The Real Taylor Swift Threat

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

When Taylor Swift was born I was seven years older than she is now - and Joe Biden and Donnie Trump were even older than that - so I am far less knowledgable of her music than my grandchildren are, but I am definitely aware of, and enjoying, Taylor Swift's impact on our culture, and in particular on the current American political scene.

The pop star is coming off of a world tour that grossed over a billion dollars, the first concert tour in history to ever hit that mark.  She has sold over 13 million albums, won 12 Grammy awards along with countless other awards and honors - and Forbes Magazine says that she is worth at least $1.1 billion.

USA Today recently hired a full-time reporter to cover Taylor Swift, and a professor at the University of Kansas has created and is teaching a course on "the Sociology of Taylor Swift."

But Taylor Swift's biggest achievement to date, at least from my very limited perspective, is that she is driving the MAGA world even more insane than they already were.

Donald Trump, the head of the MAGA boil and the most insecure president in US history, said this week that he is more popular than Taylor Swift and that he has more committed followers.  (He wishes - and Trump definitely has more followers than Swift who should be committed.)    The good news for Trump supporters is that so far he has not confused her with Nancy Pelosi - or Nikki Haley, but it's still a long time until November.

The rumors that the GOP, and particularly the MAGA vermin, are spreading involve some feared future involvement by Taylor Swift in the election that would benefit Joe Biden.   Ms. Swift, who is fairly non-political, did endorse Joe Biden in 2020, but was not actively engaged in his campaign.  Now the Biden campaign is again seeking her endorsement, but it has yet to materialize.  The rumors coming out of the Republican Party concern a general fear that she will endorse Biden and become very active in the campaign, and they probably see early accusations of partisanship as helping to inoculate the public against her eventual involvement in the race.

Taylor Swift is also dating Travis Kelce, a professional football player with the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs.  The GOP rumor mill is pumping out a general, ill-defined sludge suggesting that the Swift-Kelce relationship is somehow an intentional pairing that was concocted by someone (maybe George Soros?) to ultimately sway the 2024 election to Biden.  Then, when Kansas City recently secured a spot in the Super Bowl,  the rumor was enhanced to suggest that the big game was somehow rigged and that a Swift-Kelce endorsement of Biden might be part of the victory celebration.

How sad that a sitting president thinks that he needs a pop star's endorsement, a former president is wracked with jealousy over an iconic singer, and an entire political party appears to be focused on limiting the influence of an entertainer.  It all sounds like fodder for the KU sociology class.

Taylor Swift's real power in the current election cycle is her ability to connect with young people and get them registered to vote.  The prospect of big numbers of new young voters is probably unnerving to both parties, but that's the future so let's bring it on.  It's time that our leaders were forced to speak honestly about the raging climate crisis, the horrors being inflicted by American armaments on children in Gaza, and a whole litany of social and economic abuses that older American political leaders have imposed on society over generations to protect privilege.

Here is something to ponder:  Taylor Swift will be 35-years-old, the minimum age required to serve as President of the United States, on December 13th of this year - 38 days before the next presidential coronation inauguration.  Start that rumor, Ronna.

(How sad that the founding fathers failed to include maximum ages for public officials in the Constitution.)