Many among us would be hard-pressed to consider the National Football League a liberal organization, given its long-time association with, well, organized violence, star-spangled cheerleaders, the politics of most of its billionaire team owners and its general disapproval of taking a National Anthem knee as a form of protest.
Not enough of us, apparently.
I realize that on this, its holiest of days, the United States of Football is a vast nation, that we contain multitudes among our 336 million people, and that conspiracy theorists will be and always have been among us.
I mean, when I was a little kid, a good friend of my moderate Dad was a member of the John Birch Society, because they shared a love for Dixieland jazz.
At 6 or 7 years old, I couldn’t quite get my hands around what that meant, not being able to see that nice old guy who formerly saved the free world from Nazism and then was president, Dwight D. from Kansas, as a tool of the international Communist conspiracy.
My Mom said, “Well, Lawrence, you know that poster that’s up in the Altadena Barber Shop?” I did, as I had stared at it while getting my regular boy’s cut. It was a rendering of Uncle Sam, and it read: “He’s your uncle, not your dad.”
“Right, Mother — I still don’t get it.”
And so while I do get that people will do and say crazy things, I perhaps naively still can’t believe that these days, when they do and say them, they will get amplified by a major television news network I am reliably informed is watched by tens of millions of Americans.
The very idea that Tay Tay, America’s sweetheart, a great songwriter and singer, a businesswoman smart enough to become a billionaire herself, dating a very American-looking tight end, is, like Eisenhower, a dupe of the commies? That’s nuts. Obviously. But it’s simply another item up for discussion, according to Fox News.
It’s one thing for the American kooks, God love them, to believe, or say they believe, that Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelce is a sure sign that the libtards conspired to get the Kansas City Chiefs into the Super Bowl, because sure as shooting she’s going to take the field at halftime Sunday and announce her impending nuptials as well as her endorsement of Joe Biden. One thing.
But for Fox to encourage that conversation? How can people still turn the channel on?
On something called “Jesse Watters Primetime,” the host said: “Around four years ago, the Pentagon’s psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset. It’s real. The Pentagon Psyop unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online.”
Then Fox anchor Jeanine Pirro begged Swift to not “get involved in politics” so as not to alienate any segment of her Swiftie fans.
Since Swift, an enormously middle-of-the-road person, who in fact rarely does “get involved in politics,” had already endorsed Biden four years ago, and in the ensuing time has gone on to become the biggest star in the world, it wouldn’t seem like there was a lot of downside to her making such an endorsement again.
But Fox’s Charly Arnolt, pleaded, “Please don’t believe everything Taylor Swift says.” Its Sean Hannity said: “Maybe she wants to think twice.”
Then former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote on X: “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl … And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple.”
“Wonder” means the fix is in, sports fans. Place your bets accordingly.
Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board. lwilson@scng.com.
