Kamala Harris campaign's 'time for an upgrade' Pelosi meme backfires

The Kamala Harris campaign's attempted "Time for an upgrade" meme didn't go as intended. The Kamala Harris campaign's attempted "Time for an upgrade" meme didn't go as intended. Photo: Twitter Photo: Twitter Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close Kamala Harris campaign's 'time for an upgrade' Pelosi meme backfires 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump tweeted an image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi standing up during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in an attempt to mock her, but this backfired.

On Thursday, the Kamala Harris campaign altered the image and replaced President Trump with the California senator and 2020 hopeful, this also backfired.

Harris campaign national press secretary Ian Sams tweeted the edited image with the caption "Time for an upgrade," but many were left scratching their heads.

Some wondered why Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, would be standing up and berating a Democratic president. Others wondered why President Harris would retain Trump cabinet officials such as Stephen Mnuchin. Harris and Mnuchin have a complicated history dating back to 2012, when she was attorney general of California and he was the CEO of OneWest Bank.

Furthermore, others pointed out that the blue "crop line" wasn't properly removed, and Harris resembled a Force Ghost from the Star Wars franchise. From there, others started making their own "time for an upgrade" memes, swapping out President Trump for just about anyone, whether it be Danny DeVito or Cersei Lannister.

Sams later deleted the tweet, and told SFGate he was targeted by "rightwing trolls."

"When I tried to make the point that we needed more than one strong woman leading a branch of government, rightwing trolls spammed my account," he said in an email.

However, it wasn't just conservatives poking fun at the image.

The Twitter account of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who ran a 2020 presidential campaign before dropping out and endorsing Bernie Sanders, tweeted, "'I can't wait until Nancy Pelosi is berating my boss!'" to describe his perception of what the image was saying.

Sams also responded to one of the mock-images that replaced Trump with Philadelphia Flyers mascot "Gritty," and wrote, "ok this is funny."

Click through the slideshow above to see reactions to the Kamala Harris "Time for an upgrade" meme.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting