3 ms·

What conspiracy? If anything, it's overt: "The biggest and most influential endorsement target is Ms. Swift, 34, the pop sensation and N.F.L. enthusiast, who c

What conspiracy? If anything, it's overt: "The biggest and most influential endorsement target is Ms. Swift, 34, the pop sensation and N.F.L. enthusiast, who can move millions of supporters with an Instagram post or a mid-concert aside. She endorsed Mr. Biden in 2020 and, last year, a single Instagram post of hers led to 35,000 new voter registrations. Fund-raising appeals from Ms. Swift could be worth millions of dollars for Mr. Biden. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a top Biden surrogate, all but begged Ms. Swift to become more involved in Mr. Biden’s campaign when he spoke to reporters after a Republican primary debate in September. “Taylor Swift stands tall and unique,” he said. “What she was able to accomplish just in getting young people activated to consider that they have a voice and that they should have a choice in the next election, I think, is profoundly powerful.” The chatter around Ms. Swift and the potential of reaching her 279 million Instagram followers reached such intensity that the Biden team urged applicants in a job posting for a social media position not to describe their Taylor Swift strategy — the campaign had enough suggestions already. One idea that has been tossed around, a bit in jest: sending the president to a stop on Ms. Swift’s Eras Tour." That's from the NYT, btw: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/us/politics/biden-trump-election-taylor-swift.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/us/politics/biden-trump-e... - and there are tons of other similar coverage about how they're courting her. If something is removed from the truth, it's Monmouth University Poll's spin. I guess the thinking process was: "We asked people how many believe this Taylor Swift used in favor of Biden story, and X% said they did. So we're going to say that 'X% believe in a 'T.S. conspiracy theory'. We don't need to clarify what they believe in exactly, or explain in what way it's a 'conspiracy theory' as opposed to overt courting with behind-the-scenes favors exchanged".

bell-cot 3y ago
> What conspiracy? If anything... Beyond a certain level of anxiety / paranoia / dissociation from reality, everything can be a "conspiracy". The word ends up describing an emotional state.
- pinkmuffinere 3y ago
  Ya, calling it a conspiracy when it’s publicly discussed is very strange language. If somebody says they think there’s a conspiracy with Taylor Swift and the election, I assume their belief goes far beyond what’s publicly obvious
  - coldtea 3y ago
    Or it's just casual talk about "they try to get her to promote them, and they are in talks/give her money/favors to ensore him". That's a conspiracy (in the literal sense), people can call it a conspiracy, and it's also probably what's going on (or could very realistically go down like that). It's not however a conspiracy in these sense of "illuminati", and it's weasely for media (or in this case, this university poll writeup) to conflate the two cases, to make those people look bad.
    - pinkmuffinere 3y ago
      Good point, that’s a believable making as well in the right context
uberman 3y ago
Swift having and voicing an opinion is not a "conspiracy". She should be able to, as any American, hold and feel free to voice her beliefs. Of course she might choose not to do so no matter who begs and that is also fine. There is no conspiracy here. You might or might not like it that she could do so, but others might like or not like that Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow can and do so. The "conspiracy" is/was that Swift is an active psyOp warrior in the employ of the CIA and/or Pentagon, that the Super Bowl is/was rigged to get the Chiefs into the game, a game that would be scripted so that they would win. Then, in the post game celebration Swift would be whisked onto the field where she would gush in the afterglow of the Cheif's victory and then live on camera she would endorse Biden. Some additionally believed that following her endorsement Biden himself would be choppered into the stadium and appear with Swift. Per the poll, "Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?" 18% of people surveyed believe that Swift is a psyop warrior and that the Super Bowl and in fact the entire NFL season was scripted to get her into position to complete her mission. Presumably a mission now thwarted thanks to it's unmasking.
- coldtea 3y ago
  >"Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?" Which doesn't need to be anything about a "CIA psyop". I believe the above is (or could very realistically be) the case, and I could very well answer "yes" to that, without any "CIA psyop" need be involved. In other words, that people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly, and perhaps do a few stunts with him (with or without an exchange of money or favors involved), for the obvious election marketing reasons. That's not the same as a conspiracy in the "illuminati" or "CIA is behind this" sense (as it's made to be), nor is it the same as just "Swift having and voicing an opinion".
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    > people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly sounds like you're making "covert" do a lot of work here; as far as I have seen that effort is better described by "overt"
krapp 3y ago
I think it's not so much that it's a conspiracy per se, as that a certain political demographic can't interpret any political activity from the Democratic party through a non-conspiratorial lens. That dark forces rigged the Super Bowl to spread Democrat propaganda, that Swift is a government plant and her relationship with Travis Kelse is a psyop. It can't simply be something as mundane as celebrity endorsement being used to drive political action, which isn't even novel, much less remotely illegal. They insist there must be something nefarious at work. It's like one day all these people woke up and collectively decided Taylor Swift was queen of the Illuminati and it makes no sense. It smells like a meme run amok.
082349872349872 3y ago
> 34.Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not? Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party? Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse anyone with fewer sexual abuse judgements than the presumptive anti-Biden candidate? Were someone to attempt to convince me there was a government effort to get Bridget Ziegler to help Joe Biden, covert would be much more plausible!
- coldtea 3y ago
  >Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party? You think this is about her political opinions? She can have those without endorsing anybody explicitly - and without having to low herself into overt election politics. This is not about what she thinks personally, but more about the PR team from the Joe camp enticing her to official endorsement. Besides, it's not like she has done anything not perfectly calculated in her entire public life. She's 100% about the product.

