Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, Donald Trump and the tomahawk chop: the politics of a Kansas City Chiefs home game

When it comes to Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes, the two don’t seem to have a lot in common other than good looks, blonde hair and a passion for the Kansas City Chiefs. One wears short skirts, one wears T-shirts, as the popular Swift song says.

As much we can infer from their social media posts and interaction (or not) during games, there seems to be a whiff of tension between the pop star and the quarterback’s wife, not dissimilar to the political tension within families. You can love people dearly and still not want to watch the vice presidential debate with them if they feel differently about JD Vance than you do.

As such, let us now sing the praises of Monday Night Football — especially Monday Night Football when the Kansas City Chiefs are on and playing at home.

There is no more fraught place in America than Arrowhead Stadium in the current cultural moment. Even the name of the Kansas CIty Chiefs summons the culture wars, making us feel as if, before entering the stadium or turning on the TV, we should pause for a land acknowledgement, like Matt Walsh does in his cheeky opening to the film “Am I Racist?”

“Why haven’t the Kansas City Chiefs changed their name?” demanded Vogue magazine earlier this year, with the writer, Christian Allaire, going on to say, “Many feel the team’s name — a reference to Indigenous chiefs, people with powerful leadership roles within their communities and nations — is appropriative, and its associated imagery (the arrowhead logo, the tomahawk chop war chants popular among fans) is racist, rendering Native Americans as stereotypical caricatures.” The writer says a name change for the team is “undeniably necessary.”

Of course many other people do not feel that way, especially since the team was named after a man whose nickname was “chief,” not native Americans in general. They chop the air because they’re caught up in the joy of sports, not to signal animosity. But others call the move “synchronized racism” and a “violent tradition” that “harms mental health.”

Then there’s the matter of Taylor Swift.

Over the past two seasons, Swift’s relationship with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce has added a new dimension to the political tension at Arrowhead. In addition to being the world’s most popular pop star, Swift has been outspoken about being for abortion rights and against Donald Trump; she’s had a simmering feud with GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and she recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential bid.

Meanwhile, Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, may not be a full-throated supporter of former President Donald Trump, but she might be at least a half-throated one, having “liked” one of Trump’s social media posts. That’s an invitation to cancellation under normal circumstances, and nothing is normal in this election cycle, so not surprisingly, the “like” quickly disappeared — not before the haters descended and Trump made things more difficult for Mahomes by complimenting her.

Since then, there’s been much speculation about whether Brittany Mahomes and Swift are on the outs because they didn’t sit together at one game, although they’ve since been spotted on a double-date. Whatever their relationship, social media creates its own political narratives, whether they’re true or false.

But here’s the thing. Despite being at the epicenter of a surprising number of cultural divides — from racism to renaming, from stay-at-home-moms to “childless cat ladies,” from Kamala Harris to Donald Trump — Arrowhead Stadium still rocks, as it will when the Chiefs play the New Orleans Saints Monday night in that all-American sport.

And if there’s anything that unites disparate people, it’s winning.

The Chiefs are fresh off a Super Bowl victory and 4-0 headed into their matchup with the Saints. Swift, a proud and self-proclaimed “childless cat lady,” probably liked nothing at all about Harrison Butker’s controversial speech in which the Chiefs kicker lauded stay-at-home moms like his wife. But that didn’t stop her from celebrating when Butker kicked a 51-year field goal to narrowly beat the Cincinnati Bengals last month. Her reaction was, frankly, refreshing. Would that we all could cheer the achievements of people with whom we politically disagree like that.

Similarly, we could all gain much from the words of Patrick Mahomes, who has patiently and calmly answered questions from the press about his political leanings, and his wife’s. At a recent press conference, Mahomes deflected the first question on the subject by saying he didn’t want to use his platform to endorse candidates, only to urge people to vote for the candidate of their choice.

But then asked about the double-date with Swift and Kelce at the U.S. Open, Mahomes went deeper, saying, “I’ve grown up with people from every aspect of life and every background. And I think the best thing about a football locker room, and kind of how I’ve grown up in baseball locker rooms, ... is people can come together and achieve something, achieve a common goal. ... I think if we can do that as a nation, we can get the best out of each other.”

He went on to say that what he cares most about is not people’s politics, but how they treat other people, adding, “I was with a lot of great people this weekend.”

And with that, Patrick Mahomes put politics in its place. The Chiefs may or may not be the Chiefs this time next year — one wag has suggested that the team be renamed the Swifts — but so long as Kansas City is winning, and Swift is cheering Butker next to Brittany Mahomes in the VIP box, there’s hope for the rest of us in the cheap seats.