Musk’s creepy attack on Swift is revealing
If for some reason you found yourself worried last week about Taylor Swift’s status as a “childless cat lady,” have no fear, Elon Musk had you covered.
In a post to X, the billionaire tech bro made the wildly inappropriate suggestion that he would not only “give [Swift] a child,” but also promised to “guard [her] cats with [his] life.”
Woof.
As a vocal proponent of Donald Trump and anti-trans crusader, Musk’s sad attempt at a joke isn’t exactly shocking. What is surprising, however, is why right-wing figures consider “childless cat lady” an insult at all: It’s 2024, and we should all know better than to equate a person’s worth with their parental status — “should” of course being the operative word.
For good or ill, though, the conversation is moving outside of political spheres and planting itself in mainstream pop culture. On the one hand, it means that millions can access the beliefs of far-right Republicans while witnessing the desperation of men like Musk. But there may also be another silver lining: in addressing her fans directly, celebrities like Swift can visibly push back against the misogyny of people like Musk.
Alas, it’s not as if there’s any shortage of women-hating going around these days. When Republican senator and VP hopeful JD Vance complained to Tucker Carlson about the country being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives,” he became part of a long history of villainizing unmarried women and their cats, the animal often associated with spinsterhood or witchcraft. (Two terrific choices, in my opinion.)
Vance, like Musk, perpetuated the pernicious, misogynistic conservative narrative that women are only as good as their willingness to reproduce. But beyond that, his sentiment was callous and cruel, failing to take into consideration fertility struggles, infant and child mortality, or any number of extenuating circumstances that can affect a person’s parental status. Some women even have the audacity to choose to not have kids!
This is why Musk’s comment was so inappropriate and creepy. Yet Musk’s comment to Swift didn’t only cross the boundaries of general human decency. As a billionaire business owner — of a social media company, no less — Musk’s influence exists far outside the realms of CSPAN or traditional political discourse. His response to Swift epitomizes that there has been a shift in power from politicians to pop figures, of which Swift’s Harris endorsement may be the clearest example.
Forget Kennedy versus Nixon, or Trudeau versus Poilievre. Now it’s billionaire versus billionaire, baby!
Clearly, it’s an ambivalent situation at best. But regardless of anyone’s feelings about Taylor Swift, her public support for the Democrats packed a one-two punch. Not only was her allegiance a blow to the Trump campaign, which previously posted an AI image suggesting Swift’s support. Her call to action saw vote.gov gain nearly 406,000 visits by people looking to register to vote. That’s real influence, and underscores both Swift’s and pop culture’s ever-growing political impact.
It’s why Musk’s comment wasn’t just offensive; it was a boneheaded political move too. It only reminds people of the withering accusation that this new version of the right led by people like Musk, Trump and Vance is deeply weird. It also frames Swift as inherently normal: she may be one of the most famous people on the planet, but she’s also an adult woman who makes her own decisions.
It’s also why watching Musk trip over himself and his misogyny is so embarrassing for him. His post may have elicited both eyerolls and shares, but it reflected less the power of his rhetoric, and more the insidious nature of his echo chamber.
But even that echo chamber may be on the decline. When Swift endorsed Harris, she didn’t even post on X, instead taking to Instagram. There’s probably a lesson there. Tackling people like Musk may involve cutting off the one thing he wants most: attention.