The atmosphere in America is currently charged but rife, courtesy of presidential election season having finally descended. The first official presidential debate between Republican POTUS candidate Donald Trump and Democrat POTUS-hopeful Kamala Harris concluded last night, with many spelling out Kamala as the unofficial victor in the verbal duel. Taylor Swift for one, agrees with this. So much so, she has made her allegiance to the first-time POTUS candidate very clear, mincing no words.
In an expansive, no-holds barred post, Taylor, in no uncertain terms, declared that she would in fact, be casting her vote for Kamala. Taylor’s piece, comments on which have for obvious reasons, been restricted, came shortly after the presidential debate concluded, which appears to be what motivated the singer to freely voice her political stance. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos”, read an excerpt. She even expressed how impressed she was with Kamala’s selection of Tim Walz as her running mate, considering his long-spanning work in favour of LGBTQ+ rights, IVF and a woman’s right over her body. The note also saw Taylor briefly address the fiasco she found herself wrapped in when a misleading AI-generated video of her endorsing Trump was officially circulated.
Many have lauded Taylor’s clear stance, including opinion and news program, The Last Word’s Lawrence O’Donnell, who called it “the most important celebrity endorsement (he has) ever seen”. Not really one for celebrity endorsements, he also added, “The timing on it is absolutely exquisite, the wording of it is flawless. For someone who’s never been impressed by a celebrity endorsement, this is perfect and powerful”.
One thing however, which has left some a little confused is why she chose to sign off on her strongly-worded open letter with the moniker, “childless cat lady”. For the uninitiated, this was a conscious decision, and a very smartly placed clap back at that, which only further ratified the point Taylor was attempting to make, albeit in a cheeky manner.
Why did Taylor Swift call herself a ‘childless cat lady’?
Back in 2021, when Trump was in the midst of his second presidential campaign (which ultimately tipped in favour of Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his vice-presidential candidate Kamala), his running mate, JD Vance, had made some unparliamentary comments with regards to the ‘kind’ of women that were key figures in the Democratic nexus. Even going so far as to take specific names which included Kamala and AOC, Vance asserted how America was being run over by Democrats — “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too”. The explosive 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, saw Vance double down on his statement, adding, “It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children…And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”.
Not just this, Vance appears to have some morbid fascination with pushing the whole cat lady trope. In a response to American economist Paul Krugman’s take on pro-natalism and Trump back in 2021, Vance had casually responded with, “Paul Krugman is one of many weird cat ladies who have too much power in our country. We should change this”.
Coming back to Taylor, she absolutely loves keeping receipts. A proud childless cat lady then, she signed off on her endorsement post with just that.
Coming back to the elections, the United States of America will know the identity of their 60th president, this winter, dated November 5.
