In Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana, the new Netflix documentary about her life, she talks a lot about the ethos of being a country-music star. Namely that country-music stars are meant to smile and sing their songs and not push their political beliefs onto audiences or fans. The notion of the “good girl” gets bandied around quite a bit. She talks about the Dixie Chicks’ — who appear on the haunting “Soon You’ll Get Better” from Swift’s Lover — fall from grace after they spoke out about being ashamed to share a home state with George W. Bush. You don’t want to be like the Dixie Chicks, Swift says she was constantly warned. “And I loved the Dixie Chicks,” Swift says in the film.
But in 2018, Taylor Swift broke rank. While she didn’t go full-on Natalie Maines, she did post an Instagram endorsing two Democratic candidates in Tennessee. In the documentary, we get to see Swift work through that decision. She sits in a room with several men and her mother, while she, tearfully, explains what she needs to do. The Republican Senate incumbent, Marsha Blackburn, is running on a platform of “Tennessee Christian values” and Swift, as both a Tennessee resident and a Christian, says she cannot simply sit silently and let Blackburn spew hate. (A particular sticking point for Swift was that Blackburn had voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, which, among other things, has language surrounding stalking, something Swift is all too familiar with.) The conversation goes back and forth, with Swift’s mother, Andrea, sitting beside her daughter on the couch asking that these dudes just please listen to what Taylor is saying.
Taylor SwiftI’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope never got political, Swift is told. (She notes that the Republicans of Crosby and Hope’s era were a markedly different bunch than those in the Trump era.) One of the men, whom Swift reveals to be her father, mentions having bought armored cars to keep Swift safe. He is apparently concerned that adding politics into the mix could make things worse for her. Andrea quickly points out that she likely worries about her daughter’s safety more than anybody and she’s still onboard with Taylor’s decision to speak up.
You already know who wins the fight. Later in Miss Americana, we see Swift and her mom on a different couch. They’re drinking wine and joined by Tree Paine, the mastermind behind Swift’s PR. Swift is clutching her phone, getting ready to post the post that will, hopefully, set the record straight that she is, in fact, not a crypto-fascist or a secret white supremacist. That her silence on political matters was never meant to be a tacit endorsement of the right. “I need to be on the right side of history,” Swift puts it in the doc.
