“Don’t get involved!”
Amid reports that the White House is actively seeking the endorsement of Taylor Swift, Fox News stars are freaking out over the prospect that the global superstar may soon toss her support behind President Joe Biden and literally begging her to reconsider.
The conservative cable giant’s fear over the “Shake It Off” singer potentially backing Biden comes as right-wing media figures have targeted Swift with an absurd conspiracy theory that she’s part of a Deep State psy-op staged by the NFL and Democrats to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
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While Fox News hasn’t fully bought into the deranged notion that Swift dating Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce is a government plot and the Super Bowl is fixed—though Fox host Jesse Watters floated that very idea earlier this month— the network is actively trying to persuade Swift to “stay out of politics” and “stick to singing.”
After the Chiefs punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Sunday, The New York Times reported the following day that the Biden administration is desperately hoping that Swift will repeat her 2020 endorsement of the president and boost his campaign among young voters. Besides adding more fuel to the fire of the right-wing fever swamp’s conspiracies, the story led to Fox News’ pro-Trump personalities expressing fear over the country’s most famous woman’s level of influence.
“I think if she wanted to be protective of her legacy, she’d stay out of politics,” Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren declared on Monday’s broadcast of Outnumbered. “I think if she’s smart, she’ll just stay out of politics altogether. She could encourage people to register to vote; I think we should all register to vote.”
She went on to say that Swift should “stop short of making an endorsement” for either Biden or Trump, adding that “she should stick to her singing” because there are “a lot of young conservative families” that are Swift fans.
Lahren wasn’t the only one at Fox effectively telling Swift to “shut up and dribble.” Charly Arnolt, a former ESPN host who now works for Fox-owned conservative sports outlet Outkick, urged Swifties not to listen to the Midnights artist when it comes to politics.
Speaking to Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, Arnolt first stated that she was cheering for the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game because she’s “had enough of Taylor Swift.” After noting that there’s an online petition asking football fans to back the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl “so it doesn’t raise Travis Kelce, aka Mr. Pfizer’s, star power along with Taylor Swift,” Arnolt then worried aloud about Swift supporting Biden.
“It is so scary,” she exclaimed. “There’s a recent poll, one-fifth of Taylor Swift fans said they would back whatever candidate she endorsed.”
Complaining that the singer flew a private plane from New York City to Baltimore but “talks about climate change,” Arnolt told Fox viewers “please don’t believe everything” Swift says. “We’re begging you,” she concluded.
Judge Jeanine Pirro, one of Trump’s top sycophants at the network, pleaded with Swift to keep her mouth shut regarding the upcoming presidential election, arguing that any pro-Biden statements would “alienate” the “All Too Well” singer’s fans.
“You know, they come across from every political ideology; why put yourself in one area?” Pirro wondered during Monday’s broadcast of The Five.
After suggesting that a MAGA backlash against a Swift endorsement of Biden would “cancel” out any support the president would receive, Pirro then made her intentions explicitly clear.
“So don’t get involved. Don’t get involved in politics! We don’t want to see you there,” she fumed. (Of course, before he went full Nazi, Pirro unabashedly celebrated Kanye West’s MAGA support and right-wing politics, saying she was “impressed with him” and liked “a lot of what he said.”)
The consternation over Swifties coming out for Biden continued through Tuesday morning.
Grumbling during Fox & Friends that if Biden needs “Taylor Swift to save your presidency, do you have a presidency,” host Brian Kilmeade kept on raging about the possible endorsement on Fox Business later that day. According to the Fox host, Swift should remain quiet to avoid upsetting Trump fans.
“It would be the dumbest thing a mega superstar could ever do,” Kilmeade groused on Varney and Co. “Why would you tell half the country you don’t agree with them in this highly polarized time? You stay out of it!”
He added: “I think it would be the craziest thing ever for her to do it. And Joe Biden is not worth it! I mean, my goodness! If you need Taylor Swift to get you another four years, that’s how bad your first four years have been. You’re done, you’re finished, you’re through!”
