For the Left, everything is political. From the clothes you wear to the food you eat to the entertainment you watch. There is no facet of life that -- in their eyes -- can be free of the burden of political commentary.
So it follows that the Left (and, yes, some factions on the Right) believe you can't possibly be friends with someone who has political differences. Because when your entire existence is predicated on your political ideology, you're not able to find other common ground with people.
Here's The Independent arguing just that:
Sorry, Taylor Swift – friendships that cross political lines never work https://t.co/likDa8xMRz
— The Independent (@Independent) September 12, 2024
Taylor Swift’s most divisive move yet? Hugging a rumoured Republican. Over the weekend, the singer was photographed embracing her pal Brittany Mahomes, who’s thought to be a Trump supporter. Cue the eternal question: is it possible to be friends with someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum? Is it even ethical? And can such a friendship ever have real staying power?
Mahomes, in case you’re not up to date with the intricacies of Swift’s sprawling friendship group, is the wife of Patrick Mahomes, who plays American football for the Kansas City Chiefs alongside the singer’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce. She was spotted attending various matches alongside Swift during the last football season, and even flew out to Amsterdam to enjoy one of her gigs; the singer shared photos of the two couples’ Euro trip slash extended double date.
What unforgivable sin did Brittany Mahomes commit?
She liked an Instagram post by Donald Trump.
That monster.
(The above is, of course, sarcasm).
Think about this for a second: merely liking something an opposing politician posts is now grounds for dissolving friendships?
Really?
I mean REALLY?
This is -- at best -- the sophomoric logic of someone who has never experienced true friendships.
And I apologize to the sophomores I know, because they're far more mature than Katie Rosseinsky, who wrote this. She put fingers to keyboard and decided to tell the world her attachments and devotions to the people in her life have the depth and breadth of a teaspoon.
Having never heard of her before, I did want to check out her X feed. It piqued my curiosity to find her profile protected. Was it always protected? Or did she lock down following the publication of this article (my guess, although I cannot confirm this, is the latter).
Rosseinsky's profile says she's the senior culture and lifestyle writer for The Independent. One would think this means she's aware of a plethora of things -- from books, to movies, to sports, to dining, to travel -- that exist that could form the basis of a friendship.
In the case of Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes, their common ground is they're the significant others of two NFL players. Not knowing them personally, I would also assume they share other similar interests that exist outside of the political spectrum.
But when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Rosseinsky's entire world -- even culture and lifestyle -- are predicated on politics. Perhaps politics no more complicated than "ORANGE MAN BAD", but politics nonetheless. So anything that violates that political framework poisons everything else by extension.
Meanwhile, for those of us who do live in the real world, we can find commonality and form friendships with people from varied walks of life. Because there is so much more to the world than politics.
I know I have friends who are diehard Trump supporters. I have friends who dislike Trump and refuse to vote for him. I have friend who are voting for Kamala Harris. I have friends who both support and oppose abortion, have varying views on immigration, differing opinions on the economy. But we also share things that transcend politics and we don't let politics cloud every interaction.
That last bit is a very easy thing to do, because politics is poison and consuming too much of it will kill you (metaphorically, of course).
It will also kill your friendships.
Which is why Taylor Swift will be laughing with Brittany Mahomes during Sunday afternoon football games while Katie Rosseinsky will be posting to X from her locked account, wondering why she's made no friends -- but plenty of enemies -- this past week.
