Politics
Taylor Swift Drama Erupts After Monica Lewinsky’s Post
Monica Lewinsky has proven, if anything, to be perhaps the most resilient figure of the 90s.
The former White House intern who nearly ended the political career of President Bill Clinton glommed on to the internet’s latest meme craze which features a line from Taylor Swift’s new album “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“… I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me / You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me / So all you kids can sneak into my house with all the cobwebs / I’m always drunk on my own tears, isn’t that what they all said?” Swift sings on “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me.”
The asylum line has stuck out among fans and critics alike for its malleability, especially among X users passionate about moving the platform beyond a tiresome trend asking followers to “look between” letters on their keyboard.
“You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,” one British user wrote in a salute to London’s donnybrook nightlife.
https://twitter.com/youwouldknow/status/1783817553271312399
Another cites the UFO-themed McDonalds in Roswell, New Mexico, and a third shows off her collection of great American literature.
You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me pic.twitter.com/S3vvQ7cAIq
— Dan (@p_pastryhangman) April 25, 2024
No but literally……you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me pic.twitter.com/Eu9W2Ix61b
— Mimi Montgomery (@mimi_montgom) April 23, 2024
It was Lewinsky, however, who won the internet with her take.
“[Y]ou wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,” she wrote, captioning a shot of the White House front lawn.
you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me. pic.twitter.com/hkhdRlBCkj
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) April 25, 2024
In a scoop that shook Washington’s foundations, conservative reporter Matt Drudge broke the news that President Clinton had been romantically linked to Lewinsky while she interned in the West Wing. Subsequent denials by the Clinton administration compelled U.S. House Republicans, led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, to carry on a series of impeachment proceedings that ultimately fell short in the Senate.
The fallout was tremendous for Lewinsky, who was just 22 at the time of the scandal. The post-feminist #MeToo movement breathed new life into her legacy, drawing renewed attention to Lewinsky as a survivor of sexual abuse long before recognition was as mainstream as today.
In 2017, Lewinsky posted the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter without further explanation. Months later, she wrote in a piece for Vanity Fair that, although her affair with Clinton was consensual, it constituted an “abuse of power” by the president.
Followers were quick to praise the 50-year-old for making the best out of a ruinous life-changing time in her youth.
“Your ability to have a sense of humor over what they did to you is pretty inspirational,” one wrote.
Your ability to have a sense of humor over what they did to you is pretty inspirational
— Jocelyn 🪶 ⸆⸉ ⎕ (@presumptiveflow) April 25, 2024
QUEEN
— ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) April 25, 2024
OK… I think those of us who are of a certain age can agree that this wins that particular prompt/meme.
Well played Ms. Lewinsky.
Well played. 🙏🏽— Crypto_Jesus (@verifiedjeff) April 25, 2024
“Grateful to share a name w/ you queen,” wrote another.
grateful to share a name w/ you queen🥂
— mónica marie zorrilla (@monicroqueta) April 25, 2024
In 2021 Lewinsky helped produce a documentary series for FX about the scandal based on the book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President” by Jeffrey Toobin. She has interspersed her occasional public appearances with frequently irreverent takes on social media.
