After Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, the Democratic party embraced the friendship bracelet as a meme and merch. Now women are wearing them to signal that they didn’t vote for Trump.
Hunter Schwarz • November 2024
Last time Donald Trump was elected president, his leaked comments about grabbing women inspired the pink pussyhat, an early symbol of “resistance” during his first term in office. So far, Trump’s second election victory has inspired a more subtle sign: a friendship bracelet.
On social media, some white women say they’re making blue friendship bracelets to distinguish themselves from what early exit polls show is a majority of white women who voted for Trump. It’s not a leap for the jewelry item to become a political sign.
Among Taylor Swift fans, friendship bracelets have been in vogue on her Eras Tour after the singer referenced them in her song “You’re on Your Own,” but they started to take on added political significanceduring the presidential race.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign played on the trend with its own “Harris-Walz” bracelets when Swift endorsed the Democratic candidate. After Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s daughter, Hope, gifted him friendship bracelets that read “Joyful Warrior” and “Coach,” he wore them to the vice presidential debate in October. Even today, the official Democratic Party store sells a $20 two-pack of American-made friendship bracelets with clay beads that read “Voter” and “Democrat.”
That friendship bracelets could be an early political symbol of the second Trump administration speaks to the overlap among Swifties and Harris voters, though some Black women see the bracelets as performative and some have criticized them as a form of virtue signaling instead of having conversations with friends and family members. “We didn’t need pink hats,” Dr. Carlotta Berry, an engineering and robotics professor, wrote on X. “We didn’t need blue bracelets… We needed you to get granny, antie, sister, daughter, cousin, mama, memaw, mamaw to the doggone voting booth.”
The bracelets suggest a more low-key way of wearing your politics on your sleeve. Rather than a bright hat worn to a protest, it’s a small piece of everyday jewelry that most people might not notice or give a second thought to. But for people in the know, it sends a message.
