I usually don’t write about cultural issues — our Lisa has done outstanding work on that front. But right now I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the Taylor Swift phenomenon, especially after she earned the worthless “Person of the Year” designation by Time.

Furthermore, as a Kansas City Chiefs fan who lives in the belly of the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift romance beast, I want to stand athwart this spectacle and yell Stop! to paraphrase the late great William F. Buckley.

Brainless Swifties infiltrate Chiefs social media with their cooing about Swelce? Traylor? whatever it is. Plus when I recently shopped at a local sports store for Chiefs gear for my grandson, I beheld this:

Make. It. Stop! Personal image.

But fluffy romance aside, Taylor Swift is trouble, trouble, trouble for the culture.

Taylor and Her Own Basket of Deplorables

Taylor Swift envisions herself as a feminist boss with girl power. She’s a woman for whom the “patriarchy” should sit up and take notice. Swift is so powerful, in fact, she told Time that when she shows up at Chiefs games, she waves off any negative attention she gets. It’s just petty males who are angry at her. Or, in her parlance, the “dads, Brads, and Chads” — in other words, men of no consequence:

I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.

In response, Fox Sports created this hilarious commercial pushing back on Taylor’s insults towards male football fans.

https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/status/1733903255606804827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1733903255606804827%7Ctwgr%5Ede17f7ba2c1290ecd004931c68835e1c4c0651cc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fparade.com%2Fnews%2Fpre-game-commercial-hilariously-riffs-off-taylor-swifts-dads-chads-and-brads-comment

However, News Nation’s Leland Vittert compared her “dads, Brads, and Chads” put-down to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment. Emily Jashinsky, culture editor at The Federalist, also provided insights.

But it’s not just Swift’s contempt for the so-called “patriarchy” that sets off alarms in the heads of thoughtful Americans who find her influence to be trouble, trouble, trouble. Consider her shallow political statements.

Besides her stance as a (ahem) strong woman, Taylor Swift has endorsed every leftist idea promoted by the glitterati. Besides being a feminist, in 2020 Swift was a Biden supporter. That year she backed the Black Lives Matter movement and blamed Donald Trump for “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism.” She also accused Trump of “trying to destroy our right to vote.”

Plus, she slammed Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn for voting against “Tennessee Christian values” — Christian values according to shallow Swiftian theology:

Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.  

Oh, Taylor’s a Christian, is she. But she trashes Christians who believe in the church’s traditional admonition against the practice of homosexuality. Look how she disparaged her allegedly “fellow” believers as rubes in her video for “You Need to Calm Down.”

Recently Taylor Swift and her bud Selena Gomez attended a comedy show that raised money to benefit a Gaza charity, the American Near East Refugee Aid, or ANERA.  The comedian, Ramy Youssef, posted at Instagram that “100% of the proceeds for the remainder of the ramy youssef … standup tour will be donated to ANERA, providing humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza.”

ANERA, I found, is an old charity dating back to 1968. But would Taylor contribute to Israel Alliance, which contributes to Israelis in need? After all, Rabbi Moshe Rothchild, who founded the organization, wants to build relationships between Christians and Jews — doesn’t Taylor Swift claim to be a Christian?

Moreover, has this feminist tower of influence said one word about the women who were raped and murdered in Israel on October 7? I haven’t heard a single blessed comment from her red-lipped mouth, have you?

A Blank Space That Influences Followers

The intellectual worldview of Taylor Swift is largely one “blank space,” to borrow the title of one of her frivolous songs. Consider Swift’s take on supply-and-demand economics:

And what has existed since the dawn of time? A patriarchal society. What fuels a patriarchal society? Money, flow of revenue, the economy. So actually, if we’re going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It’s extremely heartening.

Of course. It’s all about the patriarchy, isn’t it? Feminine good, masculine bad — including all the men to whom she’s given the shiv in her various relationships. (One assumes that Travis Kelce will get the heave-ho at some point, too).

Here’s another one of Swift’s word salads about … horcruxes and infinity stones:

I’m collecting horcruxes. I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.

What?? 

Yet the band of loyal Swifties can be counted on as political followers of her shallow drivel. Matt Harris, associate professor of political science at Park University in Missouri, notes in The Conversation that various politicians have glommed onto Swift’s popularity. Take, for instance, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who proclaimed the “Taylor Swift Ham, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich” as the state sandwich of NJ.

pic.twitter.com/PsukIWvTnJ

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) May 25, 2023

Harris also warns that Swifties as a voting bloc can sway elections:

The idea that Swifties might be a key demographic in future elections is not far-fetched given their location and age. A majority of Swift’s fans live in the suburbs, the swing territory of American politics. Further, most are Gen Zers or Millennials. These groups encompass an increasing share of the electorate with each passing year – up to 31% in 2020. Swift’s favorability among those ages 18 to 29 stands at 72% …

Those of us from the Boomer generation will remember that our rock stars generated protest songs that influenced — for better or worse — the nation. Now consider that Taylor Swift is not only omnipresent on recordings and in the press, she’s also on social and internet media 24/7. The only thing that Swifties need to do to learn of her latest brain droppings is open their digital devices.

Taylor Swift is not just another flash-in-the-pan pop star. She commands a loyal army of Swifties who adore her, and who don’t bother to think beyond the current zeitgeist to form thoughtful opinions. And then they vote.

This woman is indeed trouble, trouble, trouble.

Featured image: “TAYLOR SWIFT” by Thaís Santos / @thaistitina is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Cropped.