Can These Two Women Help Save America?
If you’ve been near a TV news program or newspaper in recent days, you might know that former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney is on a book tour.
If you’ve been anywhere on Earth this year, you probably know that music superstar Taylor Swift is on a concert tour.
And if you have even the most rudimentary awareness of politics, you probably know that Joe Biden is president of the United States and running for reelection.
What do these three have in common, other than that they sound like the setup to a joke (Cheney, Swift, and Biden walk into a bar…)? Maybe the rescue of American democracy.
It is surely a sign that we are in very strange and dangerous times that anyone would write a column putting these three people together. But here we are. And that’s because another person, whom we will leave unnamed, looms ominously over the future of our country.
Recently, coverage has increased (including here at Steady) about how America’s most famous criminal defendant and only twice-impeached former president is running for office again on an explicit promise to destroy our constitutional system of government and the rule of law. And one of the people raising that alarm is Cheney.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and until recently, an exemplar of extreme conservative politics in the United States, Liz Cheney famously became a pariah in her party because she called the former president the dangerous disgrace that he is.
Her service on the House committee that investigated the violent insurrection of January 6 cemented her role as enemy to many Republicans. It also earned her appreciation and even plaudits from Democrats who had previously clashed with her on almost every imaginable policy issue. On Monday evening, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow introduced a cordial interview with Cheney by explaining how absurd it would have seemed at one point for the two of them to sit down and agree on anything.
But that is what a threat to destroy America will do.
And this brings us to Taylor Swift, who was just named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Her Eras Tour is estimated to have brought in over $850 million and boosted the U.S. economy by $5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Swift’s legions of fans, called Swifties, are drawn not only to her music but to her message of female empowerment. They respect Swift as someone who has stood up for herself in what can be a brutal and demeaning business. She is an entrepreneur and an innovator. And increasingly, she has emerged as someone eager to lend her voice to political causes.
She endorsed Democrats for election in Tennessee in 2018 and Biden for president in 2020. A single recent Instagram post encouraging her fans to register to vote drove 35,000 new registrations. She is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
Swift’s new boyfriend, NFL superstar Travis Kelce, is also no stranger to political issues. He famously took a knee during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” in solidarity with Black players protesting police violence. And he has been a strong supporter of the COVID vaccine, to the outrage of anti-vaxxers. He also endorsed Bud Light beer after the brand was boycotted by conservatives because it had featured a transgender internet celebrity in one of its ads.
What might it look like if both Swift and Cheney lend their names and energy to Biden’s reelection campaign? Obviously, the two cases would be very different. But they could add up to a big difference. That is, if Cheney stops flirting with the idea of her own presidential run — a prospect she has teased in some interviews. Such a bid would increase the chances of a former president’s return to power. And it’s difficult to imagine her making that choice.
Cheney speaks to disaffected Republicans and moderates who might not like Biden or his policies but legitimately fear a second term for his likely opponent. That Cheney is working to elect Democrats says a lot. It says that there will be a time for us to debate policies again, but now is not that time. Because if we lose American democracy, nothing else will matter. It’s a powerful argument that could sway some voters on the margins or encourage those who might have stayed home to come out and vote. That could be enough to swing elections in battleground states.
As for Swift, the effects could be even greater. She is extremely popular with young voters (although she has millions of older fans, as well). Standing alongside Biden could help assuage fears about his age. She could highlight the right’s potential harm on race, gender, abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. She could also entice new voters to register and encourage them to show up on Election Day. Swift’s fanbase is so large that it encompasses many who are conservative and Republican. Might she even change some minds?
We have already seen the modus operandi of the former president when he is criticized. His instinct is to lash out and insult, demean and degrade. How will that play with the Swifties? It would certainly reaffirm Liz Cheney’s point: that he is supremely unfit, morally and emotionally, to be president.
Taylor Swift, Liz Cheney, and Joe Biden campaign for the presidency. That’s not the start of a joke. Could it be an unlikely alliance to save the United States of America?
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