Look what they made her do! Taylor Swift just got political on Instagram.
Taylor Swift has long kept her political views to herself, and in the age of Trump, that’s an increasingly difficult thing to do.
Newspaper editorials have even expressed frustration with Swift’s silence, considering it an implicit endorsement of Trump, and leading to even more articles about whether or not it’s okay for a pop star to remain silent in such politically turbulent times. But in an Instagram post on Sunday, Swift broke her silence, for the first time in any election cycle, endorsing a specific candidate.
She wrote: “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.”
She said her vote for representatives in her home state of Tennessee would be based on human rights, and that “I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.” Swift said she’s appalled by Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn’s voting record as a member of the House, and for this reason she’s supporting Democrat Phil Bredesen.
She also endorsed incumbent Congressman Jim Cooper in his reelection campaign in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district. She ends with a plea to get out and vote, no matter one’s political opinions.
She wrote: “For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.” Now, this sudden statement, and endorsement of Democratic candidates, have simultaneously thrilled some and ruffled the feathers of others.
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Director Rob Reiner tweeted: “A big shout out to @taylorswift13. for speaking out. You can single handedly change this country. Impress on your fans how critical and powerful their voices are. If you get them to the polls on Nov.6, everything you care about will be protected. #VOTE”. @eclecticbrotha tweeted: “Taylor Swift cares more about black people than Kanye West and now I need to lay down because I got a headache just from tweeting that.” : Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said: “So @taylorswift13 has every right to be political but it won’t impact election unless we allow 13 yr old girls to vote. Still with #MarshaBlackburn” And conservative commentator Charlie Kirk wrote: “Hey @taylorswift13 – You just endorsed a Democrat in the Tennessee senate race with a ridiculous statement saying Marsha Blackburn, a woman, is against women. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Your career has never recovered since Kanye ended it.”
Okay, you can vote for whoever you want, but what Charlie said there is just plain wrong. Marsha Blackburn did vote against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, and she voted against several equal pay bills in the House as well. So, what Taylor Swift said in her post is true. She also never said that Marsha Blackburn is “against women.”
She just pointed out Blackburn’s voting record and said that they don’t represent her values.
And saying that her career hasn’t recovered since Kanye ended it? That’s an insane thing to say. Since Kanye took the mic from her at the VMAs in 2009, she’s released four multi-platinum albums and performed multiple sold-out tours that have earned her hundreds of millions of dollars. Kanye just deleted his Twitter feed due to his ever growing unpopularity.
Now, Swift’s endorsement comes in a pretty close race in Tennessee. A Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Blackburn with a 2-pt lead over Bredesen, though they consider the race a statistical toss-up.
Which means if Bredesen does end up winning this race in traditionally-red Tennessee, and the youth vote is higher-than-expected, it would not be totally unreasonable to credit Taylor Swift.
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Here’s one more reaction from Twitter to emphasize just how unexpected this is. Kara R. Brown tweeted: “If you had told me two years ago Kanye would be running around in a MAGA hat while Taylor Swift was endorsing democratic candidates, I would have smacked you to the ground and stolen your wallet for wasting my time.”
What do you guys think about Taylor Swift endorsing Democratic candidates? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
