Brat and bravado Forget the policies: this election is being fought on vibes

Now the Democrats have found their vice-presidential candidate in Tim Walz, can anyone say what either of the US parties plan to do if they win? Of course not.

- Sam Wolfson

Donald Trump says immigration is bad, but having claimed a wall would fix things, he's pretty much run out of options. The Democrats are pro-reproductive freedoms, antiinflation and environmentally friendly, but what do they plan to do about it? It's not at all clear.

Not to worry. This election is not being fought on policies or accomplishments. It's being fought on vibes. In the vibes election, huge political moments keep being superseded by online ephemera: Trump was almost assassinated, but what resonated was how cool he looked in photos afterwards.

Kamala Harris became the first Democratic nominee in modern times not to go through a primary process, but what landed was Charli xcx tweeting "Kamala is brat".

Within minutes, Harris's team had changed their official campaign X header to brat green.