The reactions from Republicans over Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris have ranged from sour to feigned disregard, but one particularly disturbing response from the right came from none other than Elon Musk.
On Tuesday night, the pop star announced in an Instagram post that she would vote for Harris in November. Swift, 34, signed off her statement as “childless cat lady,” a clear swipe at GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, who has mocked and dismissed women without biological children.
Shortly after that, 53-year-old Musk — who has endorsed Donald Trump — inserted himself into the discourse in the sleaziest way possible, writing on X: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
What exactly Musk might have meant with that post has been interpreted in different ways, and he has suggested that it was a joke. But even if intended as a joke, his comment was not only weird and gross, but it was also entirely unnecessary. Musk — a billionaire who is trying to use his money and influence to sway the presidential election, and whom Trump has proposed for a role as a government “efficiency” czar — fashions himself an eccentric nonconformist with the spirit of an online troll, albeit one with the outsized ability to cause harm. His post not only trivializes Swift’s endorsement of Harris, but it also centers on “solving” her status as a “childless cat lady” with a creepily presumptuous tone of intimacy.
That kind of comment, with its misogynistic undertones, is disturbing in its own right. But it’s also in line with how the MAGA cohort with which Musk has associated himself talks about women, including women in positions of power. In late August, Fox News host Jesse Watters made an innuendo about military generals and Harris on his show, before issuing a statement that he “wasn’t suggesting anything of a sexual nature” amid the backlash. Trump has similarly amplified outrageously sexist attacks on Harris, suggesting that her political ascension can be attributed to her sexuality. Couple that with Vance’s regressive views on women and the GOP’s attacks on reproductive rights, and it’s clear how much of the right regards women.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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