Hey – I’m back!!! After a few days concentrating on Pole Vaulting (a whole different side of my life) – it’s back to politics and the great American sport – Football!!
Swifty
Taylor Swift is the most successful pop-star in the world. Her current tour grossed over a Billion dollars in sixty shows in 2023. And she’s still going strong To put that in perspective, it’s already the highest grossing show ever, beating out Elton Jon’s prolonged “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour which capped at “just” $939 million (Forbes).
The thirty-four year old was born in Pennsylvania, but at fourteen her Dad moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a singing career (thanks Wikipedia!!). She’s such a big “star” today, that internet hits crowd the screen search, and the “standard” Wikipedia page is more than halfway down. I’m not a “Swifty”, but from the looks of it, I’m one of the few in the world who’s not. Her business position in the “Pop World” is so strong, that when she couldn’t buy the rights back for her first album, she re-recorded and released it again. And that was so popular, she’s doing the next five albums as well (Parade). She’s released eighteen albums total so far.
NFL
It’s a fairy tale come true; a young, beautiful woman from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania comes to Nashville and makes it to the top. And the tale goes on: now Taylor is in love with future NFL Hall of Fame Tight End Travis Kelce. Travis and his quarterback Patrick Mehomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, are arguably the best combination in NFL history. They led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl four times in the last five years (winning two). Only Joe Burrow and my Bengals stood in the way in 2022 (I had to put that in – look out for 2024 – Who Dey!!).
The NFL ain’t stupid (usually). And neither are the television networks covering the Chief’s games. What’s not to like: a Hall of Fame duo on the field, and the most popular singer in the world in the box, cheering on her man. It’s the high school homecoming queen story writ large. Everyone in the stadium is watching the game, and watching Taylor’s reactions as well. (Even better when Travis’s future Hall of Fame brother Jason of the Philadelphia Eagles, comes to the game, hangs out with the crowd, and chugs beers shirtless in ten degree weather!!).
Conspiracy Theory
So why would the MAGA-Republican Party align itself against the Swift/Kelce combination? It’s football and pop music, Nashville and the Great American Game (sorry baseball), the stars aligned, a fairy tale of American life. But that’s what they’re doing.
Taylor spoke out about Tennessee’s MAGA-Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn in 2018. The thirty-four year old business success was against Blackburn, who stands against women’s rights to fair and equal pay and employment, and women’s health rights. Then in 2020, Swift came out for Joe Biden, and urged her fans to get out and vote. Millions did.
And what about Travis? He is a prominent figure in drug company Pfizer’s campaign encouraging folks to get the Covid vaccine. And that makes for a toxic combination as far as the MAGA-Republicans are concerned: a Biden supporter and a “vaxxer”.
Now all of that sound fantastical to seasoned political observers. Attacking the Swift-Kelce relationship, the Homecoming King and Queen of the Nation, is like attacking America itself. But it’s happening, and not just in the dark corners of the Internet on Redditt or Telegram. There’s even the “rumor” that somehow the “Biden Crime Family” and the “Deep State” conspired to raise Swift’s to the top of the charts, then place her with Kelce in the biggest sports venue in election year 2024 America, the Super Bowl. A lot of fans (Bengal fans) think the referees are generous in calling penalties for the Chiefs, but who knew that Joe Biden was behind it all?
Deep State
Let’s see, rig Nashville (a MAGA stronghold), and rig the NFL. If Democrats were that good, how did we ever lose the House of Representatives or all of those state Governorships? It’s fantastical, and it must be to all but the most dedicated MAGA-hat owners. But it’s still a part of a much bigger MAGA strategy.
It all goes back to Steve Bannon, and the “Deep State”. Bannon believes that the “establishment”, the foundational institutions of the American government are corrupted by the “progressives”. Every time MAGA-world can weaken those institutions in the eyes of Americans, it makes an autocratic leader figure look better. And their strong-man, of course, is Donald Trump.
That’s why the MAGA-Republican House of Representatives is threatening impeachment for President Biden and members of his Cabinet. Those impeachment charges are doomed in the Senate, but that’s not the point. The point is to shake American confidence in the institution of the Presidency (while Biden holds the office) and his administration. It’s also the way MAGA makes “lemonade out of lemons” in the multiple Court cases Trump faces. Trump isn’t really an insurrectionist, or careless with classified documents, or a sexual assaulter, or a serial harasser or a crooked businessman. No, he’s a victim of the Deep State, of progressive-infected institutions. So if you can’t trust them, you must turn to an autocrat; because, as we “know”, “Only HE can fix it”.
The Congress, the Executive Branch, the Courts: now the MAGA-Republican world is attacking two other American institutions. They’ve already taken some runs against the NFL, we all remember Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem. Now they can double-down against that American institution, and get back at Taylor Swift in the process. It’s just another “brick in the wall” (definitely not a Swift song) in deconstructing the Deep State.
If I were a betting man, I’d bet on Taylor and Travis against the MAGA nonsense. But if I were a betting man, I would already have lost my shirt betting for the Bengals.
