By Joseph Catena
What do Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, and George Clooney have in common with Joe Blow, Jane Smith, and John Doe? Probably nothing at all, except one thing.
Each of them has one vote. And approximately 3.6 million more Americans sided with Blow, Smith, and Doe, which is why Donald J. Trump is going to serve a second term.
For decades, the Hollywood elite and the celebrity world have been telling their respective fan bases to vote for any presidential candidate with a “D” next to their name. Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris needed to be elected, said the Beautiful People, to shatter the glass ceiling. Elect a woman, they demanded, or democracy will be lost. The orange beast will obliterate America’s freedoms and become a wicked tyrant. Barack and Michelle Obama went as far as saying men of all shades and cultures could be labeled as misogynistic and sexist if they dare vote for the candidate with the XY chromosomes instead of the woman of color.
But all of Hollywood’s actors and all of Hollywood’s women and men couldn’t get Kamala in office again.
What the Democrats fail to understand in every election cycle is Hollywood endorsements and celebrity shout outs don’t matter. Private concerts to draw crowds don’t matter. Being preached to by people who take private jets and don’t know the cost of butter and eggs is not the way to get rank and file voters. Demonizing billionaires named Trump or Musk, while feeding off billionaires named Oprah and Swift fails to speak logic. Remember, Hollywood is all about stories and fantasies. It’s an expensive land of make believe. It comes with tons of money and privilege. It’s entertainment. It’s meant to give you an escape from life’s challenges and struggles. Gaining such endorsements – and plenty of them – has not benefitted the Democrats in two of the last three elections, with the one in the middle being very suspect. This has also proven that boatloads of money do not equal victory.
Would Oprah Winfrey have gone all out for her friend with the same gusto if the Harris campaign hadn’t given her $1 million to have her on her show? The vice president also spent $20 million on a wave of concerts by Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga. Ironically, vendors are fearing being stiffed because the campaign blew through one billion dollars and bled the coffers dry. Amazing how the alleged party of the working class is going all out for the top 1 percent and forgetting about the other 99. Where were Bernie and AOC while this political, financial blasphemy was taking place?
Hollywood and the Democrats can have each other. Truthfully, those endorsements mattered none. The endorsements that really mattered were the ones by the thousands and thousands of rank-and-file Teamsters. The endorsements that really mattered were the ones from law enforcement officials throughout the country, the same agencies that Biden-Harris wanted to defund. As for celebrities, the MAGA movement will take the endorsements of Joe Rogan, Dana White, and even Hulk Hogan, all of whom connect with real people. We’ll also take disaffected Democrats like Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, who were shunned by their party because they actually dared to spout some centrist ideas that challenged the fringes of the woke and globalist agendas the Democrats have embraced.
Pop-culture icons and those in the television and movie industry should also take heed. By being so vociferous, they certainly risk alienating a chunk of their fan base. Late night TV comics like Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon need to realize their ratings are plummeting, because they aren’t funny anymore, and their political views turn off right-leaning viewers. Oprah Winfrey used to make people feel good and she genuinely connected with audiences because she appealed to everyone. She didn’t need to yodel “JOYYYYYYYYYY!” at the Democratic National Convention and parade Kamala Harris around with her. Being BFFs with the Obamas and Kamala overshadows her generosity and work for the underprivileged she has done over the years. She should stick to building schools in South Africa for poor girls. It’s a much better image than taking a cool mil on the sly from Kam.
And what was Taylor Swift thinking? Doesn’t she realize that her teenybopper audience isn’t old enough to vote? However, their parents are. Based on the exorbitant prices of her tickets, Mommy and Daddy might not be as willing to pay for them.
Especially if they were deemed as “garbage.”