bell-cot 3y ago

> What conspiracy? If anything... Beyond a certain level of anxiety / paranoia / dissociation from reality, everything can be a "conspiracy". The word ends up describing an emotional state.

pinkmuffinere 3y ago
Ya, calling it a conspiracy when it’s publicly discussed is very strange language. If somebody says they think there’s a conspiracy with Taylor Swift and the election, I assume their belief goes far beyond what’s publicly obvious
- coldtea 3y ago
  Or it's just casual talk about "they try to get her to promote them, and they are in talks/give her money/favors to ensore him". That's a conspiracy (in the literal sense), people can call it a conspiracy, and it's also probably what's going on (or could very realistically go down like that). It's not however a conspiracy in these sense of "illuminati", and it's weasely for media (or in this case, this university poll writeup) to conflate the two cases, to make those people look bad.
  - pinkmuffinere 3y ago
    Good point, that’s a believable making as well in the right context

uberman 3y ago

Swift having and voicing an opinion is not a "conspiracy". She should be able to, as any American, hold and feel free to voice her beliefs. Of course she might choose not to do so no matter who begs and that is also fine. There is no conspiracy here. You might or might not like it that she could do so, but others might like or not like that Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow can and do so. The "conspiracy" is/was that Swift is an active psyOp warrior in the employ of the CIA and/or Pentagon, that the Super Bowl is/was rigged to get the Chiefs into the game, a game that would be scripted so that they would win. Then, in the post game celebration Swift would be whisked onto the field where she would gush in the afterglow of the Cheif's victory and then live on camera she would endorse Biden. Some additionally believed that following her endorsement Biden himself would be choppered into the stadium and appear with Swift. Per the poll, "Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?" 18% of people surveyed believe that Swift is a psyop warrior and that the Super Bowl and in fact the entire NFL season was scripted to get her into position to complete her mission. Presumably a mission now thwarted thanks to it's unmasking.

coldtea 3y ago
>"Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not?" Which doesn't need to be anything about a "CIA psyop". I believe the above is (or could very realistically be) the case, and I could very well answer "yes" to that, without any "CIA psyop" need be involved. In other words, that people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly, and perhaps do a few stunts with him (with or without an exchange of money or favors involved), for the obvious election marketing reasons. That's not the same as a conspiracy in the "illuminati" or "CIA is behind this" sense (as it's made to be), nor is it the same as just "Swift having and voicing an opinion".
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  > people from the Biden administration and PR team, working to get Swift to endorse him publicly sounds like you're making "covert" do a lot of work here; as far as I have seen that effort is better described by "overt"

krapp 3y ago

I think it's not so much that it's a conspiracy per se, as that a certain political demographic can't interpret any political activity from the Democratic party through a non-conspiratorial lens. That dark forces rigged the Super Bowl to spread Democrat propaganda, that Swift is a government plant and her relationship with Travis Kelse is a psyop. It can't simply be something as mundane as celebrity endorsement being used to drive political action, which isn't even novel, much less remotely illegal. They insist there must be something nefarious at work. It's like one day all these people woke up and collectively decided Taylor Swift was queen of the Illuminati and it makes no sense. It smells like a meme run amok.

082349872349872 3y ago

> 34.Do you think that a covert government effort for Taylor Swift to help Joe Biden win the presidential election actually exists, or not? Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party? Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse anyone with fewer sexual abuse judgements than the presumptive anti-Biden candidate? Were someone to attempt to convince me there was a government effort to get Bridget Ziegler to help Joe Biden, covert would be much more plausible!

coldtea 3y ago
>Do you think that anyone titled Ms. would need a covert effort to get her to endorse an alternative to the anti-Roe-v-Wade party? You think this is about her political opinions? She can have those without endorsing anybody explicitly - and without having to low herself into overt election politics. This is not about what she thinks personally, but more about the PR team from the Joe camp enticing her to official endorsement. Besides, it's not like she has done anything not perfectly calculated in her entire public life. She's 100% about the product.