Two candidates for American President with the election two weeks away. One the repellent narcissist, the other who manages to avoid every question except about her opponent. Ugh.
But the campaigns have become fascinating to me because of two unique and quite amazing supporters, Elon Musk and Taylor Swift.
Musk is attracting crowds to his events by giving away $1 million to one lucky attendee who also signs his petition advocating freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. This is a guy who supported Barack Obama in his first presidential run?
Elon Musk came to this country with his brother from South Africa with little money and became one of the richest men on the planet.
His first fortune came from an investment with two other men who had gotten rich in Silicon Valley. They backed the founders of PayPal, which made him a multimillionaire when it went public in the first tech boom. He took that money and bankrolled Tesla, a small startup with a crazy idea of developing an electric car after General Motors had shelved theirs and Ford and Chrysler shrugged at the idea. Then Musk cleverly bullied his way into becoming the company’s CEO.
Tesla’s incredibly successful Model S enabled him to start SpaceX and satellite company Starlink, beating NASA’s monopoly. Musk’s stated life goal is to go to Mars in his lifetime.
He is the epitome of the immigrant entrepreneur and a symbol for the young men coming to his rallies for Trump looking for a goal and also hoping for their own million dollar check.
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Taylor Swift is also a billionaire. She has done it by developing a huge brand without mass market advertising. When Ticketmaster botched ticket resales for her Eras Tour she mobilized her fans to go around the company.
She has not gone on the road for Kamala Harris, but after Trump and Vance’s remarks about “childless cat ladies,” she endorsed the Vice President under a picture of her advocating “Cat Lovers For Harris.”
Women from around the country have organized around her brand with symbols like blue nail polish and bracelets, and mobilizing a grass campaign called “Swifties For Kamala.” It is a spontaneous movement around Taylor Swift and women’s rights.
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In a uniquely American way, Musk and Swift, who both came from nowhere to become huge brands, might have a big effect on the outcome of the election.
Million dollar checks from a South African with 11 children from several women, and a hugely popular singer with a Kansas City Chiefs tight end boyfriend. How very American. I love it.
Question: Which celebrity could change your opinion about a Presidential candidate?
9 Comments
It’d be a lot more awesome and American if this were the 80’s and everyone was wasted and coked up.
Being sober for all this is……even more sobering. Let’s hope that however it turns out average working people don’t get fucked even deeper into the ground.
An endorsement by Mitch Daniels would swing my vote.
No one cares about an entertainers endorsement. They live in fantasy land. She makes music and I could care less. At least Elon employs thousands of workers and creates tangible products. Generally trickling down deep into middle class America. It takes machinists to make rockets that go up and can be caught again. Quite revolutionary. It takes Engineers and a plethora of other trades as well. Steelworkers to build platforms etc. I’ll stay with Elon’s endorsement.
Generally, politicians are not well liked.
However, if a politician can say or do whatever he wants, and not lose support, then he is no longer a politician but a cult leader.
The blue side has my vote this time.
Ben, it’s a shame Mitch Daniels is not running for President. He ran Purdue like a superb business. No DEI.
Elon Musk
Taylor Swift is nothing less than Elitist Celebrity Has no clue what a dollar is worth to the millions of Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck and are surviving only by their dependance on credit cards. I can relate to womens rights but abortion is legal in most states and not nearly as important as the economic survival of the middle class, world peace, free press, fentanyl deaths, human trafficking and the cost to the middle class American tax payer being forced to support illegal immigrants with free food housing health care while Fema has run out of money and can not take care of those hit by hurricane Helene.
I understand where many of you folks are coming from.
However I think some people are not remembering the question, which is: “What celebrity could sway your vote?” Rather than just one of these 2 choices.
To me, unless the celebrity was somehow part of the ticket, I don’t think anybody could sway me.
However, I do think a celebrity endorsement might sway me AWAY from a candidate if for some reason I felt equal about both people running, which is a very hypothetical situation.
No celebrity would or could, I’ve never really got the stardom thing. I do have massive respect for business leaders who continuously and rigorously reinvest into our local economies.
In the end, I’m up here in Canada, personally I’d argue we’re just as, if not more hooped with the current regimes up here.
It’s interesting to read about the changes, and the way, in partisan politics, how every ends up being so personal narrative driven rather than platform driven.
Coincidentally I think most any cat out there would be more capable of doing a far better job than Harris.