I was never a Swiftie nor a huge Chiefs fan, so I was rooting for Lamar Jackson and the stout Baltimore Ravens defense to trounce them. If not for Zay Flowers’ unlucky fumble at the goal-line and Ravens quarterback Jackson’s ill-advised throw during the next drive, the Ravens could have booked a ticket to Super Bowl LVIII.
I wish this happened instead of the right-wing pulling a crazy conspiracy out of its ass and trying to shift headlines to its deranged narrative. Taylor Swift has shown her support for liberal causes since 2018 when she endorsed former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen for his unsuccessful Senate campaign in her home state of Tennessee, and she endorsed President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020.
Her credentials as a reliable supporter of liberal causes is probably what caused this pre-emptive strike on America’s most popular star by former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
On the morning after the Chiefs won, Ramaswamy made a baseless claim that the Super Bowl would be rigged in favor of them. He said in a post on X, “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. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”
“Just some wild speculation here” is an understatement, to say the least. It’s not unreasonable for Ramaswamy to speculate that Swift will endorse Biden. But his claim that the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl matters for political purposes is ridiculous.
Even he admits the endorsement will strategically be announced in the fall. But by that time, no one will care who the Super Bowl winner was. And if Ramaswamy really thinks that the NFL is a liberal tool for the Biden administration, he clearly hasn’t watched football in the past few years.
Enter Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick remains a pariah in the NFL world. Years after his bold protest by kneeling against racial injustice and police brutality, he still wasn’t signed by an NFL team.
There are complex reasons why he was never signed, but it was indubitable that he was a starting NFL quarterback (or at least a capable backup quarterback). The reaction by NFL executives was harsh; they thought Kaepernick was a “traitor” and his kneeling protest during the national anthem was “un-American.”
The NFL isn’t a bastion of liberal thought.
What makes Ramaswamy’s comments and Kaepernick’s treatment in the NFL so relevant is that it shows the right’s descent into the hyper-politization of everything.
Part of the searing Republican response to Swift is her partner’s support for COVID-19 vaccinations. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, or “Mr. Pfizer” as some conservatives dubbed him, starred in commercials for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, encouraging people to get vaccinated. Conspiracy theories and “wild speculations” rule the Republican Party.
Ultimately, conservative hatred of Swift and Kelce is a clear attempt to disparage her fanbase of young people. As Newsmax host Eric Bolling puts it, “she [Swift] is a useful idiot in a political warfare, and that poll [one in five voters will vote for Swift’s endorsed candidate] proves it. Her followers are lemmings who vote not based on issues but based on who their idol likes.”
To cement their fiery conservative base, Republicans are disparaging Swift and an overwhelming horde of young voters. To them, Swift and Kelce are convenient scapegoats who appeal to a group of voters who wouldn’t vote for their vision of America in a million years.
This backlash toward Swift won’t be fruitful in swaying any opinions, but it does confirm that the conservative movement is emboldened enough to politicize anything for its agenda. Joan Donavan, assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University, said this is a play for “capturing and monetizing attention.”
This hyper-politicization of Swift and the NFL reflects an evolved, modern brand of combative conservatism. The fires of conservatism will burn brighter with this hit toward an independent, successful woman in Swift. You can see every conservative commentator with more than three people in their audience going after her.
But, in the long term, monetized hatred will never triumph over a great American cultural icon.
Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 21-year-old political science and history senior from Alexandria.
