by As you may have noticed, Taylor Swift is everywhere: selling out stadiums on the Eras tour; fill theaters with her concert film; appearing on her television screen from a luxury suite at Kansas City Chiefs games, cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
And now he lives rent-free in the heads of Fox News hosts.
After reports that Biden’s re-election campaign was seeking an endorsement from the superstar (who endorsed President Biden in 2020), the network’s commentators put on their culture war helmets. “Don’t get involved in politics!” Jeanine Pirro urged her. “We don’t want to see you there!” Another commenter, Charly Arnolt, pleaded: “Please don’t believe everything Taylor Swift says.” Sean Hannity addressed the issue on prime time: “You might want to think twice.”
Fox’s anxiety attack follows months in which MAGA commentators have woven baroque conspiracy theories about the power couple: that Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce’s romance was a setup; that the NFL was rigging the Super Bowl for the Chiefs; and that it was all an unholy plot to boost Biden’s eventual endorsement. Fox host Jesse Watters even flirted with speculation, floating the idea that Swift’s success was a psychological operation planned by the Department of Defense.
In retrospect, “Paul is Dead” lacked imagination.
Of course, people have the right to weigh in on celebrities’ political speech or the possible existence of a secret Pentagon diva lab. But if Fox News hosts really think it’s irresponsible and dangerous to invite celebrities to weigh in on politics, they might want to turn their attention to…Fox News.
Over the years, Fox has invited Gene Simmons, the bassist of Kiss, to talk about managing an Ebola outbreak. He had the fashion model. fabio to blame liberalism for crime in California. He gave us Kid Rock in cancel culture. Last year, actor Jim Caviezel declared Donald J. Trump “the new Moses” on “Fox & Friends.”
And let’s not forget that Fox was instrumental in the entry into politics of a certain TV personality, whom you may know best as the candidate Biden will likely run against.
In March 2011, the network announced a new weekly segment on “Fox & Friends”: “Mondays With Trump.” Each week, the host of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” a frequent guest on the network for years, deplored the Obama administration’s policies and explained to the hosts why he had fired people like Gary Busey and LaToya Jackson on the episode of this week.
Through his natalist crusade, through his tweeting Although Obama’s 2012 victory over Mitt Romney was “a total farce and a travesty,” Trump’s bond with Fox and its audience only deepened.
Trump did not attract Fox viewers despite his celebrity; He appealed, at least in part, because of his celebrity. For years they had heard liberal speeches at the Oscars; They had been told, especially by Fox, that Hollywood celebrities were dismissive of their beliefs. Now, here was a real primetime network celebrity who spoke his language and was on his side.
It’s not simply that Fox welcomed celebrities who aligned with its politics. (His hosts also tend to speak well of Ronald Reagan, who knew his way around a movie set.) He has done as much as any other force to celebrate conservative politics and infuse it with entertainment values.
Fox, from its early days under talk-show producer-turned-political-operative Roger Ailes, cultivated a sense of dazzle. A Fox executive once described “Fox & Friends” as “an entertainment show that features some news”; Glenn Beck, its early Obama-era star, called his show “the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.”
More broadly, Fox has long embraced a kind of pop-politics culture war that made a martyr of Roseanne Barr and a demon from Kathy Griffin, and that encouraged his viewers to wonder if his beer was too liberal. Like right-wing editor Andrew Breitbart (adapting an idea from Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci), he believed that politics follows culture.
But he has been selective about which celebrities should stay in his lane and which should merge. After LeBron James criticized then-President Trump in a 2018 interview, Fox’s Laura Ingraham told him that “Shut up and haggle.” The former quarterback’s endorsement of Mr. Trump Brett Favre and the golf champion Jack Nicklausfor some reason, they were unobjectionable.
Meanwhile, much of the criticism of Swift seems tinged with condescension, suggesting that a 33-year-old pop star is a gullible ingénue, ready to be fooled by political operatives. “Does Taylor realize that the guy they want her to support is kind of a mess and a klutz?” Hannity asked, raising a concern he hadn’t expressed when interviewing, say, the right-wing rocker. Ted Nugent (“Never be ashamed to share your opinions!”).
Do Fox conservatives really have anything to worry about? There is a good argument that political endorsements from celebrities are rarely significant. Academic researchers have applied that Oprah’s blessing helped get Obama a million votes in 2008; Furthermore, in 2018 Swift endorsed a Democrat in a Tennessee Senate race that he lost handily. Since 2020, it is true that her fame level has gone from “star” to “molten cosmic supercluster from which galaxies are born.” Still, it’s just a guess that her influence could translate into votes.
However, another celebrity principle can apply here: the Streisand effect. Just as Barbra Streisand’s attempt to remove the photos from her home only drew more attention to them, Fox’s opposition could magnify any support for Swift. She could even spark blowback if she manages to turn the perception of the story into the GOP versus the Swifties, conservative scolding against a wildly popular millennial woman, red America versus “red (Taylor version)” America.
But bashing celebrities, fighting over culture and playing on fears of cultural marginalization may be too deeply ingrained in Fox’s sensibilities for the network to act otherwise. As Swift would sing: Look what they made themselves do.
