Allow me to begin with a bit of a confession this morning. For reasons I won't bore you with, I was unable to watch the first (only?) presidential debate last night between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, though I did review some of the highlights/lowlights this morning. Despite Harris having no record of substance to point to nor firmly stated policy positions, the debate produced the usual slew of headlines from across the political spectrum. One of them unexpectedly caught my attention, however. Following the debate, pop music superstar Taylor Swift published her endorsement of Kamala Harris to be the next president. 

We'll get to why this may be a more significant matter than some of us might have thought at first glance in a moment, but allow me to give credit where it is due. Swift crafted a cogent endorsement, citing specific policies that are important to her and noting Kamala's previous support for those issues. She left the final choice up to her fans but did supply links to instructions as to how to ensure people are registered to vote. It was all handled very professionally. (She did get in a bit of a political jab by signing it as "childless cat lady" but that was hardly out of bounds.) But does the endorsement of a pop star really matter in a high-stakes game like this? (NBC News)

Pop superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential candidacy Tuesday night after the high-stakes debate.

"I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election," Swift said in a post on Instagram. "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. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades."

 "I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice," the Grammy-winning artist added.

Just to be clear about this upfront, I'm not here this morning for the purpose of trashing Taylor Swift. Granted, without having Google at my fingertips I couldn't name two of her songs if you had a gun pointed at my head, but that's not because she is a poor performer. She's just not from my generation. But I've heard clips and she is clearly a talented performer with a great voice and a compelling stage presence. She is also a hard-working, savvy businessperson who has amassed a net worth in excess of $1.3 billion. Best of luck to her as far as I'm concerned.

With all of that said, however, I have to wonder if we've truly reached a point in our nation's history where the endorsement of a pop star could truly impact the final voting decisions of any significant number of people. And if so, what does that say about American society at large? Every election is important, but we are currently living through a potentially dangerous period of uncertainty and multiple crises, both domestic and abroad. We have been witnesses to precisely how badly things can go under poor or nonexistent leadership from the White House, impacting every aspect of our lives. This is, to paraphrase the current Commander-in-Chief from more than a decade ago, "a big effing deal."

Taylor Swift has the same right as the rest of us to prioritize which issues matter most to her and to use her mega-sized platform to share those priorities with her legion of fans. But she ignores virtually all of the most pressing challenges facing our country (and the world), focusing almost entirely on abortion and LGBTQ rights. Granted, those are pretty much the only things the Democrats have to run on at this point, but even if you get those issues "correct," it's not going to do anything to bring an end to an escalating war involving the largest nuclear superpower in the world. It won't make citizens safer in their homes or communities. (It arguably makes things worse because so many of the illegal Islamic migrants come from places where they throw Taylor Swift's gender-nonconforming friends off of rooftops.) 

The bottom line here is that we seem to be setting a disturbing and potentially damaging precedent if a person like Taylor Swift can go public following a presidential debate and cause even a measurable swing in the polls. We'll need to wait for a cycle or two before we find out if she had any real impact. Even then, it will be hard to suss out whether the shift was caused by Swift or by Kamala's (slightly better than disastrous) performance at the debate that did it. But it remains highly worrisome to say the least. An unserious American government elected by unserious pop-music fans is not the shining city on the hill that our allies are awaiting.