When I initially pitched Sarah last night about this post it was supposed to be fun. Page Six, which has been serving up double and triple daily TNT content, posted yesterday about the “87” ring that Taylor Swift was wearing on Sunday at the AFC Championship. This, of course, is Travis Kelce’s number, but what’s notable about this particular ring, aside from the number, is that it was given to Taylor to wear by Donna Kelce.
Apparently, Mama Kelce was sent a whole bunch of them by a KC business owner and Donna ended up passing them out. Now the rings, which cost around $20, are selling out. Because, as we have seen, TNT is its own economy.
The Grammys, however, will not be benefiting from that economy and I’m not sure why people thought that would be possible? Taylor will be at the Grammys on Sunday, as a nominee, but Travis, with a week to go before the Super Bowl? Not a chance. We’re wasting time even talking about it. That said, I’d much rather talk about the unlikelihood of Travis joining Taylor at the Grammys than talk about how Trump supporters are losing their f-cking sh-t over Taylor’s influence. After all, like the rest of us, they’ve seen it play out over the last few months – they’ve seen the most powerful professional sports league in America basically get on their knees before her and beg her for crumbs.
She is seemingly unstoppable, to the point where her power even extends to her boyfriend and the success of his team, both on and off the field. Then the New York Times on Monday, in an article about President Joe Biden’s campaign strategy, reports that the Biden team is seeking an endorsement from Taylor herself. Nobody knows whether or not this endorsement is forthcoming, only that Team Biden is hoping for one.
But that was enough to send MAGA over the edge. They have been apoplectic all week about Taylor, knowing that while it’s uncertain if Taylor will endorse Biden, she would never, ever, EVER endorse their guy…and this possibility is enough to scare them. To the point where they can’t stop talking about it, worrying about her, contorting themselves into all kinds of f-cked up shapes with conspiracy theories about how Taylor might be masterminding some kind of crazy scam to undermine their candidate. Their candidate, meanwhile, is apparently salty and sucky about Taylor because she beat him out for TIME Person of the Year and has been telling people that he’s more popular than she is, lololololololol.
Taylor Swift is clearly a concern for these assholes. Which means TNT is a concern for this. It’s the rom-com everyone is watching, it’s the fairy tale everyone is following, featuring a princess who was supposed to be one of theirs and a prince who was also supposed to be one of theirs and, well, instead have both openly stood up for reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality, and…and…and… VACCINES! Our rom-com is their horror movie!
There is no way Taylor and her people don’t know about all this MAGA anxiety. Like, if they concern themselves with DeuxMoi (and we know they do), then they must know about the right wing tantrum that’s happening right now over whether or not she will or won’t endorse anyone and what she may or may not do around the election like encouraging people to register to vote or making people more aware of key issues etc. Taylor, for a long time, was infamously apolitical. Until she wasn’t. That changed in 2018 when she very publicly endorsed the Democratic candidate for Senate in Tennessee and she shared the inside baseball on that situation in Miss Americana, her documentary, 2020.
What’s interesting about that, looking back, is that Miss Americana came out in January 2020. Just before COVID, just before lockdown. That was an election year, and Taylor kicked it off by very clearly, on camera, explaining to people where she stood and why she was speaking up. Of course we all had plans that year that ended up getting derailed – and now I wonder what Taylor’s may have been, if she had any, besides the Lover tour, that were related, in particular, to her then-increasing willingness to use her platform to advocate for justice and equality.
Taylor in 2020 was already very, very, very powerful… and would have/could have made a difference. But the Taylor of 2024 is exponentially more formidable. Taylor 2020 is basically a flip-phone compared to what Taylor has become in 2024. It’ll be so interesting to see what she does with it, if anything, as the year progresses.
We're talking about this on The Squawk! (app link here)
