Vice President Kamala Harris pulled out all the stops when it came to lining up the proverbial A-list of celebrity endorsements. They came. They saw. But they most assuredly did not conquer. It was an epic fail as a litany of celebrities lined up to join campaign Kamala. They spoke, some were expected to sing but didn’t, and, in the end, no one was listening. Why in the world would that be?
The legacy media did its level best to convince the American electorate that everything was just fine and dandy, but this message belied reality. The folks in the great outdoors weren’t drinking the Kool-Aid. The narratives that ultra-wealthy Hollywood elites were selling simply didn’t ring true with the average Joe, who was forking 29% more overall for food.
Celebrity Endorsements -- A No Show
The glitz and glamour from Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen fell flat. Not to mention (but we shall mention it anyway) the news that Harpo Productions, owned by Oprah Winfrey — whose net worth was listed at $2.5 billion in 2023 — raked in a cool million from the Democratic Party for her endorsement of Harris - although the company denies that any fee went directly to Winfrey. And chatter is rife that Ms. Winfrey was not the only beneficiary of Kamala's donation-fueled largesse.
Nice work if you can get it.
Just the News reported Nov. 11 that the $1 million cash outlay “is just one example of how much campaign money went to celebrities and entertainers.” The Democrats raised an historic amount for the Harris campaign, with estimates reaching more than $1 billion while finishing $18-20 million in the red.
In the end, celebrity spin didn’t make a dent for the Democrats. “After the devastating losses, a number of Democrats said the party needs to move on from its fascination with Hollywood and A-list celebs — along with the idea that those endorsements are helping the party,” wrote Judy Kurtz and Amie Parnes of The Hill.
It wasn’t that the president-elect didn’t use celebrity endorsements – he did – but those he plucked out of the A-list had a populist edge. NASCAR driver Danica Patrick put in an appearance on the Trump campaign trail along with Hulk Hogan and the UFC’s Dana White. And then there was Joe Rogan, mega podcaster extraordinaire, who is in a class all by himself.
The Globe and Mail wondered if the endorsements might have actually hurt Harris instead of helping her:
“The pride of Reading, Pa., [Taylor Swift] loudly endorsed the party’s presidential nominee with an Instagram post to her 272-million followers in September. That city, the fourth-largest in the battleground state with a 70-per-cent Latino population, was so vital to both campaigns that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stopped there on the eve of election day. But when the votes were tallied, Reading and the reliably red Berks County went for Trump.”
Campaign autopsies can reveal hard truths, and the Democratic Party appears to be doing at least some soul-searching after its sweeping loss Nov. 5. Of course, none of this matters a wit if it doesn’t take this message to heart. Perhaps eminent philosopher Taylor Swift had the most appropriate last word when she opined: “You learn lessons. A lot of them the hard way.”
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