SearchRecent comments
Democracy LinksMember's Off-site Blogs |
star power vs celeb endorsement......If there’s anything more gratifying than watching conservatives win, it’s watching celebrities lose. The pampered, out-of-touch A-listers who shilled for Kamala Harris have not coped well since Tuesday’s results (if threats of death-by-Drano are any indication). But in every meltdown, one thing is clear: their despair isn’t just that the vice president failed, but that the country is too stupid to understand that famous people know better. It’s the same campaign of condescension that led to the demise of woke corporations. And with a little luck, celebrity endorsements will meet the same fate. Fame Fatale: How the Elite Celeb Culture Doomed Dems
Of course, as plenty of news outlets are pointing out, using star power in politics isn’t new. More than 100 years ago, “Al Jolson led a march of fellow actors through the streets of Ohio in support of Republican Warren G Harding’s bid,” The Guardian explains. “Endorsements from Babe Ruth, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand have all been coveted by the candidates of their day.” But that was before the vast majority of Hollywood and pro athletes became an arm of the socialist Left and lost all touch with the average American. “Even though Harris’ slogan was, ‘We are not going back,’ the campaign was firmly in reverse,” the New York Post’s Kirsten Fleming insists, “taking the DeLorean to 2008 … [b]ack when Hollywood A-listers meant something. … Before the Democratic Party completely abandoned the working class. Talked down to them. Told them they were racist or bigoted for not putting their pronouns in their bio.” They put down their caviar and step off their private jets fully expecting their celebrity cache to supersede a person’s opinions, values, or lived experience. Ricky Gervais mocked this idea over the summer before Harris introduced her cast of star surrogates. “As a celebrity, I know all about stuff like science and politics, so trust me when I tell you who you should vote for,” Gervais mimicked. “If you don’t vote the right way, it’s like a hate crime and that makes me sad and angry, and I’ll leave the country — and you don’t want that!” A bandwagon of actors and NBA players may have worked in the glamour days of the Obamas, who seemed like celebrities themselves but always managed to resonate with the normal family. The difference now is that the Democratic Party is so far outside the mainstream ideologically (try Jupiter) that the stars who endorse them seem even more unrelatable. Not only are they rich and beautiful with massive platforms and industry accolades, but they’re embracing an agenda of extremism that never made sense to begin with. Oprah, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Harrison Ford, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, LeBron James, Jennifer Aniston, Beyoncé, Anne Hathaway, Sally Field, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Martha Stewart, Steph Curry, George Clooney, Spike Lee, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert De Niro, and all of Ben Affleck’s former wives and girlfriends have the luxury of caring about the fringe issues because they’re not living on a budget, scared by crime, or losing jobs and housing to migrants. They’re too divorced from reality to understand what America wants or needs. And despite their capacity for great acting, they never bother to put themselves in the role of the average person. That’s what makes the grassroots popularity of Donald Trump, a billionaire who owns 16 golf courses and lives in gold-gilded homes, such a paradox. But then, the 45th president never implied that Americans couldn’t think for themselves or prioritize what’s important. He didn’t reduce them to their education status, skin color, or reproductive organs. He made it his business to listen to the country — not preach. And unlike the Left’s elites who reek of moral superiority and disdain for hard-working families, he embraced them. Of course, the former president had his own famous friends. And like the enigma they threw their support behind, these endorsements were different — and quite possibly, more effective. In our vicious media culture, standing with Trump took guts, and Americans know it. Unlike Harris’s backers, who were treated like heroes for accepting a zero-risk offer to step into the political limelight, Trump’s public allies — people like Mel Gibson, Danica Patrick, Brett Favre, Joe Rogan, Buzz Aldrin, Dr. Phil, Roseanne Barr, Paula Deen, Elon Musk, Harrison Butker, Brittany Mahomes, Kelsey Grammar, and Kid Rock — understood that they would not only face extreme ridicule and backlash, but, quite possibly, career consequences. In a battle between the fearless and the smug, it’s not hard to see who