Being P.C. in the Trump Era

A feature article by Khushi Shah

It was a seismic shift. Or, really, more like a sonic blast. On October 8, Taylor Swift shook off her political neutrality and endorsed Democratic candidates–like Tennessee’s Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper–for next month’s midterm elections. She credited “events in my life and in the world in the past two years” for this sudden partisan change of heart. See what the state of American politics has made Swift do.  It made her a Political Celebrity.

Within 24 hours of the singer’s original Instagram post, more than 65,000 voters registered according to Vote.org. By Tuesday, October 9, the date of the American Music Awards, that number ballooned to 102,000 registered voters.

Swift is a prime example of celebrities using their platform to voice opinions on the things they believe in and how hold incredible amounts of influence, even outside their usual spheres of entertainment. Witherly Heights is therefore obliged to look at other celebrities, what they stand for, how they are activists, and how they attempt to bring upon real change in the world.

Kanye West is a famous rap artist that has made his political standing abundantly clear. He leans to the right side of the political spectrum, labeling himself a proud Republican. Over the past year, he has used his platform to support President Donald Trump. He even visited him in the White House on October 11 and proceeded to deliver a speech, though hard to follow, about why he supported him.

In the past, when Kanye West has dabbled into the world of politics, he has done so through absurd social media posts and confusing speeches on TV shows. Recently, for example, he told TMZ: “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice.” Although he did apologize for it later, he still suffered quite a bit of backlash for the statement, which is something that seems to happens every time he makes a political comment.

Caitlyn Jenner has an unclear political standing. While she is a Republican, the support she gives to Republican figureheads seems to be inconsistent. Currently, she is still in support of Donald Trump and believes in him rather strongly. She has been criticized heavily by many people because they feel that it is, at the very least, quizzical for a prominent member of the LGBTQ+ community to support the same president who banned transgender officers from the military. She responded to this criticism by saying she believed that if she and Donald Trump met in person, they could work it out.

Amy Schumer is a popular comedian whose political leaning to the left has been made very clear over the years. One example of this was in 2016 where she completely mocked Donald Trump in one of her performances, even going as far as to invite a supporter of Trump on stage only to deride him.

For this particular event, over 200 people began to boo her after she invited the supporter on stage. While there are plenty of people who support her views, they also believe that the way she publicizes them is inappropriate. This hasn’t really deterred her, however, as she still occasionally makes political statements through comedy. More recently, however, she was arrested on October 4 while protesting Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the position of Supreme Court judge.

Eminem is one of the celebrities who is rather candid about his political views. However, he never clearly over his career supported Democrats until recently. He revealed his true political standing when he rapped about his hatred of Donald Trump on a BET cipher in 2017. He has even made songs regarding his influence and how politicians have criticized him, such as “White America” and the full version of the BET cipher released on his studio album Revival. He is one of the few celebrities who has been mainly commended for taking a political stance.

Clint Eastwood is a celebrity that falls on the right side of the spectrum and at one point actively endorsed the Republicans. One can consider his most iconic performance–that of Dirty Harry in four films–as canting toward conservative values. In an interview with Esquire, he said “That Trump is onto is he’s just saying what’s on his mind. And sometimes it’s not so good.” However, Clint Eastwood has faced quite a bit of criticism for his political views on topics such as racism and sexual harassment.

Roseanne Barr is a conservative who has actively supported Donald Trump. She even had her character on the TV show, Roseanne, back the Republican party saying that it made sense for the character. The comedian has made various statements on Twitter, one of which was even commended by 45.

However, her most prominent tweet was a jab at Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House advisor to President Barack Obama; Barr tweeted: “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

Miley Cyrus is a firm Democrat. During the 2016 election, she constantly used social media to support Hillary Clinton and express her frustration when Clinton lost. While she doesn’t support Donald Trump or those who follow him, she does believe that they have the right to have their own opinions.

When conversing with Republican supporters, she does not condemn them for their political affiliation, unlike Eminem who said that his fans had to choose between him and Donald Trump.

Matt Damon is a member of the Democratic party and has actively spoken out about his political views. He has made numerous statements about how he disagreed with and opposed Trump, saying that the president made him nervous for America’s future. He did, however, later say that since Trump was president and had a lot of work cut out for him, Americans should be rooting for him.

[Sources:  uproxx.com, instagram.com, cnn.com, dailymail.co.uk, spin.com, inverse.com, esquire.com, nytimes.com]