In a nod to the upcoming World Series, let’s call this political stunt a swing and a miss. Elle Magazine, a women’s fashion and entertainment publication, used a deliberately salacious tweet about the status of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s marriage as clickbait. The problem, though, is that when the link was clicked, the reader was taken to a site encouraging voter registration, not an article in Elle about the Kardashian-West marriage.

The tweet stated that they were “splitting up” and knew that their readership, mostly twenty and thirty-year-old liberal women would click for some celebrity gossip. When enough people complained through social media, an apology was issued. Naturally, the magazine calls it “a joke”. How insulting to both the intelligence of its readers but also to the marriage being treated without respect.

We made a bad joke. Our passion for voter registration clouded our judgement and we are sincerely sorry. https://t.co/cYGGrpfBCz — ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) October 18, 2018

Kanye West wasn’t laughing. His response appeared as an answer to a reporter’s tweet. Hey, maybe the people tricked by celebrity clickbait into registering to vote shouldn’t be voting at all.

Elle Magazine’s Twitter timeline is filled with political statements via stories and merchandise. The woke generation hasn’t proven to be any more of a reliable voting block than in earlier generations but it’s not for the lack of trying on the part of the liberal left in entertainment and fashion. The usual suspects in the media thought it was a brilliant stunt.

This is brilliant https://t.co/piqIa5j1dZ — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) October 18, 2018

The link was to the webpage of When We All Vote, the voter registration initiative that Michelle Obama and her Hollywood and Broadway pals are promoting. Another deceitful message also appeared on their Instagram account.

Elle used a less overtly false post on Instagram to attract voter registrants, captioning a photo of the couple: “OMG THIS #KIMKARDASHIAN AND #KANYEWEST NEWS!!! It’s happening and you’ll never guess how it all went down.”

It’s all a bit much. No doubt, the marriage of these two was used because they have connections to President Trump. #TheResistance is incensed that Kanye West was given a platform in the Oval Office recently and he truly seems to like Trump. Kim Kardashian is on record as giving credit to her meeting with Trump for the early release of a woman imprisoned for a drug offense. The convicted woman even went on television and thanked the president for his intervention.

Make no mistake, the angry left will stop at nothing to claim some sort of victory. Using clickbait was cheap and in this case, backfired. Talk about some fake news! It seems to me, if they can’t get readers interested enough in voting to take the time to register, then that’s on them. There is no shortage of celebrities and creative people in this election cycle asking people to register to vote and to actually go vote. Registering voters as a fad isn’t effective if they don’t get out and do it. Why isn’t the magazine clever enough to print articles that make voting look attractive on its own?

In this case, it is really an error that didn’t have to happen. By the time this came to be on Twitter, most states have closed voter registration for the mid-term elections in November. Unless someone lives in a state with same-day registration, that window has passed. I know here in Texas, our early voting begins Monday.

The hype is constant and dramatic. How many times have you heard, “This is the most important election in our lifetime” from people in both parties? Elle Magazine, I noticed, is especially pushing the doom and gloom anticipated if Roe v Wade is overturned. Though there is absolutely no indication that it will happen as of yet anyway, the hyperbole is strong. How about preparing for a world where abortion is illegal? There’s some light reading for you, in the “Swamp of Sadness that is 2018.”

How to Prepare for a World Where Abortion Is Illegal https://t.co/mySWhVhao4 — ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) October 18, 2018

Ugh. Everything goes back to abortion. Abortion was the basis for the mob mentality that flourished during the Kavanaugh confirmation. Just wait until President Trump nominates the next Supreme Court justice, especially if it is Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

Eighteen days until Election Day. We’ll know soon enough if our streets devolve into 1968 riots or if President Trump has to work with a Democrat-controlled House. Either way, it won’t be pretty.