The Republican pundits trying to spread conspiracy theories about pop star Taylor Swift being a psyop orchestrated by "shadow forces" don't seriously believe a word of what they're saying, argued right-wing commentator Erick Erickson in a lengthy post on X Tuesday.
Indeed, he argued, all they want is attention, no matter what that does to the rest of society.
"Let me explain what is actually going on with these hucksters, frauds, charlatans, and grifters on the right," wrote Erickson. "They don't believe it. They hope you might believe it. They are nihilists who don't care about the outcome or consequences of their lies. Many of the same Swift/Kelce conspiracists were PizzaGate conspiracists — fine when others caused harm. They care about their clout and buzz and how viral they can be online."
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These conspiracy theorists call themselves "social media influencers" or "social media experts" for a reason, Erickson said — their only goal is to show GOP campaigns how to generate viral attention, and they don't care if they look stupid and are mocked for it.
"They performatively hump Donald Trump's leg and they don't really even care about him," wrote Erickson. "They're only with him because, again, it helps their clout and gets them links, tweets, and clicks. They've concocted a conspiracy about the most popular woman on the planet and the most popular sport in America and are fine to turn people against both and have it all tied to Trump because they don't care about him."
At the end of the day, he said, "They care about money and the grift, the consequences be damned. Also, they are hyper-online. Their entire identities and personas are online. They haven't touched grass in eons. They have confused the online for reality. They are also deeply unserious people who know they'd be nothing if they turned their computers off and entered the real world."
