As we embark on the annual fortnight slog in the culture that is the ramp-up to the Super Bowl (I’m not saying “The Big Game”, so sue me Goodell), this year promises to be even more unbearable, with the inclusion of the planet’s current reigning diva. The Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship has already infected the broadcasts of Kansas City games, and once the KC Swifties qualified for the championship you knew it would devolve further into a Teen Vogue-level hype job.

What is playing out now is a cultural battle swirling around the pop star and the HOF TE. There are those on the right who have become everything from dismayed to outraged over her ascendancy, and now there is (supposedly) serious concern she could sway the upcoming election. Many in the press are jumping on the various reactions seen across the conservative media landscape, and the mockery has been delivered via firehose. There is (again, supposedly) a theory/conspiracy that this is all a manufactured PSYOP and that Democrat operatives behind a curtain spinning dials and yanking switches are manipulating this cultural astroturf storyline to benefit Joe Biden.

Do any people on the right actually believe this? Certainly some, but doubtful many. What is at play are right-of-center pundits seeing this opportunity as a good play to the audience, with varying degrees of seriousness. Most of it is an opportunity for clicks and engagement. Much of what I have seen has bordered on mirthful or appealing to the so-over-it nature of this hype. 

But here is the rub: The ever-resistant to self-reflection members of the press fail to see they are just as guilty of surrendering to this hype in the manner they are - dare I say it - “seizing” on the alleged hysteria. This is the social media reflex writ large when someone on the right makes a benign comment about something in the culture, and someone on the left retorts with, “Why are you conservatives freaking out about” accusations. Ask a question about something innocuous and you become “enraged” over it, and the like.

The press is railing about how conservatives are “losing their minds” over this storyline. The Daily Beast claims “Far Right Snowflakes are Terrified” of Taylor Swift. The New Republic declared “Conservatives Go Next-Level Crazy” over Swift-Kelce. Oliver Darcy at CNN boldly delivers “Right-wing media is burning red at Taylor Swift.” Filling in for Nicolle Wallace on “Deadline: White House”, Alicia Menendez looked over the reactions and called it “The far-right’s latest worms-for-brains conspiracy theory.” Alicia tends to forget what network she is on (Just to show how oblivious the fill-in hostess was, to further explore this conspiracy she next brought on Trump conspiracy theorist Miles Taylor).

This shows, yet again, how the press has a surplus of soapboxes but is in short supply of mirrors. This is the media complex covering the alleged obsession of the right with Taylor Swift in an obsessive fashion, and they fail to acknowledge that in nearly every report calling the right “crazy” for being critical of Swift, they need to praise and swoon over the star with equal passion.

Oliver Darcy spent two successive newsletters highlighting the star, and after lambasting the right he falls into rhapsodic coverage of Swift, peppering his missives with phrases of her song titles. He cited a TMZ report speculating if she might perform at halftime (Alas, she will not!). He even disqualifies himself by highlighting the alleged “hate” for Swift but noting the ratings for the Chiefs game were extraordinary.

And it gets better. Darcy’s own network reports that - OMG! - one of the airlines flying to the Super Bowl has adjusted that flight number to become “#1989”, in honor of Taylor Swift’s birth date and album title! That’s totes awesome, and junk, but don’t you dare suggest CNN is acting ridiculous or obsessive.

Just one more dose of obliviousness regards the prospect of Swift having some impact on the election. While it is mocked mercilessly in the press, the concept of her swaying things in favor of Biden is not just some sort of crackpot hypothesis on the right. When the New York Times reports that Democrats are indeed looking to sway the singer over to their side, this dispels any claim of conservatives cooking up a fever-dream-level conspiracy, but this is how the press operates; when Republicans note her possible impact on voting they are branded as hysterics with baseless claims, but if Democrats suggest the exact same thing it becomes cagey strategizing of a brilliant nature.

I’m sorry, but for me, those on either side of this debate are too serious. When it comes to Taylor Swift this is a woman known for two things – her singing, and her terrible choices in men. If she ends up going public with Joe Biden as her presidential choice this is not exactly a valid endorsement.