Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sat down with Breitbart News and warned that Democrat policy-pushing pop star Taylor Swift would be the “first victim” of a top-down “Marxism” government. The video went viral, prompting far-left journalists, artists, and pundits to quickly circle the wagons around Swift, throw tantrums, and hurl personal attacks at Sen. Blackburn.
The mass triggering involves establishment media outlets, including MSNBC, as well as prominent cultural figures, such as country music star Will Hoge and tennis great Martina Navratilova. Still, industry outlets like Billboard, Variety, and TheWrap covered the story.
Some are casting Sen. Blackburn as the aggressor, but it was Taylor Swift who attacked the senator in the past, endorsing her rival in the 2018 midterms and declaring that the senator’s voting record “appalls and terrifies” her. Swift also dissed the senator, calling her “Trump in a wig” in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
Sen. Blackburn told Breitbart News that the increasingly woke country music industry should be wary of the Marxist ideas the left is promoting.
“Taylor Swift came after me in my 2018 campaign,” the senator said. “But Taylor Swift would be the first victim of that because when you look at Marxist socialistic societies, they do not allow women to dress or sing or be on stage or to entertain or the type music she would have. They don’t allow protection of private intellectual property rights.”
Sen. Blackburn’s decision to strike back has prompted the media to rush to Swift’s defense and vilify the senator as “idiotic,” “inept,” and a “whack job.”
MSNBC and NBC’s Peacock host Mehdi Hasan said Sen. Blackburn merits contention for “dumbest” comment uttered by a Republican senator this year.
Blackburn trying to contend with Ron Johnson for ‘dumbest comments uttered by a Republican Senator in 2021’ https://t.co/ViC8UJG24A
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 9, 2021
Former ESPN and MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann took a personal swipe at the senator by questioning her intelligence and sanity.
Feud with Taylor Swift.
C’mon. @MarshaBlackburn has only two feuds going: with intelligence, and with reality. https://t.co/NXvVq1PKtj
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 9, 2021
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova dug deep and called the senator “Brutally idiotic.”
Yup. Brutally idiotic… that is Marsha Blackburn https://t.co/QnECUMHPpo
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) July 9, 2021
Country music star Will Hoge claimed the senator is “really awful at her job.”
As one of her constituents it is still shocking we have enough folks here that can’t see through her utter self serving garbage. She’s really awful at her job.
— Will Hoge (@WillHoge) July 9, 2021
Dell Cameron, a senior reporter at Gizmodo, called Sen. Blackburn “an authoritarian wack job.”
Pretty hilarious given that Marsha Blackburn is an authoritarian wack job who would absolutely love to control what we read, listen to, and watch.
She has literally endorsed forcing broadband providers to delete whatever the govt calls “fake news” “off the web.” https://t.co/zjFJqGjWH5
— Dell Cameron (@dellcam) July 9, 2021
Millennial media site MIC said the “embarrassingly inept” Blackburn was doing little more the sparking a “new sparring match” with Swift. The site also called the senator a “dunce.”
Marsha Blackburn’s attempted burn on Taylor Swift was embarrassingly incorrect. https://t.co/KDkNDa7qpw
— Mic (@mic) July 9, 2021
Feminist site Jezebel posted a hot take claiming the senator “isn’t a very bright woman.”
Marsha Blackburn Is Reheating Some Frozen Beef With Taylor Swift https://t.co/dsieaERs8L pic.twitter.com/us2RfB48lo
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) July 9, 2021
The Wrap framed the story by casting Taylor Swift as the victim.
Marsha Blackburn is continuing her feud with Taylor Swift https://t.co/c5Q0RGRIFj
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) July 9, 2021
Billboard and Variety had similar framing:
After Taylor Swift said she wouldn't vote for Sen. Marsha Blackburn back in 2018, the Tennessee Republican is firing shots back in a new interview.https://t.co/DlGYS8Jk8C
— billboard (@billboard) July 9, 2021
The Daily Beast offered up this sarcastic headline “Marsha Blackburn Seems Genuinely Worried That Socialism Would Cancel Taylor Swift” and The Hill
Former George W. Bush advisor Matthew Dowd said “I along with most Americans would much prefer to have @taylorswift13 as a United States senator” to Blackburn.
I along with most Americans would much prefer to have @taylorswift13 as a United States senator than @MarshaBlackburn What about you?
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) July 9, 2021
Hollywood screenwriter and New Yorker columnist Paul Rudnick called the senator an “idiot.”
Idiot Senator Marsha Blackburn says a "socialistic government would have to approve Taylor Swift's music." According to Marsha the Socialistics are:
1) The most popular girls in middle school
2) A Motown group
3) Communists with dance moves
4) More dangerous than the bootylicious pic.twitter.com/KNUI33m64P— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) July 9, 2021
Uproxx.com recycled a dig Swift used again Blackburn with its headline, “The ‘Trump In A Wig’ Senator Gave A Strange Warning To Taylor Swift About Being The ‘First Victim’ In A ‘Marxist’ Government.” The Hill and Mediaite, for their part, gave the Breitbart interview an unbiased aggregation.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com.
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