Donald Trump Reportedly Has A New Political Rival: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has caught the attention of Donald Trump and his reelection team, but not in a good way. Swift isn't planning a run for the presidency, but there have been rumblings that she could be a threat to Trump and his campaign in 2024. In 2020, Swift endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — her first time ever publicly endorsing a presidential candidate. Trump's team apparently has a plan in place if Swift does publicly come out in support of Biden. "It would be more fuel thrown onto the culture-war fires," someone working with Trump's reelection campaign told Rolling Stone. "Another left-wing celebrity who is part of the Democrat elite telling you what to think."
As for Trump himself, he's reportedly told people around him that Swift isn't a concern because he feels that more people like him than her, per Mirror. Though along with a potential Joe Biden endorsement, some of the bad blood between Trump and Swift might have to do with the fact that Swift was named Time's 2023 Person of the Year and he wasn't. On Truth Social, Trump shared a link to an article from the DC Enquirer that said that Trump, not Swift, should have been given the honor. Though it seemed like it would have been a long shot considering Time's shortlist for Person of the Year included Trump prosecutors as compared to Trump himself.
Some Donald Trump supporters seem suspicious of Taylor Swift
Even though Donald Trump wasn't named Person of the Year in 2023, that didn't stop conservative commentator Nick Adams from posting on Facebook the cover from 2016 when Trump did get the title. Other Trump supporters have been increasingly vocal about Taylor Swift, and it's pretty much all negative. Their worries about her impact on the election seem to be amplified by Swift's relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce. Fox News host Jesse Watters had a segment on his show in early January 2024 where he mused about whether or not Taylor Swift was potentially working undercover for the Pentagon. The Pentagon issued a statement denying any such association with Swift.
Then there's Vivek Ramaswamy, who endorsed Donald Trump's campaign after calling it quits on his own presidential candidacy. He added fuel to the fire of a conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift, the election, and the Super Bowl being rigged by posting on X, formerly known as Twitter: "I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall."
When Trump was asked by the Daily Caller about Swift and Kelce as a couple in September 2023, he didn't seem to show any concerns about Swift and the election. But he did throw a little shade their way: "I hope they enjoy their life, maybe together, maybe not — most likely not."