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“This is somebody you could really get in trouble with as far as attacking,” the host said. “She doesn’t have to say who she’s voting for. All she has to say is get registered.”
By Carly Thomas
Associate Editor
Bill Maher took some time during the latest episode of Real Time to share his thoughts on whether Taylor Swift could impact the upcoming presidential election.
The host, who was joined by Bob Costas, an American sportscaster, and Caitlin Flanagan, a writer and social critic, brought up the superstar who has been making headlines recently for her global Eras Tour, Grammy wins and for her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“This is a national news story in the sense that this is a person who could literally swing the election,” Maher said. “I don’t know what that says about this country, but I would just say to the ‘MAGA [Make America Great Again]’ people, ‘You should be very careful attacking her because this is someone who transcends parties.’”
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He continued, “I mean, this is a country girl, right? She started out as a country artist. She’s a white girl from Pennsylvania, I think, [who] grew up on a farm, right? Never had a Black boyfriend. Just saying, she’s had a lot of boyfriends that we all know about.” Maher then proceeded to joke, “You know, if ‘MAGA’ is full of racists, then they got to like that.”
The host went on to issue a warning for Donald Trump supporters regarding the influence that Swift has with her massive fan base. The singer-songwriter endorsed Biden in 2020.
“I’m just saying this is somebody you could really get in trouble with as far as attacking for ‘MAGA,’ because Trump’s people, they’re already registered and voting for him,” Maher said. “Her voters perhaps are not registered at all, and she doesn’t have to say who she’s voting for. All she has to say is get registered. They know who she’s voting for.”
He added, “So I think you could be awaking a sleeping until the afternoon giant.”
While Swift hasn’t publicly shared who she may be voting for in the upcoming election, she has previously expressed the importance of registering to vote and casting a ballot.
In September last year, the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org reported that it saw a spike in voter registration after Swift encouraged her fans to register to vote using Vote.org on her Instagram Stories, which had 272 million followers at the time.
The organization said it had 157,041 eligible voters visit the site that day, which was National Voter Registration Day, as well as 35,252 new registrations.
Writer and podcaster Coleman Hughes was also a guest on the Feb. 9 episode of Real Time.
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