Every time I talk about Taylor Swift, I get a flurry of annoyed responses. “Taylor Swift brings my nephew so much joy! Why is that bad?” someone will write. Or, “She’s writing pop songs — she’s not in politics. Leave her alone!” Or, “Would you ever hold a male singer to these standards? No one is coming for Ed Sheeran like this!” Or, “‘Dear John.’ ‘Only the Young.’ ‘You Need to Calm Down.’ Listen please and then tell me Swift isn’t ‘political’ enough.”
And listen, I get it. It is absolute buzzkill behavior for me to watch people jamming out to “Opalite” and then whine desperately over the music, “Yeah, but when will Swift take a stance on the NFL’s abdication of responsibility in protecting players from the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury??”
As many, many, many people have told me, Swift is a pop star — not a politician. But the thing is, in this country, the line between celebrity and politician is way blurrier than one might think. There’s Donald Trump, of course — the quintessential celebrity-turned-politician. But he’s by no means an anomaly.
Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
In her book, Star Power: American Democracy in the Age of the Celebrity Candidate, Princeton social scientist Lauren Wright writes extensively about how Americans perceive the political viability of celebrities. She says that celebrities have a number of qualities that make them surprisingly successful in political arenas: they’re popular, they have good name recognition, many people find them relatable, and they’re often perceived as political outsiders, which can make them seem more sincere than traditional politicians. And that’s powerful. Wright describes one experiment she conducted, where she found that in a randomly generated pool of presidential candidates, Democrats chose the celebrity candidate as their preferred nominee 50% of the time. Few people will openly state that they look to celebrities as political leaders, but Wright writes that in one of her studies, “results indicate that Democrats would be much better off nominating Oprah Winfrey or Tom Hanks as their party’s candidate for president than sitting U.S. Senator Cory Booker,” or other prominent Democratic politicians.
So fam, I’m not going to use today’s newsletter to get into the subtext, good or bad, that I gleaned from The Life of a Showgirl. I’m not going to jump into the discourse about whether “Cancelled!” is MAGA-coded, or “Actually Romantic” is the perfect commentary on President Trump’s relationship with Gavin Newsom. (There are plenty of people already doing that.) But I will say to anyone who wants to draw crystal clear mental lines between the people who entertain us and the people who shape our laws and policies: that’s not the country we live in. Whether we like it or not, a lot of people are taking cues from the famous people they follow. Which means it’s probably worth thinking carefully about what exactly those people are saying, whether they’re in front of a mic or behind a podium.
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ON THE POD
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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court hears a case that could further weaken the Voting Rights Act, which was passed to ensure fair districting and voting practices across different racial groups. Meanwhile, lawmakers across states are taking other paths to limit who can vote, from redrawing districts in order to favor a single party to limiting which government-issued IDs are permitted at the ballot box. And with election day just a few weeks a day, we’re asking, who will be able to vote — and whose votes will really count?
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Wow. Last week, I asked what brought you all meaning. The responses were abundant. You talked about music and nature, your family and friends, getting to help people in quiet moments at work, prayer, laughter, writing to your senators, and so much more. I'm trying to figure out a way to share some of those responses in a way that does them justice. So stay tuned. But in the meantime, thank you. Those emails have been rejuvenating my sense of meaning all week.
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