Whose opinion matters? Last week we had to answer that question again when Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes pushed herself to the forefront of politics and entertainment. In her lifetime achievement award speech, she went on a tirade of the dangers and pitfalls that come with Donald Trump becoming our president. As much as I wanted to cheer her on to keep on the fight against someone who I find completely reprehensible, I found myself torn.
Before I proceed further, I am not defending Donald Trump. I did not vote for him and I find him horribly unqualified for the presidency. However, I think that celebrities should not venture into the arena of criticizing Donald Trump. Honestly, no one cares who a celebrity is voting for. I have studied the influences on voting choice and celebrity endorsements are well at the bottom of the list. I am not saying that they shouldn’t do it, just that it doesn’t matter what they think.
Politicians have used celebrities as advocates for issues, i.e. the Affordable Care Act. In this case they are the most powerful, Emma Watson for feminism, George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio for climate change, and Angelina Jolie for helping end child slavery around the world. But we have seen in this election that when it comes to celebrities calling Trump out, it didn’t matter.
Which brings me back to Meryl Streep. I loved everything we said, and as horrible as Trump is, even finding out on Sunday he criticized Representative John Lewis, I still think we owe Trump a chance. I don’t think he will change, and I think he will be a horrible president but you will not shame his supporters. They think that Meryl and everybody that thinks like her doesn’t understand them. Trump supporters feel that we that voted for Hillary are distant from the pulse of the United States. Wait until Trump does things wrong to criticize him focus, on winning the Midterm elections. Getting into a war of words with Donald Trump is only going to embolden the very people we are fighting for.
