Director Rob Reiner begs Taylor Swift to ‘save American democracy’ and endorse Biden

Director Rob Reiner tweeted Thursday about something many people have been thinking about for months: Taylor Swift’s politics.

“I’m in the midst of shooting a sequel to This is Spinal Tap,” Reiner posted on X. “As much as I’d like Taylor Swift to do a cameo in the film, I’d give anything for her to endorse Joe Biden. She would virtually single handedly save American Democracy.”

Reiner, a Democrat, is known as one of Donald Trump’s harshest Hollywood critics. Democrat Biden and Republican Trump are the presumed presidential candidates in November.

In 2020, Swift endorsed Biden about a month before the presidential election.

“The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included,” Swift said then in V Magazine’s Thought Leaders issue.

“I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election. Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”

Biden thanked her on Twitter, quoting one of her lyrics, writing “Election Day is right around the corner — are you ready for it?”

Swift has used her clout — she has more than 283 million Instagram followers — to get out the vote. Her message last year on National Voter Registration Day led to more than 35,000 people registering at Vote.org, a record-breaking effort for the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

The New York Times has reported that Biden’s campaign team is trying to figure out how to snag another Swift endorsement.

Some Republicans attacked her last year when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Was she being used as a Pentagon “psyop” to influence the presidential election, one Fox News presenter wondered.

Some also speculated she was being used to boost NFL viewership and the Chiefs’ chances of getting into the Super Bowl.

Other right-wing commentators worried she would influence white liberal women to support Biden, while one (incorrectly) predicted she and Kelce would endorse Biden during the Super Bowl halftime.

Swift had stayed largely silent about her politics until 2018, when she endorsed former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, for Senate against Republican Marsha Blackburn. He lost.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” she wrote on Instagram ahead of that election.

“I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country.”

Two years later, a few months before the presidential election, she criticized Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely,” she tweeted in August 2020. “Request a ballot early. Vote early.”

Last year, Brian Donovan, a sociology professor at the University of Kansas, told The Star that Swift’s “star power is greater than it has ever been in the entirety of her career. I think she’s the closest to what we think of as American royalty.

“You have large swaths of the population cheering for (her and Kelce) who might not even care for her music, but they like her persona and they regard her as deep down a good person.”

Donovan interviewed Swifties across the country for a book about Swift fandom and launched a class at KU, “The Sociology of Taylor Swift,” that attracted more students than Donovan could accommodate.

Though she might have avoided politics early in her career, Swift’s fame is so bright now that “she’s gained enough political capital and public goodwill that she can weigh in on these issues and not suffer any consequences,” Donovan said.

Not necessarily.

By noon Thursday, Reiner’s post had attracted more than 2,000 comments and been retweeted nearly as many times. He and Swift drew fire in comments like these:

“I don’t know who needs to hear this but if your vote is pending based on whoever Taylor Swift tells you to vote for maybe sit this one out.”

“This is Spinal Crap!”

“LoL.... TalylorSwift endorsing Biden was already setup long ago when she and Kelce’s relationship was arranged.”

“Because true Americans always cast their vote based on celebrity endorsements.”

Reiner, who first found fame as an actor on TV’s “All in the Family,” made his feature directorial debut with “This Is Spinal Tap,” the 1984 mockumentary starring Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean as British metal band members mounting a comeback. Reiner, who played a documentary maker following the band in the film, announced the sequel in May 2022.

“Everybody’s back. And Paul McCartney is joining us, and Elton John, and a few other surprises. Garth Brooks,” Reiner said earlier this year.

The movie was originally scheduled to be released this month but the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year delayed it. A new release date has not been announced.