OPINION:
Democrats have demonstrated over the last 50 years that they believe America’s Black and Hispanic communities are easily bought, easily conned and easily manipulated. President Biden’s reelection campaign has the same playbook when it comes to America’s young people. It’s wrong and pitiful, but not without strategic merit.
The president’s handlers begging Taylor Swift to endorse the stumbling commander in chief is the latest vapid effort to convince young people they should rally around an increasingly weak leader far more interested in advancing transgender rights than whether they have good-paying jobs.
Mr. Biden apparently believes that for all their supposed education and access to information, young people will ignore the economy, the crime crisis, the drug crisis, the border crisis and the world on fire and fall in line.
They usually do and likely will again, particularly young women.
Today’s Democrats play to the lowest common denominator: the parents still masking their children over COVID. The psychologically compromised transgender or nonbinary person complaining about pronouns on TikTok. The doomsday environmentalist who lacks the capacity or tolerance for scientific debate.
The militant advocate of cancel culture who screams about fascism. The White, upper-middle-class, spiritually bereft liberal suburbanites who have the gall to talk about victimhood. The woman who places so-called abortion rights above fixing their children’s schools, even though today’s Democrats believe in infanticide.
Democrats are right to be shaken by recent drops in one of their old standby constituencies and looking for ways to solidify that demographic.
The influence of a pop star like Taylor Swift on the weak, “woke” and whiny who make up much of today’s liberal youth isn’t a conspiracy theory. It actually can work. That’s why Mr. Biden’s handlers are so desperate to bask in the glow of her stardom.
Of course, celebrities endorsing Democrats is nothing new. John F. Kennedy had Sinatra, Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe. Barack Obama had Beyonce, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and others.
While it seems particularly pathetic for the Biden campaign to go begging for attention from the likes of “Got nothing in my brain” Taylor Swift, it’s more than just a shameless ploy. It’s a rallying cry intended to drive young women to the polls despite their lack of enthusiasm for the president.
Americans have always had a fascination with celebrities. Today, however, instead of being objects of affection and curiosity during their 15 minutes at fame, they have more power and influence than ever in a society in the midst of spiritual and intellectual chaos.
Part of restoring the honor and dignity of the presidency — an effort that desperately needs our attention — is stopping the condescension from the political class that suggests an equivalence between celebrity and leadership.
We may not like that the Taylor Swift effect could be a real thing, but it can.
It’s a message to Republicans and former President Donald Trump, who in a post-Dobbs world have significant and persistent challenges building support among women, particularly younger, college-educated women. It is not enough to try amazing feats of political yoga to win a national election without them.
While many might wish we could “shake it off” when it comes to celebrity influence, the people paying a fortune to see Ms. Swift cannot be neglected by Mr. Trump or other GOP candidates.
To be sure, running to Taylor Swift, who once sang about covert narcissism disguised as altruism, won’t be the only thing the Biden campaign will do to claw back young voters. The unconstitutional college debt forgiveness program will continue unabated unless Republicans do something about it.
We should also expect that Mr. Biden’s thinking will evolve on the dangers of marijuana and other drugs by rescheduling them through the Drug Enforcement Administration to make them more accessible. Mr. Biden may be that desperate.
The Taylor Swift ploy could also backfire. Every time Mr. Biden has attempted to sound hip, cool and current, he’s looked even more disconnected, not only from young people but just about everyone else.
Still, the Swifty strategy should at once highlight the weakness of the president’s campaign and raise important questions among the GOP consultant class about what it takes to win in November.
There’s bad blood among female voters, to be sure, and Republicans still haven’t cracked the code to get anywhere close to mad love again.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax and a columnist with The Washington Times.
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