The Chiefs won the Super Bowl. Will Taylor Swift visit the White House?
The Kansas City Chiefs just won the Super Bowl and that's great. But to focus on the real news for a moment, could this mean that Taylor Swift — the global superstar, soccer fan and onetime Biden endorser — will visit the White House?
When asked on Monday whether the White House would extend an invitation to the singer, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that decision was up to the team, not President Biden.
“That will be up to the Chiefs, and obviously their decision to find out who will go with them when they come,” Ms Jean-Pierre said. “And as you know, it's a White House tradition. I can't, I can't speak to the attendees and who will be here, but we look forward to having them here.”
Here's some background for the six people on planet Earth who might still need it: Ms. Swift, the pop singer, dated Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Chiefs. since at least the fall, embarking on an expanded version of the soft-focus, jock-meets-music-geek love story she once predicted as a younger songwriter. And Mr. Kelce, the most famous tight end in the National Football League thanks in part to his girlfriend's star power, is part of the team that will receive a traditional invitation from the president to celebrate their victory at the White House.
A visit by Ms. Swift to the White House would add fuel to several theories — none of which she herself has acknowledged — that she has the power to boost Mr. Biden's re-election bid and the prospects of his likely challenger, Donald J. Trump to sink. .
In recent weeks, Mr. Biden's allies have been abuzz with anticipation that Ms. Swift might issue a statement of support, as she did in 2020. Mr. Trump also seems concerned about that prospect. In a post on social media last weekend, he said he was responsible for legislation that contributed to Ms Swift's success.
“There is no way she can support Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt president in the history of our country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money,” Trump said. “Besides, I like her boyfriend Travis, even though he might be liberal and probably can't stand me!”
Ms. Swift, 34, had no comment, but historically she has not responded well when people have tried to take ownership of her work. And anyway, she was busy and probably jetlagged after traveling from her tour in Tokyo to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. There she had a drink on national television, jumped up and down in support of her boyfriend and joined him on the field for a kiss after the Chiefs won.
On Sunday night, it was Mr. Biden, not Mr. Trump, who mentioned the conservative conspiracy theory that the singer is actually an agent for the Democratic Party — or for the Pentagon? it's hard to follow — in her spare time, and that her romance with 34-year-old Mr. Kelce is actually part of a sinister plot to thwart Mr. Trump. Or something.
“Just as we drew it, @Chiefs,” Mr. Biden's social media account wrote after the game, along with an image that paid tribute to his “Dark Brandon” alter ego, an edgier and more online version of the president. , if he could shoot laser beams from his eyes.
Anyway.
Ms. Swift has entered politics in the years since the 2016 presidential race, when she was criticized for dodging an endorsement and observers speculated about her political beliefs. In 2018, ahead of the midterm elections, she wrote on Instagram that she would vote for Phil Bredesen, the Democratic challenger to Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee. (Mrs. Blackburn won.)
An excerpt from her 2020 documentary 'Miss Americana' showed that the consultation behind Ms. Swift's decision to support Mr. Bredesen was more intense than was publicly known. In that clip, a tearful Mrs. Swift told her father that she had to be “on the right side of history” and that “if he doesn't win, at least I tried.”
In that conversation, her father, Scott Swift, warned her about the dangers of getting involved in politics, saying he had to order “armored cars” to protect his daughter.
In October 2020, Ms. Swift endorsed Mr. Biden an interview with V Magazine.
“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year's presidential election. Under their leadership, I believe America has an opportunity to begin the healing process it so desperately needs,” she said at the time.
Tree Paine, a representative for Ms. Swift, did not immediately return a request for comment Monday asking whether the singer would travel to the White House or whether she planned to support Mr. Biden.