On the eve of Super Bowl XV, something strange happened as America's two favorite pastimes, football and complex political conspiracy theories, collided.
Several conservative commentators announced they would be rooting for San Francisco. San Francisco is a city that has long served as a theater for the evils of the American far right, with politicians and media outlets alike typically vilifying it as a bitter symbol of progressivism out of control.
The early 49ers fans proclaiming unlikely allegiances weren't driven by Bay Area devotion or Candlestick Park nostalgia. Instead, they're vocally fixated on Taylor Swift, the nation's biggest pop star and the rookie girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who plays against the 49ers on Sunday.
Swift is at the center of a series of activities. Vast but baseless right-wing conspiracy theory She alleges that the NFL is somehow colluding with the NFL to, among other things, hurt Donald Trump's chances in the 2024 election and hand victory to President Biden in November.
Swift has endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, and her boyfriend, who is scheduled to attend the Super Bowl, has appeared in a Pfizer ad encouraging Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine. There is no evidence that she conspired with the NFL to guarantee her boyfriend a spot in America's biggest sporting event, as some theories have argued, and that she did not appear at the end of the big game. There is no evidence that he intended to support it.
On Sunday, conservative sports commentator Clay Travis said: Featured on Fox News “On Sunday, I will proudly support America's team, the San Francisco 49ers, as they face Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes, Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelce.''
The newfound love for San Francisco that's been reverberating on right-wing social media in recent days is especially surprising considering how the city is typically portrayed on the airwaves of Fox News and other conservative stations. That is: as the putative Sodom and Gomorrah. The streets are covered in feces and fentanyl, and good old American values die (but only after they don their nice leather harnesses and march with pride).
“We don't need their support. We don't want their support. San Francisco is better off without them,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). He is a local firebrand and former chair of the California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus, known for his legalization efforts. Psychedelics, allowing bars to stay open until 4 a.m., building more housing – said a recent 49ers fan. “Conspiracy theorists have very bad energy. We don't need that kind of negative energy.”
“It's a little strange to see people who normally hate San Francisco now rooting for San Francisco,” said Rep. Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who plans to attend the Super Bowl with his father on Sunday. he admitted.
“I think they hate Taylor Swift even more,” he said.
Right-wing commentator and journalist Nick Souter seemed to kick off an unlikely MAGA-SF lovefest with a tweet last Saturday after the Chiefs clinched a Super Bowl berth.
“I haven't said anything about the NFL since I kept seeing their 'Black Lives Matter' BS,” Souter said. “But now I'm a 49ers fan just to watch Taylor Swift and that Pfizer guy go down.”
Somewhat inconveniently for Souter, the 49ers were also the longtime home of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who famously took a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence against people of color.
Another far-right influencer, Logan O'Handley, uses the name DC Draino. on the X platformadding fuel to the fire the next morning for his more than 1 million followers.
“I know we've all been burning your cities down for years, but I propose a two-week truce,” Hundley wrote. He said he and his compatriots would tone down their anti-San Francisco rhetoric, but that “99 percent of the American people” would become 49ers fans at some point. Fizer and his girlfriend will tour the country as “world champions” supporting the election of Joe Biden. ”
The irony is further deepened by the fact of the Chiefs' own geographic origins: Kansas City may be a relatively blue urban island, but President Trump beat Biden in 2020. with a difference of more than 15 points Located around Missouri. With the exception of Illinois, home of the subdivision-based Chicago Bears, all the other states surrounding Missouri also supported Trump in the last presidential election.
CaliforniaBy contrast, only 12.7% of San Franciscans supported Biden by nearly 30 points and voted for Trump in 2020 (at this point, the San Francisco 49ers actually played in the city of Santa Clara). It would be remiss of me not to note that it is located in the Pacific Ocean (approximately 45 miles southeast).
“This is the détente that Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis were looking for,” San Francisco political consultant Peter Ragone said with a laugh about San Francisco’s new right-wing fandom.
Ragone, a former Newsom adviser, was referring to the Florida governor's obsession with the city.fixed thought broadly During a November prime-time debate between DeSantis' ill-fated Republican presidential bid and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, DeSantis proudly brandished a “poo map” of the city, which the former San Francisco mayor described as a “city template.” ” he declared. It's the collapse of California. ”
Unfortunately, despite what's going on in some parts of the right-wing internet, détente between the rival governors doesn't seem to be here yet.desantis held a press conference on Monday There he stood in front of a podium with the words “Don't let Florida become San Francisco” written on it.
Newsom, a Democrat who was traveling across the country campaigning for Biden, referred to the weekend's riots and called Republicans' criticism of Taylor Swift “sad and pathetic.” During an interview on MSNBC.
But he's still leading the Niners as always.
