Republican voters say they don't care about Swift's conspiracy theories

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WASHINGTON (AP) — To hear some conservatives tell it on cable news or on social media, Taylor Swift is part of a plan designed to help Democrats win the November election.

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“I wonder who will win the Super Bowl next month,” wrote former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in January after the Kansas City Chiefs swept the game with a strong performance by Swift's running mate Travis Kelce. “I'm wondering if there's presidential support for a couple who are artificially bred this fall.”

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Many voters see this conversation as noise to settle.

Ryan Olstun wore a Green Bay Packers hoodie at a recent rally for GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Lancaster, South Carolina. Olston said she supports former President Donald Trump and wants celebrities to keep their politics private. But Olst doesn't look to celebrities like Swift and Kelce for endorsements.

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“Couldn't care less,” he said. “To each his own.”

At recent Republican political events, many were ambivalent about the pop star, with some suggesting that the media coverage of Swift and Kelce's relationship was a pretext to drum up future support for Democratic President Joe Biden. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the US government is running a covert operation involving Swift – some tight lipped, others not.

Some Republican strategists say the focus on Swift could hurt the party.

“People just want to like Taylor Swift. They want to be able to watch football and listen to its music and not consider the political implications,” said Matt Gorman, vice president of Targeted Victory, a Republican political consulting firm. “I'm asking people who are thinking about this to go out and touch the grass. Most everyday people don't have the time or energy to care.”

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Haley's supporter Susan Cummins, who moved from New Jersey to Charleston, South Carolina, about two years ago, said her social media feeds have been flooded with messages about the couple. He thinks Swift is a “good performer,” but Cummins isn't a big fan. He follows the Philadelphia Eagles, but doesn't watch much football.

Cummins is well-versed in conspiracy theories and thinks it's “really far-fetched” that the whole thing is a “hoax”.

Cummins said, “I think there's going to be all sorts of forces that would do something like this.”

Conspiracy theories attract more attention when they target the most famous individuals and institutions. The latest right-wing conspiracy theories combine Swift with claims from the most watched sports event in the US and a pivotal presidential election, making any intersection of events ripe for conspiracy theories.

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“The good news is that people don't believe in conspiracy theories any more than they used to. The bad news is they believe them more than we care or realize,” said Joseph Uscinski, a political science professor at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories.

“If the right Pied Piper emerges, people can be mobilized, sometimes with very devastating consequences,” Uscinski said.

Trump supporter Mellissa Best of Florence, South Carolina, was unaware of the Swift theories. But Best said he wouldn't be surprised if powerful people tried to use Swift's influence to boost Biden's popularity among young people. Best said that if she had young children, she wouldn't want them to attend Swift's concerts.

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“I believe that these leftists will do anything to stay in power,” he said. “It wouldn't surprise me.”

Despite Republicans and Democrats alike believing in conspiracy theories, Uscinski said Trump “turned the game on its head” in 2016 and pushed conspiracy thinking to the forefront of conservative politics, making cases against Swift more frequent due to new incentives. politics.

Swift endorsed Biden in 2020. He also endorsed former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, in his 2018 Senate bid against Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn.

While many of the same political rules apply to Swift's endorsement, one new challenge for Republicans to dismiss the drama is that celebrity culture is now a mainstay of American politics.

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“Since 2016, for obvious reasons, it has been difficult for Republicans to make the case that celebrities should stay out of politics,” said David Jackson, a political scientist at Bowling Green State University who studies political endorsements. “Trump has created a new way for the presidency, from celebrity culture to the Oval Office,” Jackson said.

Conspiracy theories have also become an issue in the campaign, with Republican lawmakers dismissing the claims against Swift, as well as the importance of any potential endorsement for the 2024 election.

“Taylor Swift started her career writing songs about picking the wrong person, so I don't think she needs advice now,” Carolyn Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump's 2024 campaign, told Fox News. Sean Hannity. Levitt added that Democrats' eagerness to endorse Swift shows they are “frightened by the possibility of running Biden out of the White House.”

Haley recently told an audience that she doesn't understand “what obsession is.”

“You're allowed to be Taylor Swift's boyfriend. Taylor Swift is a good artist. I've taken my daughter to Taylor Swift concerts before. It's amazing that there's a conspiracy theory to this whole thing,” he said.

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