The Real Culture War: Taylor Swift's Box Office Domination Joins Barbie's to Spell Cultural Trouble for Republicans

Mod: Somehow the kids aren't digging on Donald Trump, Jim Jordan and the rest of the repressive MAGA Taliban so much. Go figure.

Taylor Swift's Box Office Domination Joins Barbie's to Spell Cultural Trouble for Republicans (PoliticusUSA link): As the Republican-led House of Representatives moves to elect Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as Speaker, the Republican Party shows itself to be more and more out of touch with the culture.

It is, after all, the cultural Year of the Femme, as both Barbie and Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour dominate the box office, capturing the Zeitgeist of the Post-Roe era.

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert film opened with a $96 million domestic opening, which makes it already, in one week, the highest-grossing opening of a concert film of all time. Higher even than Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which made $99 million plus for its entire run in 2011, opening with $29,514,054.

If you’re not a Swiftie, you might be wondering what could be political about America’s Sweetheart and Pop Powerhouse, which is another way of saying you didn’t watch the 2020 Swift documentary Miss Americana, in which the singer explored her need to speak up politically.

As in, up and out against hate, against Donald Trump, for women, for fair pay for women, for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (then Senator Joe Biden was a co-author of the original VAWA) and against then-Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn.

Swift fans skew suburban, white, and leans Democratic, according to Morning Consult. “A slim majority of U.S. adults (53%) identified as fans of Swift, according to a recent Morning Consult survey, while 16% identified as “avid” fans of the “Anti-Hero” singer… The Swift fandom, which outnumbers that of other pop stars like Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, and Harry Styles, is largely made up of millennials and leans white, suburban, and Democratic, according to the Morning Consult survey…. Women (52%) slightly edged out men (48%).”

Last month, Swift encouraged her 272 million Instagram followers to register to vote. NPR wrote that the site she directed them to, the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org, ‘reported a 1,226% jump in participation in the hour after the post” and “recorded more than 35,000 registrations, according to the organization.”

Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, called it a “highly encouraging sign of voter enthusiasm,” especially among voters who are newly eligible since turning 18. “Time and time again young people are showing up and demonstrating they care about their rights and access to the ballot box,” Hailey said in a statement.

So, put that in context: One Instagram story calling for Swifties to register to vote led to a 1,226% jump in voter registration participation in an hour. That’s political power. That’s generational political power, hitting in suburbs where Republicans need to win.

The culture is moving in the opposite direction of the Republican Party, and that is why they have resorted to grabbing power unconstitutionally, illegally, and with violence.