If the 2020 presidential election taught us anything, it’s that the MAGA crowd aren’t the best sports when it comes to losing. Still, it’s rather shocking the lengths to which the far right is currently going to undercut Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of Super Bowl LVIII — and more pointedly, ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
In Republicans and Fox News’ persistent quest to turn everything into part of the culture wars, Taylor Swift has become public enemy number one. The New York Times released a shocking deep dive piece this week exploring the roots of the anti-Swiftie agenda.
Sounds like most of the nonsensical conspiracy theories surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship being “artificial” and the Super Bowl somehow being “rigged” for the Chiefs stem from Republicans fear of Swift’s potential influence over voters due to her extreme popularity at the moment. We’ve already reported on the strong extent to which Taylor Swift could affect the outcome of the election, and Republicans certainly are justified to be fearful.
The New York Times reports that “the right has been fuming about Ms. Swift since September, when she urged her fans on Instagram to register to vote, and the online outfit Vote.org reported a surge of 35,000 registrations in response.”
The article further notes that Swift “has enormous influence, and has supported Democrats in the past.”
In 2018, when Swift endorsed two democrats in Tennessee (where she owns two homes), Donald Trump unsurprisingly took offense and stepped in with his signature immature shade throwing: “Let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now, OK?”
She then criticized his inept pandemic response in 2020, followed by her endorsing Biden for president.
Obviously Republicans are cowering at the thought of an even more powerful Swift endorsing Biden again in 2024, so they’re letting their conspiracy theory freak flags fly higher than ever before!
Once again the right is showing its knack for extreme creativity when it comes to outlandish fake news (just not when it comes to solving societal problems affecting the lower and middle class). Among the most predominant conspiracy theories circulating right now are “that Ms. Swift is a secret agent of the Pentagon; that she is bolstering her fan base in preparation for her endorsement of President Biden’s re-election; or that she and Mr. Kelce are a contrived couple, assembled to boost the N.F.L. or Covid vaccines or Democrats or whatever.”
Travis Kelce has also been persona non grata with Republicans ever since endorsing the Pfizer Covid vaccine and appearing in an ad for the company earlier this football season.
But now MAGA supporters appear to be coming for the Kansas City Chiefs themselves, going so far as to suggest their Super Bowl victory has been pre-ordained and the whole season is basically rigged.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the former Republican presidential candidate who now seems to be doing his best to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump, posted on social media on Monday, “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.” And I wonder if Vivek Ramaswamy is thirsty for a job on Trump’s hypothetical cabinet.
Fellow Trumper and reason for the face-slap emoji Mike Crispi on Sunday puzzlingly said the NFL is “rigged” to spread “Democrat propaganda”. He added, “Calling it now: KC wins, goes to Super Bowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and ‘endorses’ Joe Biden with Kelce at midfield.” So if that bizarre scenario doesn’t play out, you’ll surely apologize on Monday after the Super Bowl and admit you were wrong, right Mike? Republican talking heads are usually really great about following through on that.
Besides fear of undue influence, the other thing that seems to be driving Republican outrage about the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship is that it “delivered a bruising hit to traditional gender norms, with a rich, powerful woman elevating a successful football player to a new level of fame.”
Another source of consternation for red staters may be the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs seem to have overtaken the Dallas Cowboys as “America’s Team”. Kansas City is far from a “blue” city, but it certainly is more politically liberal than red Texas.
In past seasons the MAGA crowd has had issues spring up organically for it to rally behind during the NFL season — such as their outraged reaction to Black players kneeling as a form of protest during the national anthem.
Trump bragged about how the backlash to the national anthem protests was severely hurting the NFL’s ratings, yet it proved short term — NFL ratings and revenue are higher than ever (thanks in large part to Swift’s popularity).
That’s why MAGA had to manufacture a culture wars controversy this season, yet Swifties don’t seem to be allowing it to work.
Maybe Trump supporters should change tactics and, instead of bashing Democrat-supporting celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, energize the base behind a rock star in their own party. The problem is… there aren’t many. Aaron Rodgers — quite the conspiracy theorist himself these days, and a darling of the far right for spreading vaccine lies and Covid misinformation — is probably their best bet. Either that, or maybe Republicans just need to calm down.
The post Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Chiefs should be outraged at cynical right wing agenda appeared first on ClutchPoints.
