Crave a Presidential Endorsement

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      Taylor Swift’s coveted support went to President Biden in 2020. A shadowy figure in an Instagram photo led some fans to make the leap that she will champion Kamala Harris.Are they just seeing things, or does that silhouette of a Taylor Swift backup dancer resemble Vice President Kamala Harris?The internet army of Swift fans often treats decoding the pop star’s Easter eggs as a part-time job, so speculation spread when some suggested that a photo Ms. Swift had posted to Instagram from her Eras Tour, which has been crisscrossing Europe this summer, could be a hint at support for a certain presidential ticket.And yet, there has been no endorsement from Ms. Swift, who has increasingly thrown her outsize influence behind progressive politics. In October 2020, her pronouncement of support for Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not leave anything up for interpretation.The photo in question, which Ms. Swift included in a post about her recent concerts in Warsaw, aligns with a standard transition from the tour in which her backup dancers — wearing pantsuits not unlike the kind that Ms. Harris happens to favor — strut offstage between songs.Despite the counterarguments, some Swifties were convinced that the post was a coded message. A liberal segment of the fandom is eager for the singer to make her allegiances known, and the leap underscores Ms. Swift’s power as someone who can influence electoral politics in a single social media post. (In 2023, one Instagram post of hers led to 35,000 new voter registrations.)A representative for Ms. Swift did not immediately respond to a question about the fandom’s reaction to the singer’s post.Ms. Swift’s Democratic leanings and her supercharged cultural prominence on N.F.L. broadcasts last season have irritated supporters of the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, some of whom have pushed conspiracy theories that her presence was meant to boost President Biden’s now-scrambled re-election. Ms. Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, named Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota her running mate on Tuesday.The chatter about Ms. Swift’s recent Instagram post revived debate over the role of a pop star in politics.“If we’re going to pay that much money as consumers, you don’t need to serve up politics for that,” Harris Faulkner, the Fox News host, said on television after the speculation about the concert photo swept the internet. “When people pay to see you, just perform.”The Eras Tour has been on its major European leg this summer. On Wednesday, three concerts in Vienna were canceled after Austrian officials announced the arrests of two men whom they accused of plotting a terrorist attack, saying that one of them had focused on several stadium shows Ms. Swift had planned for this week.Ms. Swift had begun to openly flex her electoral influence toward November’s election — but not toward any specific candidate. In March, when Mr. Biden was still at the top of the ticket, Ms. Swift encouraged her millions of Instagram followers to make a plan to vote in the presidential primaries, in a nonpartisan message that urged fans to “vote the people who most represent YOU into power.” More

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      Who’s Afraid of Being Black? Not Kamala, Beyoncé or Kendrick.

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      With her response to Donald Trump’s comments about her background, Kamala Harris showed that Blackness doesn’t need to be explained or defended — an idea underscored by her campaign theme song.Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t take the race bait.A few hours after Donald J. Trump falsely claimed that she suddenly decided to become “a Black person,” Ms. Harris reminded the crowd at a Black sorority convention in Houston that Mr. Trump was resorting to a familiar script. It was the “same old show,” she said, of “divisiveness and disrespect.”She chose not to deflect attention away from her multicultural heritage or to double down on it. That tactic nullified an implication that being Black is something that needs to be authenticated, explained, disavowed or defended. It underscored that Blackness isn’t something that can be turned on or off.Like Ms. Harris, my father is the child of an Indian mother and a Black father. Both he and his parents were born in and emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago. Because of him, I saw up close what Ms. Harris is conveying: that it’s possible to refuse to pit one heritage against the other even as you embrace Blackness as your primary political identity.“My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters,” Ms. Harris wrote in “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” her 2019 memoir. “She knew her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”Ms. Harris, like my dad, considers her Blackness something to be celebrated and, at times, protected.Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar perform her song “Freedom,” now used by the Kamala Harris campaign, at the BET Awards in 2016.Matt Sayles/Invision, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Late Night Breaks Down ‘Kamala Is Brat’

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      The Harris campaign’s embrace of the Gen Z term puzzled cable news analysts of a certain age, but Stephen Colbert was glad to clear things up.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.New BratitudeSocial media has been ablaze with Kamala Harris memes since her candidacy for president was announced. The pop star Charli XCX proclaimed that “Kamala is brat,” and the Harris campaign embraced the label, leading to some puzzlement on cable news channels.“If you’re a little confused about this brat thing, you’re not as confused as CNN,” Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday, cutting to a clip of Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins and other panelists earnestly discussing the Gen Z concept.“Because nothing says ‘I am hep to what’s hip’ like printing out a meme and putting on your reading glasses.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“All of their kids are watching like, ‘If you want to know what the definition of cringe is, this is it.’” — JIMMY FALLONColbert triumphantly pointed to an article declaring that he, himself, is brat. “It is my certified bratitude that empowers me to do this,” he said, launching into a TikTok dance routine to Charli XCX’s “Apple” as his audience cheered him on.“Your move, Tapper.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Tyler Perry Edition)“That’s right, Kamala raised $81 million in 24 hours. She would have raised even more, but Melania hit her daily withdrawal limit.” — JIMMY FALLON“Now there’s only one other Black woman who’s made that much money in a weekend, and that woman’s name is Tyler Perry.” — LAMORNE MORRIS, guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”“She became the presumptive nominee in 48 hours. To put that in perspective, it’s been more than three years, and we still don’t have a new James Bond. By the way, Joe is available.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Yeah, Kamala is a hit, and I think I know why — she’s way younger than Trump and wears less eyeliner than JD Vance.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe Nigerian singer-songwriter Ayra Starr performed a medley of two tracks from her new album, “The Year I Turned 21,” on Tuesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightRyan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the stars of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” will co-guest-host “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday.Also, Check This Out“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” has been woefully neglected. Maybe it was the culottes?Cate Cameron/LionsgateThe overlooked 2021 comedy from Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” deserves a second chance this summer. More

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      ‘Veep’ Comparisons Dominate Social Media as Biden Endorses Kamala Harris

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      After news broke that President Biden would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, the internet was rife with clips and memes from the show.Kamala Harris hits the campaign trail after President Biden exits. Follow live updates.“Veep,” HBO’s merciless satire of Washington politics, went out with a gleeful whimper in 2019, a casualty of the Trump presidency.“We felt we couldn’t keep up with that,” Frank Rich, an executive producer of the series, said on Monday.Maybe they could — the final months of the Biden presidency seem to have revived interest in “Veep.” When news broke on Sunday that President Biden would not seek re-election and would instead endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, the politics-obsessed who were searching for a pop-culture allegory found an obvious one in the show. The internet was suddenly rife with “Veep” clips, GIFs and fancams. Max played along, featuring the show prominently on its homepage. On social media platforms, it dominated the discourse, with comments in Russian, Portuguese, French, Italian and Dutch.“Was the HBO show ‘Veep’ just a documentary filmed in the past about the future?” one post read. “Now we know what HBO’s ‘Veep’ writers were doing during the strike,” read another.This barbed spike in cultural relevance is owed mostly to the Season 2 finale, in which the show’s venal vice president, Selina Meyer (an exuberant, oblivious Julia Louis-Dreyfus), learned that the president would not seek re-election. “I’m not leaving — POTUS is leaving,” she tells her staff in one widely circulated clip. “I’m going to run. I’m going to run for president.”“Veep” ran on HBO from 2012 to 2019. Nominated for 68 Emmys, it won 17, including three awards for outstanding comedy series and six consecutive best-actress awards for Ms. Louis-Dreyfus. When Ms. Louis-Dreyfus accepted her award in 2016, she used her speech to apologize for the current political climate.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More