Last Sunday, Fox & Friends invited Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on its weekend show to talk about Kanye West’s post-Saturday Night Live rant in which he praised President Donald Trump and trashed Democrats, all while wearing his red “Make America Great Again” hat.
“This is an amazingly profound cultural moment,” Kirk declared, heralding the “courage” it takes for West to be a “black conservative” in Hollywood. “What I love about Kanye West is that he has been blazing this trail, saying it's OK to think freely, it's OK to oppose the status quo and in fact what makes America the greatest country in the world is free-thinking.”
Kirk was back on Fox & Friends this morning to talk about Taylor Swift’s first foray into Democratic politics and shockingly, he had a different take.
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“I don't want to accuse her of this, but I don’t think she's the only one who wrote that post on Instagram. She probably got some very bad information,” Kirk said on Fox. “This is what I used to love about Taylor Swift is she stayed away from politics—she was all about music all about, you know, female empowerment.”
Then, he added, “Look Taylor Swift, I love your music, personally, Kanye West, I'm a bigger fan of his. I wish you would have not done this. Stay away from politics.”
With no sense of irony regarding his blatant hypocrisy, Kirk was invoking the long-standing feud between the two artists that dates back to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when West rushed the stage to interrupt Swift’s acceptance speech, delivering that iconic line: “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”
The Instagram post in question came Sunday night and included an endorsement for Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn. “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions,” Swift wrote, “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 specifically cited Bredesen’s support for LGBTQ rights and belief that “any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG” as reasons for her decision.
Apparently “free-thinking” is only a good thing when it leads to an embrace of Trump.
Other Fox News conservatives had similar reactions, including frequent guest and NRATV host Dan Bongino, who last week was calling West’s SNL speech “terrific,” but on Sunday night tweeted his distaste with Swift’s political message.
“My doctor is a really bright guy yet, I’ve never once asked him who he supports in a political race,” he wrote. “So why would Taylor Swift think we give a shit what she thinks about the Tennessee Senate race? Hard pass.”
And then there is Kanye West’s biggest conservative backer, Candace Owens, who lashed out at Swift on Twitter, accusing her of being a “white-savior archetype.”
“On the heels of @taylorswift13 feeling the need to, as all Hollywood elitists do, use black people and minorities as pawns to brainwash people into doing their bidding— I would like come out to Tennessee and campaign for @MarshaBlackburn,” Owens tweeted, adding, of course, “#MAGA.”
