Bussiness
Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Donald Trump can’t shake it off.
The former president didn’t mince words on Sunday when he mentioned Swift in a Truth Social post.
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” he wrote.
Swift became the target of Trump’s contempt when she publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. The billionaire pop star shared her stance in an Instagram post that had racked up 11 million likes by Sunday.
“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote.
Scoring an endorsement from Swift likely isn’t the benchmark to secure an election win, but her influence is undeniable.
Swift also shared a link to Vote.gov with her 284 million Instagram followers when she endorsed Harris, which resulted in over 400,000 people visiting the website in 24 hours.
Trump downplayed the endorsement during an interview with Fox & Friends the next day, saying he’s “not a Taylor Swift fan.”
“She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace,” he added.
Even if Trump isn’t a Swiftie, he’s vied for her attention and influence several times during his campaign.
Trump claimed in February that he’s made Swift “so much money” and that her potential endorsement of President Joe Biden, who left the race in July, would be “disloyal.”
“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists. Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will,” he wrote on Truth Social. “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”
Trump spoke about Swift again in June, questioning why she would vote for Biden, according to former CNN reporter Melanie Zanona. “Why would she endorse this dope,” Trump said. “He doesn’t know how to get off a stage.”
That month, an excerpt from “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass” that was obtained by Variety said Trump called Swift “beautiful” and expressed shock she was liberal.
In August, Trump shared AI-generated images to Truth Social that showed Swift and her fans supporting his campaign.
“I accept!” he wrote.
He tried to distance himself from the images during an interview on Fox Business but has not deleted them from his Truth Social account.
Trump’s team has gotten on the Swift train, too. His campaign’s official X account announced last week that it was selling t-shirts inspired by Swift’s Eras Tour merchandise.
But now that Swift has endorsed Harris, it seems Trump and his team have turned cold.
The official Trump War Room X account shared a screenshot purportedly showing a poll in which 87% of respondents said Swift’s endorsement of Harris “makes no difference” in their vote.
Swift again encouraged Americans to vote during her acceptance speech at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
“This is a fan-voted award, and you voted for this, and I appreciate it so much,” she said. “And if you are over 18, please register to vote for something else that’s very important: our presidential election.”
Representatives for Trump and Swift did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.