That Taylor Swift Psyop Conspiracy Theory?! 'Nearly 1 In 5' Americans Believe It!!

Well, this is a truly depressing look at our country right now.

Remember when we mentioned that whole Taylor Swift conspiracy theory about the Super Bowl? How it was scripted so that she could go on the field to congratulate boyfriend Travis Kelce, watched by tens of millions of Americans, and endorse Joe Biden for president?

You’d think the fact that didn’t happen — and she still hasn’t mentioned Biden, like ever — would rain on that parade. But no. They still think the singer of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and Blank Space… is part of a huge psyop conspiracy. The right wing has so successfully pushed the idea that, according to a Monmouth University poll out Wednesday, nearly ONE IN FIVE Americans believe it.

Per the numbers, 18% of people in the US believe Taylor isn’t just a singer — she’s some kind of spy. It’s a completely made up story with no basis in fact, and yet statistically one cast member of Party of Five is fully bought in. (Probably Lacey Chabert, right?)

Can you imagine trying to explain to someone back in 2014 hearing Shake It Off for the first time that this girl would be Republicans’ biggest enemy in a decade? That they’d be LIVID she was seen kissing her white football player boyfriend after he won the Super Bowl? And they’d hate him too… because he encouraged getting vaccinated against a deadly virus?

The good news is, the inmates haven’t taken over the asylum quite yet. The Monmouth poll also states that Taylor Swift simply encouraging her fans to register to vote — which is all she usually does — is approved by 68%, over two thirds of the country. (Obviously Republicans are less enthused about it overall, just 42%, as they generally would prefer it be harder to vote and for fewer people to do it. Just the right people.) And obviously Tay is still wildly popular. She has a 39% approval rating, with only a 13% approval rating. A whopping “43% have no opinion” and “5% have not heard of” her because, you know, they don’t have to. She’s not the president, she’s a singer. Again, we reiterate, SHE. IS. A. SINGER. That’s it, y’all! (Okay, and wildly talented songwriter.)

As for those who believe in the Taylor psyop conspiracy? Yes, the folks who believe this nonsense are mostly who you’d think. The report states:

“Fully 71% of those who believe this identify with or lean toward the Republican Party and 83% indicate they are likely to support Donald Trump in the fall. Also, nearly three-quarters (73%) of those who believe the Swift conspiracy also believe the 2020 election outcome was fraudulent.”

Despite all evidence to the contrary, they just… *BELIEVE* it. Because the real conspiracy is the fact this BS is being pushed on people. They’re being brainwashed and they don’t even know it. And it’s heartbreaking.

We talk a lot about the danger of conspiracy theories on this site. They’re something that used to be genuinely fun. UFOs, bigfoot, Prince Harry‘s parentage, that kind of thing. But they’ve taken a really dark turn the past decade for three big reasons. The first is how they’re being weaponized. We’re no longer talking about wild speculation in good faith. This isn’t real people looking at facts not adding up and going, Hey…

No, with stuff like PizzaGate and QAnon, this is grifters convincing gullible folks of insane things like secret pedophile rings run by Hillary Clinton or a giant cabal of satan-worshipping cannibals behind the Democratic Party. See the trend we’re talking about? None of it is based on any evidence or data leading to Democrats, these people chose their targets first and just started spreading the most disgusting rumors they could think of. And it has folks believing Donald Trump is the only person they can trust. A rapist (yes, we can now legally say that, per the judge in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case!) who was pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein‘s wingman.

That brings us to the second reason. The crazy ideologies people are now buying into aren’t fun. They’re dangerous. We’ve now seen multiple cases of people murdering their family members because they bought into these conspiracy theories. In the worst case, a man brutally killed his two small children.

Finally, there’s the third reason so many conspiracy theories are no longer flights of fancy we can ignore: they’re far, far too widespread. Thanks to the internet, the spread of misinformation has skyrocketed and the amount of human interaction has plummeted. So we have nice, normal people getting into bubbles where no critical thought or factual dispute reaches them. And they spread it to others, and the circles grow.

Sigh… As the Monmouth institute’s director Patrick Murray says in the report: