It's Celebrity-Election-Line-Up!
But only one star moves the needle...
This morning as I walked like a granny to my office, I was listening, as usual, to Morning Joe. Suddenly, Jennifer Lopez was in my ear, urging me to vote for Kamala Harris. Lopez is energized, apparently, because of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating pile of garbage” at the Trump rally in Madison Square Garden; so, she’s now going to perform at the Harris/Walz rally in Las Vegas tomorrow.
And, within an hour of listening to Lopez, I’m at my desk and a news alert flashes on my screen: I read that …oh my god…Arnold Schwarzenegger is endorsing Harris.
But, swiftly on the heels of that, news breaks of another celebrity endorsement… Buzz Aldrin.
Buzz Aldrin? I didn’t know he was still alive…but yes, he is (at 94)…and he is endorsing Trump because Trump (well, Elon really) is big into the extremely pressing voter issue of space exploration. Footballers Brett Favre and Nick Bosa have also come out for Trump. But the rapper Bad Bunny is for Harris. So too is Barbara Bush…and on it goes. It’s the game of Election Celebrity Line-Up, in which there are no real shocks - and, I’d argue, no real impact.
Are you going to change your mind about who you will vote for because of Jennifer, Arnold, or Buzz? Do let me know if so, and send in your reasoning. If space exploration is your top priority I’d be fascinated to hear all about that…
More seriously, I’m reminded that in 2016, instead of knocking on doors, Hillary Clinton disastrously spent the Friday before the election, at a concert in Cleveland, hobnobbing with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper, J. Cole - and Diddy.
Diddy’s ‘Freak-Off’ parties weren’t yet out in the public domain, but regardless Ohio swung for Trump and the Monday morning quarter-backs believed that the Friday night concert had been one of the many mistakes made by the Clinton campaign because it fed into an elitist image.
So maybe the Harris campaign wants to rethink the whole Beyoncé/Jay-Z schmooze-fest thing?
There is only one celebrity who still could a make a real difference according to the Republican pollster, Frank Luntz.
And that’s Taylor Swift.
Friday night, Luntz explained at a Council of Foreign Relations session, that for 24% of the voting population, Swift’s opinion matters more than anyone else’s. According to Luntz that 24% includes the biggest group that is still undecided as to whether to show up to vote or not: 18 to 29 year-old-women.
“Taylor Swift can move this election,” Luntz told the audience. ‘“if she wants to make a difference….You go on the road, you do two or three concerts — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.”
Swift has endorsed Harris, but there’s no mention I can find that she’ll appear on stage on any of the final campaign stops. Instead, the Swift news is still centered around the question of whether the singer’s relationship with Travis Kelce is fake or not.
Kelce just said on his podcast that the two are “absolutely happy.”
Which is absolutely great, of course, for Taylor Swift. But it doesn’t move the needle for Kamala Harris.
Beyonce just appeared at a Harris rally but didn't sing. And she hadn't endorsed Harris previously. Taylor endorsed already. To expect more is unrealistic.
She has a concert Friday to Sunday where she performs already. That has been booked for over a year. And has had a concert the past 2 weekends. Are you a journalist? A simple google search would have told you this. Do your research next time. Also, why is she solely responsible for getting someone elected? Shouldn’t the politicians be doing more? She already endorsed and encouraged people to vote. That really should be all she is obligated to do.