National security officials are used to shaking off absurd conspiracy theories, but the latest rumor that’s gripped MAGA world just hits different.

The claims by Fox News and far-right influencers that pop star Taylor Swift is part of a Pentagon “psychological operation” to get President Joe Biden reelected, and somehow rig the Super Bowl to benefit Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and Swift’s boyfriend) Travis Kelce, has been met with forehead slaps in the national security world.

“The absurdity of it all boggles the mind,” said one senior administration official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. “It feels like one of those ‘tell me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist, without telling me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist’ memes.”

  • Eddie Trax@dmv.social
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    9 months ago

    MAGA crowd, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

      • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It should be set to music and become anthemic for them (or us i guess 🤣)

        If we’re being super loose with it (and “we” are) you could literally use the opening theme for Billy Madison and it could sort of work out lol

        How amazing would it be if they could get Biden or Dems in one chamber to say this to their repub terrorists?

  • Untitled4774@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    These people just can’t handle anything, just anything, not being exactly as they like it, and if it isn’t, it has to be some sort of conspiracy.

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      9 months ago

      That’s my dad. Trump is a god to him, and anything negative said about him is a liberal plot to stop him from his patriotic duty. The cognitive dissonance that man shows is baffling!

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        9 months ago

        Thank goodness my Dad never went down that path, but honestly if he did I might just punch him straight in the face.

        • OlPatchy2Eyes@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Violence is bad and you should rethink your attitude towards people on the Kool-Aid. Anyway go ahead and explain me the paradox of intolerance like I haven’t seen it a thousand times, I don’t care.

      • TurboDiesel@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My stepfather is like that. I even tried to use his own logic to help him see most of these conspiracies are dumb; “you said yourself that the gov’t is incompetent. So how can they pull off a conspiracy at this scale if they can’t run the country?” - stuff like that.

        It doesn’t matter, he’s fully drank the Kool-Aid, so I just keep him at arm’s distance now.

          • JimmyBigSausage@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I had to block my dad’s emails for awhile. I just couldn’t believe they just kept coming and coming. And while trying to be a good son and available should he need me, I just had to risk going no contact for awhile. Now I basically gray rock everything. 🫤

    • leclownfou@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      At this point it almost seems like more than that. It’s like they need to manufacture some outrage to keep everyone angry about something.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      And now that there’s a denial, from a “senior administration official,” it’s proof-positive of a vast conspiracy. “Why would they deny something that’s not real?”

    • nolannice@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Guys the best quarterback in the league made it to the superbowl again, it’s a conspiracy against us. No other way to explain this.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Also some of them say, “the 49ers need to win to save the country”…but like the big conspiracy is that Taylor is supposed to make a half-time endorsement of Joe Biden… So like, how would either team eventually winning the game have any impact on the half-time show?

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    9 months ago

    Remember, a lot of young conservative men were convinced Taylor Swift was a white nationalist who posted with them on 4chan.

    When she started telling people to go vote (she didnt even say for a specific party, but just telling people to vote is enough to convince them you’re a democrat) they took that as Taylor Swift betraying them.

    So much of what conservatives engage with is completely made up and exists only inside their own heads.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      High voter turnout typically means Democrat victory, as the only people who make sure to vote EVERY election is the paranoid “Keepin’ up with the Jonesses” suburban America types

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      These are some of the same rocket surgeons that believe(d) that Hillary was using a pizza parlor with no basement to run an international pedo ring out of the basement of the pizza parlor.

      Not really known for their application of reason and logic.

      • billwashere@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Except if the Cheeto Benito starts some shit somewhere in the world due to his excellent diplomatic skills god forbid he gets elected again, pretty sure we are all in the shitter.

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            9 months ago

            It’s paradoxical, I throw the tea and it just spins in place in mid air

            Also it’s obviously spelled C̴͉͎̘̱͙̙̣̱̜̲̖̎̂̋̔ȍ̶̻͕̬̞̰̫̙̩̯̤̳́͊̒̚͜ͅl̷̨̹̺̳͔͉͇͎̻̐̐͌̽̾̀̉͐̈́̆͗̎̚̕œ̸̢͉̜̽͛̅̚ư̸̪͍̂͐̀̀̍r̶͈̮̲͉̀̓̏̋̈́͑̌̔̽͊́͘͝͠

        • CashewNut 🏴󠁢󠁥󠁧󠁿@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Doesn’t stop me being able to laugh at America. If you’re half British you should know one of our defining traits is self-deprecation. Britains Ls are eternal and everlasting and I will laugh at them all. But Americas - oh fuck yeah. They gimme a hearty laugh too!

