A Republican member of Congress from Texas has criticized the use of Mexican “soap opera stars, singers and entertainers” by the Hillary Clinton campaign, comparing it to Russia’s email hacking.
Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren derogatively called President Barack Hussein Obama “the celebrity in chief.”
Most famously, conservatives went nuts when actress Meryl Streep used the 2017 Golden Globes award ceremony to call Donald Trump out for misogynistic, racist, and bigoted behavior and comments.
Clearly, some conservatives have a problem with celebrities who are involved in politics. So, my question for them is: How have two celebrities, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, respectively, become the standard bearers of the past and present conservative movement?
I guess the answer is crystal clear: Conservatives believed in Reagan’s and Trump’s messages of change. I mean, if one thinks about it, those messages aren’t far off from each other. For instance, while President Reagan generally ignored the AIDS/HIV pandemic, Trump dismisses global warming and climate change. Apparently, to them, science is not real, just a “Chinese hoax.”
So, in the mind of conservatives, only those celebrities who are Republican, white and do not believe in science should be welcome to the unfortunate and decaying world of politics. Luckily, very few Americans are considered celebrities.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I am not against celebrities getting into politics. Instead, I believe that all Americans, no matter what their profession, should care enough about our country to engage in important, and often-political, conversations.
Celebrities, in particular, should use their media platforms to advance a common goal of making the United States a fairer country; a country where opportunities are not just offered to some, but to all. Or they can just say whatever they think, even if it’s deemed racist, misogynistic, homophobic or sexist, like much of what Trump said throughout his campaign. At the end of the day, in the United States, we have freedom of expression, which, as individuals, we can use however we want.
Undoubtedly, this past election cycle wouldn’t have been the same without the involvement of celebrities. Who doesn’t remember when Caitlyn Jenner really played herself by endorsing Ted Cruz for president? Or when Morgan Freeman beautifully told Hillary Clinton’s story at the Democratic convention? Or when Sarah Silverman told the Bernie brothers to “get over it” even though they never did? Or when some celebrities decided to “Dump Trump” by not attending his inauguration?
Years from now, we will be able to know which celebrities stood on the right side of history, chose no side (as if that were a legitimate option), or chose the side of the oppressor. Just like anyone can say anything he or she wants, we can also choose to judge their opinions however we want to.
The point is: We all have a say in our democracy.
As President Obama said in his emotional farewell speech, “It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. Because for all our outward differences, we, in fact, all share the same proud title, the most important office in a democracy: citizen.”
With this in mind, as we move toward a Trump presidency, it is everyone’s job to speak out for human dignity. So, I am going to be looking at the celebrities I admire to see what they do and listen to what they say. I can only hope they do what’s right: Get engaged, be vigilant, and make change happen.
By the way, whether Tomi Lahren and the conservatives like it or not, for the last eight years, Obama was not our “celebrity in chief,” but our gracious “commander in chief.”
Samuel Vilchez Santiago, 19, is a second-year politics student at Princeton University. He came from Venezuela to the United States six years ago, and graduated from Colonial High School in Orlando as valedictorian in 2015.