would earn more respect. At the end of the day, the country objects to Hollywood’s moralizing for the same reason they objected to corporate America’s: it’s snobbish and patronizing, yes, but it’s also not their lane. If you throw a football, throw a football. If you sing, sing. But stop telling us that rooting out “white privilege” or banning plastic straws is more important than global stability, decent schools, or feeding our families. And practically speaking, at least where politicians are concerned, this glitzy echo chamber does nothing to move the needle. Arizona State University professor Margaretha Bentley, whose classes have studied the “social importance” of Taylor Swift says, “In the academic literature, research has shown that, while celebrity endorsements can increase civic engagement and voter registrations, it has not proven to have a direct impact on how people make their voting decisions.” Or if it does, it moves them in the wrong direction. When the biggest pop star on the planet endorsed the vice president, a poll from YouGov found that “only 8% of voters would be ‘somewhat’ or ‘much more’ likely to vote for Harris — with a surprising 20% saying [Swift’s support] actually made them less likely to vote for her.” In other words, it backfired. Harris was not only worse off for it, but Swift lost a good chunk of her fans’ goodwill. So will Cardi B, who, like most of these personalities, aren’t exactly graceful losers. “I hate y’all bad,” the rapper complained after Election Day. She responded to someone asking if she’d appear at Trump’s inauguration by saying: “I’m sick of you! Burn your f****** hats, motherf*****. I’m really sad. I swear to God I’m really sad.” Singer Christiana Aguilera ordered fans to “unfollow me if you voted against female rights. … Unfollow me because what you did is unreal. Don’t want followers like this. So yeah. Done. Also after today I will be shutting down this fan account that I have had for so many years because this is sick.” All of this adds to the country’s growing revulsion for the insulated and detached celeb scene. The reality is, Family Research Council’s Joseph Backholm told The Washington Stand, “It’s normal for people to respect and admire another person, but if we don’t know them personally, our respect for them is generally limited to the thing we know them for. I can respect a musician or an athlete for their elite talents, but I need a lot more information about them before I start taking parenting advice from them,” he said. “The Left seems to assume that because we like someone’s music or movies we’re going to defer to their judgment about what’s good for us. Most people may believe Taylor Swift is better at writing songs than they are, but that doesn’t mean they believe she’s better at deciding what’s best for their family.” Some on the Left are waking up to this reality for the party in general. Democrat Chris Cuomo outright blamed wokeism for Harris’s loss. “You are forcing new social norms on people in this country. ‘No, I’m not,’ [they insist]. ‘We’re just doing what’s fair. Trans people have rights too.’ Yes, but if it’s communicated as if you must be forced to accept and be indoctrinated with ideas that you do not share — is that fair? ‘That’s not what we were doing.’ That’s how they felt you were treating them about it,” Cuomo argued. “That’s the women in sports thing. It’s not that it happens a lot. … [But] it’s that the fact that it happens at all, to them, is a gross violation of norms and unacceptable. And you find it okay, and they believe that is wokeism run amok.” What you’re seeing, Rasmussen head pollster Mark Mitchell told FRC President Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch,” is that these people “fleeing the Democrat Party and the Republicans, the Donald Trump movement, are really starting to become the core culture of the counterculture. … The mainstream media has jumped the shark, has lost its credibility, is losing its sway. And look at all the actors and actresses and authority figures that [threw] endorsements to Kamala Harris, and none of them moved the needle because people just don’t care anymore. So I think that trend is going to continue.” And for Americans sick of being lectured by woke politicians, companies, actresses, and athletes, maybe that’s one of the biggest Election Day victories of all. https://washingtonstand.com/commentary/fame-fatale-how-the-elite-celeb-culture-doomed-dems
WHETHER TRUMP IS GOOD FOR AMERICA OR NOT IS DEBATABLE, BUT KAMALA (HARRIS) WAS NOT THE SOLUTION EITHER. THE DNC TRIED TO TRICK VOTERS WITH COLOR AND GENDER (A COLORED WOMAN) BUT THIS WAS SEEN AS A SLAY OF HAND.... THE CELEBS WERE AS RELEVANT AS ELEPHANTS IN AN ANIMAL-FREE CIRCUS BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AND BERNIE IS GETTING OLDER BY THE MINUTE....
YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.
“It’s hard to do cartoons without a drawing board…” Gus Leonisky
SEE ALSO: Trump Celebrity Endorsements: A List Of Celebrities Supporting The Ex-POTUSBy Dessi Gomez, Tom Tapp
|
User login |
king quits....
Stephen King quits ‘toxic’ X
The novelist is among several left-leaning celebrities and media outlets to have recently abandoned the platform owned by Elon Musk
Famed American horror writer Stephen King has announced his departure from X, describing the social media platform as having become “too toxic.” The novelist earlier denied that X owner Elon Musk had kicked him off over a disparaging personal comment.
The tech mogul purchased X, then called Twitter, back in 2022, rebranding the platform and revamping or doing away with many of its policies. These changes have elicited the ire of a number of NGOs and activists, who claim that Musk condones “hate speech” on X, an allegation denied by the billionaire.
In a post on X on Thursday, King, often dubbed the “King of Horror,” wrote: “I’m leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic.” He added that his fans could follow him on Threads – a rival platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.
A day before, King denied rumors that “Muskie kicked me off Twitter,” referring to the platform’s owner. He also rebutted claims that he had described Musk as “[President-elect Donald] Trump’s new first lady.”
The novelist, a fierce critic of Trump, had previously dismissed as “ridiculous” Musk’s comment during the presidential campaign suggesting that the Republican’s rival in the election, Vice President Kamala Harris, “wants to break the constitution.”
In the wake of Trump’s victory, several celebrities and media personalities have also left X.
Among them is CNN anchor Don Lemon, also a long-time detractor of the GOP firebrand. In a video on Instagram, he said: “I once believed [X] was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency, and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose.”
During the course of 2022 and 2023, several high-profile advertisers abandoned X, accusing Musk of failing to do enough to combat hate speech.
For years, Musk had avoided publicly aligning with either the Republicans or Democrats, positioning himself as politically neutral. However, during the latest presidential campaign, the entrepreneur drifted to the right, increasingly criticizing the administration of President Joe Biden. In the wake of the failed assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, Musk proclaimed his support for the Republican nominee and subsequently emerged as one of Trump’s top donors.
Since the election, Musk has repeatedly been seen together with the president-elect, including during phone calls with foreign leaders.
The incoming president announced on Thursday that Musk will head the future Department of Government Efficiency, a body that will aim to cut down on “waste and fraud” in federal government spending.
https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/607734-stephen-king-leaves-x-musk/
Actress Eva Longoria has clarified the reasons for leaving the United States, saying that while her decision was influenced by various factors, it was not due to President-elect Donald Trump’s political comeback.
Longoria, best known for her role on ‘Desperate Housewives’, made headlines this week after revealing that she and her family decided to leave the country due to what she described as a “dystopian”environment.
In a Marie Claire cover story published on November 13, the 49-year-old opened up about her decision to relocate with her husband Jose Baston and their six-year-old son Santiago from Los Angeles, splitting their time between Spain and Mexico.
“I would like to think our fight continues,” said Longoria, who actively campaigned this summer for President-elect Donald Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The US “is a scary place,” she continued. “If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place,”Longoria said, apparently referring to Trump.
“I had my whole adult life here,” she told Marie Claire. “But even before [the pandemic], it was changing. The vibe was different. And then COVID happened, and it pushed it over the edge. Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, not that I want to s**t on California – it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now.”
“I’m privileged,” she went on to say. “I get to escape and go somewhere. Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”
Despite some interpreting her move as a response to the political climate, including the political rise of Donald Trump, Longoria said in a podcast on Friday that it was driven by a personal reflection on her life and the environment in which she raised her family, rather than a direct reaction to the political landscape.
“Will you please let them know I didn’t move out of the United States because of Trump?” she told Ana Navarro in a call to ‘The View: Behind the Table’ podcast on November 15.
https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/607736-longoria-explains-why-she-left-us/
READ FROM TOP.
YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.
“It’s hard to do cartoons without a drawing board…”
Gus Leonisky