Dave Rubin, a gay conservative commentator who was recently accused by the Justice Department of pushing Russian propaganda for money, made a racist and misogynist comment against pop singer Taylor Swift shortly after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Swift ended her endorsement by describing herself as a “childless cat lady,” a reference to Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) claim that Democrats are led by a bunch of “childless cat ladies who… want to make the rest of the country miserable.” Responding to Swift’s self-description, transphobic billionaire Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform, “Fine Taylor, you win. I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
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Megyn Kelly lost her mind when she found out Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris
She claimed Swift supports taking trans kids from their families and “chopping off” their body parts — two common right-wing lies.
Musk, who has fathered 12 known children, was roundly criticized for suggesting that he would forcibly impregnate Swift. His own trans daughter called his response “abhorrent,” “heinous incel nonsense.” New York Magazine said his response quietly alluded to a racist lie that immigrants are eating cats, a lie repeated by former President Donald Trump during his Tuesday night debate against Harris.
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In a recent web broadcast, Rubin said that Democrats “hate” Musk and claimed that Musk’s response to Swift was “mocking” and “exposing the ridiculousness.” Rubin didn’t specify what exactly Musk was mocking and exposing.
However, Rubin continued, “It’s like, Taylor Swift, you are a young, pretty girl. Do you know what the gang members from Venezuela do to young, pretty girls? It ain’t pretty.”
Rubin’s mention of Venezuela also references another right-wing claim that, under Harris’ watch as vice president, the South American country has sent its criminals into the United States where they rape and kill women and children.
There is no proof to substantiate this. But in numerous recent speeches, Trump has claimed that the Venezuelan capital of Caracas is safer than U.S. cities. This claim was recently repeated by Trump’s former senior policy advisor and speechwriter Stephen Miller, who has been accused of pushing racist and anti-immigrant disinformation.
When recently asked by a journalist for the data to prove this claim, Miller began yelling about murdered women and children without ever answering the question.
Caracas had a rate of 50.8 homicides per 100,000 people — more than six times the U.S. national average of 7.8 registered in 2020, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Additionally, the national homicide average for Venezuela in 2023 was 26.8, almost four times higher than the rate in the U.S., according to The Miami Herald.
The lie about Caracas is simply part of Trump and the right wing’s campaign to vilify immigrants as a threat to Americans.
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Moscow, Russia, allegedly used Rubin as part of its disinformation campaign to influence the results of the 2024 elections in the U.S.
The DOJ announced Wednesday that it charged two Russian nationals affiliated with RT, previously known as Russia Today, in connection with an alleged scheme to “covertly finance and direct” Tenet Media, a right-wing company based in Tennessee. The company reportedly promoted Russian interests online through approximately $10 million in payments, which made up nearly 90% of its total funds.
In response to the accusation, Rubin wrote on his X account that he “knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity,” adding, “I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. The DoJ has never contacted me regarding this matter and I have no intention to comment further.”
Rubin has previously stated that it’s okay for Republicans to call him anti-gay slurs and to pray for him no longer to be gay. He also said that Karine Jean-Pierre, the first out White House press secretary, only got her job because she’s Black and gay.
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