Hillary Clinton is out and about this week to promote her latest book, Something Lost, Something Gained. She’s been giving interviews to TV shows, and she also appeared on Kara Swisher’s On podcast. During that conversation with Swisher, Hillary spoke about Taylor Swift’s endorsement of the Harris-Walz ticket last week, and the Republican tantrum that followed. Then they got into Elon Musk’s response to Taylor. Musk tweeted: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” Again, Musk’s reaction to Taylor endorsing the Democratic ticket was to threaten to impregnate her. Well, Hillary had A LOT to say about that.
The way Clinton sees it, however, Musk’s strange offer to give Swift a child is “kind of another way of saying rape I think.” Swisher agreed. Clinton added that Musk’s post was “rotten and creepy” and added: “I can’t understand why he says what he says. It just is beyond my imagination.”
Clinton noted that for the “so-called masters of the universe in the technology world…misogyny is such a part of their worldview, and they gravitate toward toughness and brutality and machoism. And here’s Taylor Swift, a self-made billionaire who brings joy to people and who imparts life lessons, particularly to girls and women. They can’t stand it.”
One person who can’t stand it is Trump himself, who recently took to his Truth Social platform to write in all caps: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Trump said the day after Swift endorsed Harris for president that she’d “probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” Clinton told Swisher that Swift allying herself with Harris was always going to “trigger” Trump, and “the fact that it happened right after the debate and just added to Kamala’s momentum must have just set them all off.”
Clinton said that “Taylor Swift brings an unusual impact to an endorsement,” adding: “Her fanbase is so intense and incredibly influenced by her. She’s a singer who charts the course of her life which they relate to as their own lives, but she’s also someone who stood up to a guy who groped her and stood up to get her music back from someone she thought had illegitimately had taken it from her. She has demonstrated a resilience in taking control over her own life that sends a strong message. I’m a huge admirer. I think [her endorsement] has real impact.”
First of all, it sounds like Hillary is a huge Swiftie. We already knew that she’s part of the Beyhive as well (she’s in awe of Beyonce). As for what she says about Musk, I totally get Hillary’s perspective and I think she’s absolutely right, but I also think there’s another thing which people are sort of missing about Musk’s comments? It wasn’t just about “forcibly impregnating” Taylor, Musk was also implicitly saying that Taylor is a sad, childless woman who can’t find a man, and that Musk would “take one for the team” by impregnating her.
Hillary also called out the media for sanewashing Trump constantly and failing in their duty to cover Trump responsibly:
Hillary Clinton tells #Maddow “I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for the press to have a consistent narrative about how dangerous Trump is.” pic.twitter.com/zsFNcrAcCv
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 17, 2024
Did Elon Musk just threaten to rape Taylor Swift?!? pic.twitter.com/tZjoeNPsbp
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) September 11, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.