‘Star Wars’ 2024: Harris Is Winning the Campaign for Endorsements by A-List Celebrities — Reinforcing Trump

Vice President Harris is racking up endorsements from A-List celebrities, musicians, and even Republicans. With the TV personality Geraldo Rivera on board as of Monday, it’s clear that Ms. Harris is winning the star war. Little considered now, and sure to be lamented if she loses, is how the monolithic, often angry support by the cool crowd can bolster the former president’s pitch to join his rebel alliance.The list backing Ms. Harris reads like the setup for a joke: “What do Vice President Cheney, Bruce Springsteen, Garry Trudeau, George Clooney, and Cardi B. have in common?” A fitting punchline was offered by a character, Cliff Clavin, on the sitcom “Cheers.” The moment comes on “Jeopardy!” when he’s presented with the movie clue: “Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, and Lucille LeSueur.”“Who are three people,” Mr. Clavin responds, “who’ve never been in my kitchen?” The answer has stuck with viewers since the episode aired in 1990 — and not just because it’s funny or because the actor, John Ratzenberger, portrays the character as flummoxed by the birth names of Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, and Lucille Ball.The bit is memorable because Mr. Clavin is a single, middle-aged mailman who lives with his domineering mother. His life in Boston is dull. He walks the same route every day and drowns his sorrows on the same bar stool every night. He plays the role of know-it-all because, like everyone, he yearns to matter.By laughing at Mr. Clavin’s failure, viewers feel a little better about their unglamorous lot in life. They know that the likes of Grant, Curtis, and Ball would never grace their kitchens, either. Celebrities have the privileges of wealth, talent, and good looks. We accept their success but feel they owe us some basic respect for making it possible.That changes if one of those celestial bodies charges into our favorite bar and starts commanding us to obey. When Trump said, “I hate Taylor Swift,” after she endorsed Ms. Harris, he amused those who don’t get the pop culture obsession with her and delight in seeing him take branding irons to sacred cows.Mr. Cheney is in a different field but provides a stronger example. Democrats vilified him over the War on Terror, and now he lectures the voters who defended him because he — and his daughter, Congresswoman Cheney — dislike Trump. When Ms. Harris said she was “proud” to have his support, she only reinforced Trump’s standing against the dark side in Washington.The “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed the Jedi, Luke Skywalker, delights in ridiculing both Trump and his supporters. “May the force be with you,” he told a Fan Expo at Chicago in August where he charged up to $700 for autographs, “unless you’re MAGA; then, you can go force yourself.” People won’t stop backing Trump just because an entertainer whose work they enjoy or a candidate they backed in previous elections crafts a cutting barb. Consider the more persuasive pitch another “Cheers” actor, Kelsey Grammer, is making on behalf of New Jersey’s Republican Senate candidate, Curtis Bashaw.“I don’t know about you,” Mr. Grammer wrote in an email on Tuesday, “but I’m sick of celebrities telling me how I should vote. So, I’m not doing that. I would like you to check out what Curtis Bashaw has to say, and if you agree with him, join me in supporting him in his bid for the U.S. Senate.”I’m not privy to the open rate for Mr. Grammer’s email, or metrics for his ad in which says name-calling is “deplorable,” but I’d bet that his name in your inbox sends it through the roof. Celebrities can get people to listen. Using that opportunity to condescend only binds voters closer to Trump, no matter how much Mr. Hamill and others might wish everyone shared their negative view of him.Mr. Trump has been a major public figure for decades and has no need of support from others on the A-List. After Election Day, the marquee names backing Ms. Harris may ask if they made wise use of their influence on her behalf, or just gave the Cliff Clavins of the world a chance to matter by telling the vice president that she’s not welcomed in their kitchens — or the White House.

‘Star Wars’ 2024: Harris Is Winning the Campaign for Endorsements by A-List Celebrities — Reinforcing Trump

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