Tom Minear: Why Taylor Swift conspiracy theorists need to calm down

As Republicans spread an incredibly weird rumour about Taylor Swift, Tom Minear wonders if these divided United States are ever getting back together.

There are two institutions standing firm as common culture crumbles in polarised America: the NFL and Taylor Swift.

Last year, 93 of the top 100 programs broadcast on US TV were NFL games, while Swift’s Eras Tour became the biggest of all time and the first to gross more than $US1bn.

The combination of these entertainment giants at the Super Bowl, where Swift was in the stands cheering her star Kansas City boyfriend Travis Kelce, created the most-watched television event since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.

But – this being the US, there is always a “but” – hard-right Republicans did not enjoy this rare moment of national unity. Instead, they raged about what they saw as a vast conspiracy.

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift celebrate Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory. Picture: Getty Images

Swift, you see, is apparently fronting a “psyop” (a psychological operation, for those of you unfamiliar with the term) manufactured by the deep state to help Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election.

Kelce is in on it too, given his advocacy for Pfizer’s Covid vaccine that is also somehow part of this secretive government plot. And so the Chiefs were always going to win the Super Bowl because the NFL rigged it to fuel this scheme.

This theory has so infected right-wing corners of the internet that a third of Republican voters and almost one in five Americans now believe Swift is part of a covert effort to help Biden win in November. To them I say: You need to calm down.

Taylor Swift performs at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Picture: Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Swift has not said a word about politics for months. Yes, she supported Biden in 2020, and yes, his team wants her endorsement again.

But she has never thrown herself into campaigning, and even if she did this year, it says something about the weakness of Trump’s candidacy that his allies fear such a move could tilt the election against him.

The Trump advisers and talking heads spreading this conspiracy cannot be called conservatives. Once upon a time, if a pretty country singer from Tennessee and a football jock from Ohio fell in love, they would celebrate it as the ultimate expression of the white, heteronormative America they supposedly want to preserve.

Instead, they are now attacking Swift and Kelce as their ideological enemies. It’s politically negligent given Americans in the sensible centre – NFL fans and Swifties alike – decide elections. It’s also incredibly weird.

Perhaps these divided United States are never ever getting back together.