          How does someone be half American? Where do you pledge your allegiance?

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    USA , can you please reinstate that law (that fox news got rescinded) that requires news to be actual factual news? That way, fox must rebrand itself to “fox bullshit” and you can get actual factual news again.

    I think that’d help a lot. Then get rid of the 24 hours Jews cycle as that hasn’t helped anyone but investors in news corporations, and people could actually start believing in media organizations again.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      9 months ago

      Are you thinking of the fairness doctrine? That only ever applied to broadcast TV, not cable TV like Fox News.

      The reason for the distinction is that broadcast TV is over radio waves that anyone can receive with off the shelf equipment. The FCC has a lot of jurisdiction over that and can regulate what can be shown. Cable TV is relatively free of that oversight. Legally speaking, they could show hardcore porn at 5pm. They won’t because their advertisers would hate it, but they legally could.

      • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        News cycle, NEWS cycle, not Jews cycle. It’s a typo and I’m rather amazed that nobody thought of this.

        My auto correct keeps changing news to Jews now btw, no idea why. I am not anti-Semitic, I have nothing against Jews or Palestinians or Mexicans or Caucasians or African Americans for God’s sake. It’s just a random auto correct issue. I’ll try and fix it, can you undelete this?

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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          9 months ago

          If that were your only problematic comment, I’d ALMOST buy that excuse. But it’s not your only problematic comment.

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    9 months ago

    Dark Brandon gives their supersolders the hardest battles.

    Agencies has so many stories and gossips of coups, secret weapons and psychological experiments like MK-ULTRA, and they used Taylor telling people to vote as their psy-op?

    Big scary government that can hear every your word and can even say them for you, can track and kill you at any time - uses a pop-star to make a point?

    Who buys that bullshit? Is it, again, the weak but strong enemy? That’s a story even Onion wouldn’t publish.

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      I mean, if agencies theoretically wanted more dem votes, there are worse ways than getting a mega superstar to ask her fans for them. But if they were in the business of controlling US elections we probably wouldn’t have the entirety of the shitshow that is existence right now.

    • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Wait for it. Win or lose, once they realize how embarrassing this episode should be, it’ll become something that none of them actually believed and besides, it was all started by some lefty trying to make fun of them. The real conspiracy turns out to be (in hindsight with the benefit of selective memory and heavy retconning) a push to drive up merchandise sales. They’ll make a reference to globalists, lizard people and something about “controlling the media” without a specific J-word for plausible deniability.

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        9 months ago

        You can’t say jewelery without a J-word, don’t you? They are stupid rich and are out to get you. Hide your kids, hide your wife, as they’d come to you to take them, and dance Hava Nagila over your cold dead body. Stupid leftists think I’m insane now, but who’d they ask to help, when jewish reptiloids would take their children and farm them for adenochrome? Not me, I’d shoot them on sight as any other trespasser. God bless America.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Sadly they’ll take the “Suspiciously specific denial” (How they’d see it) as confrimation

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    9 months ago

    I didn’t realize how much Fox News was involved with this. I guess Fox is back in with the MAGA crowd?

    What they’re doing is very dangerous.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      9 months ago

      Uh… what? Fox News is the biggest right-wing propaganda platform in the world and it (still) exists to influence opinion. They’ve hosted him and his sycophants and election-denyers, etc multiple times. They might have briefly looked into how to insulate themselves after paying out almost a billion dollars for lies, but they’re still all-in for Trump and the MAGA crowd, believe it…

      • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Well, I’m not American and I don’t watch Fox News, so I didn’t realize that they were the ones pushing this Taylor Swift conspiracy narrative. Also, it feels like it wasn’t that long ago that I heard MAGA was going to boycott Fox.

        • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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          9 months ago

          That was a thing for a bit because Fox walked back some of the more extreme narratives they pushed to shield themselves from legal liability. Some of the more extreme MAGA conspiracy nuts still swear off of Fox News in favor of Newsmax and OAN. My grandma is one of them; watched Fox News religiously all her life until 2021, when she switched to Newsmax, OAN, and various “prophets” who claim to have a direct line to God who tells them Trump is the second coming of Christ.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The Qtards should be treated like Al Qaeda or ISIL operating in the United States. All their communications should be monitored. They should be infiltrated and any time one of them make threats or start making plans to do anything illegal, as many as possible are arrested, locked up and embroiled in the justice system as much as possible - prison time, time in court, etc.

    • phx@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Some of them very likely are foreign intelligence operatives attempting to influence locally.

    • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Or just declare them as the Clear And Present Danger that they are and treat them exactly how union labor was treated by the military and East Indian Fruit Company

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        9 months ago

        Some would say “what about innocent bystanders in the house?” but the chances of others in the household not being exactly the same are miniscule

  • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’m gripped by a strong urge to start anonymously sending some Taylor Swift / KC Chiefs merchandise to family members and acquaintances who have been guzzling the red-hat Flavor Aid for the last decade. It’s probably not the most productive use of time and money but this whole thing is just goddamn ridiculous.

    • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      There’s probably a Taylor Swift email notification service for upcoming concerts and such that you could sign them up for.

      Free, and guaranteed to stir up the Trumpanzees in your life without putting a target on your own back.

  • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This feels like one of those things /b/ started as a joke, and a few echo chambers took it seriously, and the media assumed or “assumed” it was far more widespread than it was. At least, I hope so

    • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      At work I have a regular that comes into the office and she spouts conspiracies like these and started talking about Taylor Swift vaccines and the deep state in the last week or so, so there are definitely a few true believers.

      • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Oh no doubt, no matter how insane sounding there will be believers. It’s almost always related to undiagnosed or unmedicated mental disorders with delusions as a symptom. It’s really sad that we don’t prioritize mental health more in this country.

        • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          This woman is like 75 years old, lives in a van from '89, gets healthcare from her father being in the military or something based on what she says. She definitely has undiagnosed schizophrenia based on the way she acts and the bits of past she gives out. I feel bad for her, but she comes in, destroys our bathrooms to take a shower, then when she gets barred from using our restrooms, gets upset claiming she has no memory of causing the mess and tells us she will have to inform her doctors if that’s the case. It seems all the more tragic that she lives this way but has access to the things that could help her, but chooses not to. She says she lives in the van to save money, but she has a full retirement account. There’s a military base with her father’s name on it.

          Everyday, someone new is out to get her. Government, vaccines, Democrats, CNN, George Soros. The right has effectively weaponized mental illness on a national scale.

    • DogWater@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The entire alt right movement was exactly that. It was a joke on b that did this.

      Like I used to think that enders game was stupid when it came to the weird internet forum starting a movement and influencing politics but that has literally happened in real life lol

    • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      There have always been sports fans who think that when their team loses, it’s because the ref is on the take. Now you have legalized sports gambling everywhere, with non-stop ads, and official NFL partnerships. Combine that with dozens of hyper slo-mo cameras covering every angle when a ref misses a call, and the conspiracy that the NFL is rigged has become more common the last two years.

      Without getting into how absolutely stupid that is, it’s only a few more leaps in logic to get to where they seem to be: they keep showing Swift during games, because her fans tune in to see her, ergo, they’ll want her to be on screen during the biggest have of the year! The NFL wants the Chiefs to go to the super bowl. (I bartend, and I’ve had non-maga people saying this to me.) Add in the paranoia that comes with facism, and boom, a new MAGA grand conspiracy is born.

      • psycho_driver@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        There have always been sports fans who think that when their team loses, it’s because the ref is on the take.

        It doesn’t help that this has actually happened though like with the NBA in the late 90s/early aughts.

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        9 months ago

        Listen, I’m a lifelong football player, coach and fan. If you’re trying to tell me the game isn’t rigged for the Chiefs to be in the Superbowl I’m telling you you’re the conspiracy Nutter!

        Signed Your biggest Baltimore Ravens fan.

        • flicker@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Woof. I felt so bad for Flowers on 1/28. They kept zooming in on him when he was rattled and you could see how bad it was getting to him.

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            9 months ago

            He made rookie mistakes after not playing like a rookie all season. The offense shit the bed the second half, wasn’t just one guy Flowers doesn’t deserve as much hate as he’s getting. Deserves a good share though.

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    9 months ago

    Does anyone actually know real people who believe any of this shit or is this just bots/media pushing a narrative

    • ganksy@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Haven’t called my dad in a while but I’ll give him a ring today. He’s usually 100% on board with the mainstream maga garbage. I’ll update my comment after.

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      9 months ago

      I work with a couple people that I think may believe this. I haven’t specifically talked to them about this, but they believe they other conspiracy theory, so it would make sense. One is a flat Earther is that helps paint a picture.

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      9 months ago

      Yeah, and unfortunately I’m related to them. The maternal side of my family has pretty much split in two and aren’t talking to the other half nowadays because of shit like this.

    • MrPoopbutt@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Oh there are absolutely people who 100% believe this. This kind of shit is all I hear about whenever I talk to a lot of my family.