Right On Taylor Swift

Right On Taylor Swift

No one in politics paid Taylor Swift much attention as she emboldened her millions of fans with songs of female empowerment, the need for climate change, messages on the importance of voting, and actions that turned the music world upside down. It wasn’t until she had the temerity to begin a relationship with a star NFL football player and started to attend his games that the MAGA crowd recognized how much of a threat Ms. Swift is and then the attacks and conspiracy theories started to flow.

The silliest theory yet is that she is colluding with the National Football League leadership to rig the Super Bowl in favor of her boyfriend’s team leading up to her endorsement of President Biden for re-election. The warped thinking is that she will somehow bring those in the manly world of the NFL into the Democratic fold and take votes away from the GOPs presumptive nominee using her fleeting appearances on NFL broadcasts and her relationship with an NFL star player.

Fearing the worst, alt-right pundits have gone on attack trying to diminish her fan base of young women and NFL viewers who see her having fun with the Kelce family in the stadium suites during her boyfriend’s games.  Couple that with the AI generated fake pornographic images of Ms. Swift that were recently released and then taken down and one can easily see how much of a threat she is perceived to be. 

Trying to discredit and take down a multi-millionaire feminist icon like Ms. Swift will only backfire. Millions of Swifties have already boarded the train and it has left the station. Attacking their idol will only drive more to her message of feminist empowerment. Should she choose to expressly address the looming election issues of women’s reproductive freedom and economic equality, those not already so inclined will follow her to the polls in November and vote blue up and down the ballot. It is in their self-interest to do just that. I suspect her more subtle messaging has already set those wheels turning.

From the other side of the political divide, Ms. Swift’s presence is but another affirmation that Democrats are on the correct side on the issues that matter to most Americans. 

Democrats stand for women’s reproductive freedom and the healthcare needed to ensure its success. Democrats stand for equality between men and women, including in economic matters. Remember who brought us the Equal Rights Amendment and the Equal Pay Act.

 When Ms. Swift took care of those who helped make her recent Eras Tour a smashing success by giving them substantial bonuses and donated significant sums to animal shelters and food banks in the cities on her tour, she embodied the qualities of empathy and caring about others Democrats embrace.

By her actions and songs, Ms. Swift is already separating young people from their more conservative parental generation. The recent hard right conservative attacks will only deepen that divide.

The GOP right wing is in a stuck place with Ms. Swift. They can ignore her and hope she fades away. They can continue to attack and demonize and hope her fans turn away from her and her message. Neither seems to be a winning strategy. She’s not going away, and she and Travis Kelce are having too much fun. She is resonating with young women voters and doing the right thing as she makes a lot of money.

Taylor Swift is showing the world that women can be strong, take control of what they create, make money, and take care of those around her while having a lot of fun in the process. What’s not to love unless you’re a MAGA Republican. 

I, for one, hope Ms. Swift makes it back from her concert in Tokyo in time to celebrate with the Kelce family as Travis and the Chiefs win the Super Bowl.