this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2024
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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.”

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[–] eddietrax@dmv.social 151 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] PopcornPrincess@lemmy.world 37 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That Billy Madison quote applies well here.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 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?

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[–] Kase@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

One might even say,

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[–] Untitled4774@sh.itjust.works 79 points 9 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] GilgameshCatBeard@lemmy.ca 52 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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!

[–] TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

Rules of fascism

#3: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

#4: Disagreement is treason.

#8: The enemy is both strong and weak.

[–] Tristaniopsis@aussie.zone 12 points 9 months ago (4 children)

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

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[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] GilgameshCatBeard@lemmy.ca 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Yeah. We no longer talk. I had to block him from calling/emailing me.

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[–] nolannice@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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?"

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[–] leclownfou@sh.itjust.works 13 points 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.

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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 72 points 9 months ago (6 children)

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 21 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Taylot Swift vaccines

These will never work. She's just too infectious.

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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] DogWater@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (5 children)

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

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[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You took the words right out of my neurolink embedded keyboard...

This really is one of the most amusing panics they've had in recent years.

[–] Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Until someone shoots up a concert again

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[–] TurtleJoe@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (6 children)

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.

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 49 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"They add that she's not, in fact, part of a psychological operation to sway voters to Joe Biden."

MAGA - "Yeah, but that's just what they WOULD SAY! THIS PROVES IT!!!"

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 38 points 9 months ago (9 children)

When we look back on this era what are we going to say drove them to this? Like, we explain the Salem witch trials by saying that there was ergot in the water which likely had them hallucinating.

What is it now? Is TikTok this much of a problem? Is there ergot in the water? What the hell is happening...

[–] Xbeam@lemmy.world 33 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Maybe lead and micro-plastics? But that's just a guess.

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.social 28 points 9 months ago

Lead in the water, micro plastics in the food, Reagan in the air.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Plausible. It seems apparent that this is something that's been introduced into basically all humans water supply in the last 50 years. I'm sure it's been getting worse and worse as time has gone on, and it could be that we are at a critical mass where it is starting to affect behaviors en masse.

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[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 18 points 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.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 32 points 9 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago

There are more incidents of them killing innocents over dumb conspiracies. Like that son and his dad being beheaded.

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[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Imagine how they were rolling around the newsroom off of that zinger

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[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 28 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I am surrounded by dipshits in this country...

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[–] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 26 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I’ve always known maga people are dumber than shit, but now they’re just running the world’s worst D&D session online and on Fox.

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[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 22 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago (4 children)

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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[–] asteriskeverything@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

This way they get to hate a beautiful woman who would never fuck them

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[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] kromem@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I love that the Pentagon is referring to dank memes.

Reality really is stranger than fiction.

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[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

MAGA world to Pentagon: la la la la la la la la la neener neener neeeeeener la la la la

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] MacNCheezus@lemmy.today 8 points 9 months ago

May I have your attention, please

[–] Veneroso@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

I'm waiting for one of them to call for a protest of the 2024 election because it's rigged, convincing thousands of MAGA to not vote. We're nearly there....

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