This is What’s Trending Today…
Taylor Swift is one of the biggest names in American pop music. Millions of fans follow the singer-songwriter on social media for the latest in music and fashion.
On Sunday night, Swift did something that she has never done before. She announced her opposition to one candidate, and her support for others, running in November’s midterm elections.
Swift wrote, “due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years…I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.” She added that she “will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.”
Blackburn is a Republican Party lawmaker representing the state of Tennessee. She serves in the United States House of Representatives. Swift wrote that Blackburn is against gay rights, equal pay for women and legislation to protect women from domestic violence, stalking and date rape.
Taylor Swift’s Instagram post
President Donald Trump, who has campaigned for Blackburn, dismissed Swift’s opinion of the candidate. He said, Swift “doesn’t know anything about her. And let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now, OK?”
The singer also asked her 112 million followers on Instagram to register to vote. She wrote, “October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting!”
The non-profit website vote.org reported a flood of new voter registration after the post. A spokeswoman told Buzzfeed, “We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift’s post.”
The site reported that 190,178 new voters were registered in the entire month of September and 56,669 were registered in August. The vote.org spokeswoman said, “Thank God for Taylor Swift.”
Republican Party politician and television host, Mike Huckabee, however, dismissed that idea. He tweeted that Swift “won’t impact election unless we allow 13 yr old girls to vote.”
And that’s What’s Trending Today.
I’m Caty Weaver.
Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in This Story
appall – v. to cause someone to feel fear, shock, or disgust
domestic – adj. relating to or involving someone’s home or family
impact – n. a major influence or effect
allow – v. permit