Celebrity promotion of liberal views are predictable as death and taxes. But these days the media also take these opinions seriously, trying to turn absurdities into news.
The latest example was the media frenzy over a Tweet from Sen. Bernie Sanders promoting 25 year old rapper Cardi B’s economic opinions. The rapper was already a fan of Sanders, having encouraged people to “Vote for Daddy Bernie” during the last Democratic primary.
The self-described democratic socialist senator told the internet on April 17, “Cardi B is right,” after she praised big government president FDR and said something needed to be done to protect Social Security. The media couldn’t wait to promote it. And they didn’t.
Newsweek’s headline began with “Cardi B and Bernie Sanders in 2020?” The Cut proclaimed “Bernie Sanders Invokes the Wise Words of Cardi B,” and Billboard wrote a story, “Bernie Sanders Quotes Noted Economist on Strengthening Social Security: ‘Cardi B is Right’.”
Gil Kaufman, writing that story for Billboard, effusively praised Cardi B: “If you're still somehow on the fence about whether this is Cardi B's time we're living in, check this out: The unstoppable ‘Bodak Yellow’ MC — who just baby-bumped it up at the first weekend of Coachella in the wake of the universal praise for her recently released debut, Invasion of Privacy — was also just quoted by a former presidential candidate on fiscal policy.” Kaufman even promoted the idea of her running for president saying, “Boom. Cardi said it. Sorry Kanye, but Cardi 2020?”
Thankfully, Cardi B is only 25, so America will be spared that tandem ticket for at least another 10 years, as the president must be 35 years of age.
Many other media outlets jumped on board to promote Sanders and Cardi B’s liberal economic views. Yahoo reposted that article from the Cut. CNN even took a short break from attacking President Trump to proclaim: “Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders invoked rapper Cardi B in a tweet Wednesday.” While Cicero Estrella from The Mercury News wrote that Cardi B’s comments were “sweet music to Sanders’ ears.”
The Huffington Post was one of the few media which acknowledged what Sanders actually had in mind to fix Social Security: raising taxes. Jenna Amatulli wrote that “Sanders introduced legislation in February to boost Social Security. His idea would eliminate the cap on taxable income so that “everyone who makes over $250,000 a year” will pay “the same percentage of their income into Social Security as the middle class and working families.”” Amatulli was fully on board, writing that “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) showed his finesse lifting up rapper Cardi B’s political beliefs on Twitter.”
Cardi B’s original declaration of admiration for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal was part of an April 9 profile with GQ. She called him, “the real 'Make America Great Again,' because if it wasn't for him, old people wouldn't even get Social Security."
In the same piece of journalism, Caity Weaver noted that “Cardi claimed her ass from the universe in a basement apartment in Queens, where, for $800, a woman injected her buttocks with filler.”
On April 17, Sanders riffed off her interview tweeting: “Cardi B is right. If we are really going to make America great we need to strengthen Social Security so that seniors are able to retire with the dignity they deserve.”
The media went crazy — after all, it was a liberal politician embracing an entertainer’s liberal viewpoint. If the situation were reversed, it’s unlikely the media would have paid any attention. After all, it’s difficult to fathom a universe in which anyone in the media would care if Sen. Ted Cruz promoted conservative opinions of an actor like James Woods.
