The Far-Right’s New Muse: Sydney Sweeney and her “great genes”
Written by Abi Kennedy, edited by Charlotte Lewis
The infamous Sydney Sweeney American Eagle campaign has reached all the way to the top, namely, President of the United States - Donald Trump.
Sydney Sweeney went viral last week for her controversial ad for American Eagle jeans, where she says, in a hushed, breathy voice: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Image - Hollywood reporter
At the end of the ad, the voice-over narrator says, “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” seemingly a pun on her attractiveness. But peel back the curtain even slightly, and the narrator’s declaration that blue-eyed, blonde-haired women have great genes becomes difficult to defend against accusations that the ad idealises and promotes whiteness and thinness.
It has since been revealed that Sweeney, shortly after buying a mansion in Florida, registered to vote there for the 2024 election, listing her party affiliation as Republican. It is unlikely she registered just before the election as Republican, to then vote Democrat. This came as little surprise to me and many others. Buying a mansion in Florida is, in itself, quite a statement.
This would have affected her career enough on its own, but Donald Trump has given the actress a personal endorsement, both in an interview and in a long message on X.
He wrote: “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there… Go get ’em, Sydney.” According to Gizmodo, the president deleted and reposted the tweet, correcting spelling errors and adding various last-minute additions about “WOKE.” Regardless, the message in the final draft, as well as his verbal endorsement on Fox News, will reach and resonate with a lot of people. It’s important to note that Trump would not be giving her a personal shoutout on his page had it not been revealed that she is a registered Republican.
In addition to the president’s personal commendations, the White House’s X account also posted, “Have you seen the Sydney Sweeney ad?” accompanied by a still of Donald Trump yelling with his hand cupped around his mouth.
So what does this mean for Sydney?
Well, so much of Sydney Sweeney’s public image as it existed before was her straddling herself between the two camps. She has had several appearances on the left-wing comedy show SNL, while a surprise party she threw for her mum's 60th birthday drew attention when photos were shared of guests wearing MAGA-style hats and “Blue Lives Matter” shirts. Whenever her public appearances garner attention from the right wing, she never comments on where she stands or condemns the attention.
As part of her media persona, she likes to appear as this “just-a-girl” figure who is too hot for politics in order to appeal to both sides. She has still been swept up by many on the right, and her silence seems to imply that is just a convenient “accident.”
Her career has greatly benefited from this ambiguity, allowing both sides in a polarised climate to see in her what they want. By maintaining that neutrality, she garners support across the spectrum. She has been doing what many others have done less elegantly, reading who’s in power, sensing where the culture is headed, and, likely with an eye on advancing her career, allowing the current of the culture to carry her wherever there will be more spotlight on her.
Also telling is the system that rewards this kind of ambiguity, prioritising stars who can appeal to both sides by saying nothing at all. In Trump’s America at the moment especially, neutrality like Sweeney’s is a lucrative position, with marketability outranking integrity every time.
If I were to be a real cynic I would say that she likely doesn’t care all that much about politics. If she saw herself as a political activist for either side, she would have used her platform to vocalise that by now. She may have voted Republican, but it’s unlikely she did so for anything other than familiarity from her upbringing or for financial benefit. I think it’s unlikely she is a harboured MAGA enthusiast, more indifferent, ignorant or unempathetic, and too privileged to be aware or concerned with the impact of Republican policies. Where her priorities probably lie are in her own self-interest and career progression. And in regard to said career, it's safe to say the days of her playing for both teams are over.
This advert, and the personal thumbs-up from Trump, will mark a real turning point in her career. By no means is her career over, but it’s very likely she will be a darling for MAGA even more than she already is.
Donald Trump, in a late addition to the rest of his tweet, said: “Just look at the woke singer Taylor Swift. Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can’t stand her (HATE!), she was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT.” The message is clear. For Trump and his followers, woke is ugly, conservative is hot. To many in MAGA, Sydney Sweeney was already their pin-up, à la Justin Timberlake, “bringing sexy back.”
Trump’s message is framed as a backlash to the idea of the woke, puritanical left. He is appealing to individuals who have been reared on a conservative caricature of feminists who hate sex and believe the women of the woke left spend their time so preoccupied with being outraged or in the rat race that they neglect their appearance. This pushes the narrative that, by contrast, right-wing conservative women get looked after, that their common sense lets them rest, and that they have all this free time to look hot, like Sydney Sweeney.
Her brand as a sex symbol represents a specific kind of white heterosexuality that has become right-wing coded. They understand it as mainstream normative, and a beacon for the future of the continuation of the status quo.
She has yet to comment on the backlash and White House endorsement, and likely won’t, because she knows the score: don’t comment, wait it out, come back with a new project. When the media cycle finishes churning, she will let the conversation return to whatever is next for her.
With that in mind, what will that mean for her upcoming projects?
There is a chance her political affiliation may damage the performance of her upcoming projects, as they may resonate less with her more left-wing audience.
Despite what the fast-typing individuals who love to tweet that Sydney Sweeney’s breasts are the “end of woke” want you to think, she and her projects tend to land more heavily with liberal audience members. The White Lotus, especially, is a show that is openly critical of wealthy American elites. Euphoria is graphic, gritty, and deals with very mature themes, and is sympathetic to issues like class, addiction, and being a victim of circumstance. Both are very class-conscious programmes with a broadly democratic view of America.
Her upcoming biopic film Christy sees her playing queer boxer Christy Martin. A film that I can’t imagine is aimed at her conservative audience. Therefore, with her support for the Republican Party, openly targeting and stripping back the rights of queer people, it’s likely that the film will lose support from its designated target market.
We will have to wait to see how this plays out publicly, and in terms of box office revenue, but where we might feel disappointed, let’s remember: while she may be a MAGA darling today, the cultural pendulum will swing the other way, as it has done before, and conservatism will not be profitable forever.