On the afternoon of September 15, when news began to break about a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, one upstart celebrity news aggregator beat most major news organizations to the punch. Pop Crave, a pop culture-focused account with 1.8 million followers, posted that Trump was unharmed by the attempt at 2:41-well before it was shared by the accounts of the Associated Press (2:45 p.m.), CNN (3:10 p.m.), NBC News (3:13 p.m.), and The New York Times (3:21 p.m.).
'There's this assumption that pop is supposedly more vapid and shallow than politics,' says Daniel Trielli, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. 'Having covered politicians as a journalist, and having studied politics for a while, I'm not sure I completely ascribe to this idea that politicians are somehow deeper and more intellectual than pop artists.'
At the very least, politicians understand the cultural value of pop. These accounts have expanded beyond celebrity news during an election that, in part due to Vice President Kamala Harris's late entry, has felt particularly reliant on pop-star buy-in.
When Swift endorsed Harris, more than 406,000 people visited the voter-registration link the pop star shared. After singer Charli XCX declared 'Kamala is brat,' referencing her viral album, the campaign employed brat's minimalist, neon-green design elements.
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