In politics, it's always good to lean hard into a wildly dishonest claim that dehumanizes a whole swath of the population while having one of your top surrogates mock a stratospherically beloved pop star with a creepy comment that sounds like a sexist divorced dad hitting on a younger woman.

Is that right? OK, maybe that’s not right. That sounds like bad political maneuvering.

But it's exactly what Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has been doing since he staggered off the Philadelphia debate stage Tuesday night after being soundly bested by Vice President Kamala Harris. Republicans are echoing Trumps' grotesque lie that immigrants are eating people's pets while watching billionaire Trump superfan Elon Musk oafishly try to get Taylor Swift's attention

Harris’ broadly praised performance was followed by an endorsement from Swift, one of the most influential figures in America: “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

She signed it “Childless Cat Lady,” a gentle middle finger to........

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