Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Bette Midler is getting everything she wanted for her birthday

The recently-concluded presidential election has proved that when it comes to politics, there are two kinds of celebrities.

There are those who hang out on Instagram, hinting at acceptably liberal views through carefully worded infographics, coy ballot selfies and artfully displayed “I Voted” stickers.

And then there are the ones who spend all day, every day letting it out on Twitter, producing a ceaseless stream of hashtag-heavy missiles that read like even-less-filtered versions of your most politically-enraged cousin’s contribution to the extended family group chat.

Bette Midler, who turns 75 today, falls in the second category. And judging by her tireless output of anti-Trump tweets, her birthday will be a good one: After all, she’s getting exactly what she asked for.

Ahead of the presidential election, Midler revived one of her biggest acts, reuniting with “Hocus Pocus” co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy for social media PSAs encouraging young people to vote.

Weird, but maybe effective and definitely nothing compared to her other notable voter turnout stunt: posing with bonnets, cheese and flight goggles in an apparent attempt to get swing state voters to the polls.

The Schmooze doubts these posts moved the needle. Rather, Midler’s contribution to the election discourse comes from her constant reminders that if you or someone you love is too obsessed with the Trump presidency to let a single “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” meme go without a retweet, you’re far from alone.

Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.