All but guaranteeing the meltdown among Donald J. Trump’s Make America Great Again movement will continue, Liz Cheney has weighed in on Taylor Swift.
Ms. Cheney, the former Wyoming representative and scion of old Republicanism who was effectively excommunicated from the party for her criticism of Mr. Trump, declared on social media, “Taylor Swift is a national treasure.”
Mr. Trump responded on his social media website, “Liz has gone full democrat.”
That Ms. Cheney poked that bear is not surprising. She has spent years provoking Mr. Trump, antagonizing his most ardent followers and urging her fellow Republicans to move on after she renounced him in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Trump’s response is more noteworthy.
His presidential campaign had first tried to ignore the swirl of baseless conspiracy theories among his supporters, which hold in some form or another that Ms. Swift and the Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce are performing a fake, made-for-TV romance contrived by Democrats and the National Football League to whip up interest ahead of a rigged Super Bowl when they will endorse President Biden’s re-election.
Eventually, the fulminations from conservatives reached such a fever pitch that the campaign put out word to its supporters not to worry: No endorsement could save Mr. Biden.
But opponents of Mr. Trump have seen it in their interest to stoke the controversy and raise the ire of the Swiftie legions, in hope of pulling more women into Mr. Biden’s camp, widening the gender gap and energizing young voters.
On Wednesday, Never Trump Republicans joined the fun. Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican representative who joined Ms. Cheney on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack, posted. “Could you imagine seething with outrage about Taylor Swift,” he asked. He added, “Good lord people, take a walk and chill.”
The Lincoln Project, founded by anti-Trump conservatives and former Republicans, also created a video to mark the moment.
Mercilessly mocked, some Republicans and conservative commentators have tried to pull it back. Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, said the 2024 election was going to be bad enough “without us making up more stupid stuff to fight about.”
He pleaded: “Just let Travis and Taylor do their thing. Cheer for your team. Cheer for football. Listen to your music. Let’s just take a deep breath and chill.”
