Donald Trump is trying to brush off the fact that he shared A.I.-generated images of Taylor Swift endorsing his campaign to his Truth Social account earlier this week, now claiming that he doesn’t know “anything about them.”
Given everything going on in this country and Trump’s ability to turn everything he touches shit, I almost think Swift has to respond to this at some point. I’m surprised she hasn’t already. I understand her desire to stay out of politics. But speaking out and denouncing this and everything about Trump isn’t her getting into politics. It’s her having to because Trump dragged her into it kicking and screaming.
She can’t stop those images from circulating. But the more they circulate, the more chances that at least some people think they’re real. Or at the very least, they may interpret her silence as a tacit endorsement. Some may even consider her a Trump supporter, especially those who don’t follow either her or politics closely enough to know that while she’s never taken an official political position, she’s proudly left leaning. Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.
Are those pictures even still up on his feed? I’m not going on that mall-restroom Twitter knockoff of his to check. I was half-surprised not to see her legal team have a C&D letter sent to him with his early morning McDonalds the next morning, a public statement by lunch, and a lawsuit filed against him for implying she endorsed him by the time the courtrooms had closed. I would fucking love to see Trump try to bully down Taylor fucking Swift’s legal team. You could put that shit on pay per view and eliminate the national debt.
She did respond and said she wanted to wait until after her tour so her fans were safe. She is definitely alluding to an endorsement as well.
Here is the quote:
“Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows,” Swift wrote. "In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to.”
When is her tour over?
Edit:
It commenced on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and is set to conclude on December 8, 2024, in Vancouver, consisting of 149 shows that span five continents.
Welp, either she changes her mind or it’ll be too late to do anything.
Maybe she just wants to stay out of it. I think that’s responsible since Meal Team 6/Y’all Qaeda attacking her fans is a real possibility.
I mean, at the same time, I think it’s entirely rational to fear that Trump will attempt to gin up some stochastic terrorism targeted at not only her, but her audience. In that context, how she’s playing it is kinda just the best possible play.
Ah yes the famous “let the terrorists frighten you into silence” strategy
That’s bullshit. Just because it’s not convenient for our political strategy doesn’t mean she has to risk her safety or the safety of her fans by further involving herself.
If she speaks out against the maniacal right there is a greater than zero chance that many innocent people other than her will be hurt. It would not be the first time.
She’s just another fucking billionaire worried about her dollars above all else. Half of her fans are the part of the fascist cult that’s ruining the US. If she were to denounce him, that would cut into her profits. having more dollars on top of a billion is just more important to her.
Hahahhahaa this is the same old neoliberal handwaving. She’s a republican. Look at her bank account.
… she’s proudly left leaning.
She’s a billionaire. She’s no more left leaning than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. She just flies socially progressive flags.
She made a billion by selling tickets to huge venues all over the world where she performed.
She actually did work to get rich, unlike Bezos, who steals his wealth from his workers.
I guarantee she exploits people like any other capitalist, but there are different types of billionaires.
Rowling used to seem like a “good billionaire” too. Then she went all TERF-y.
Swift may seem cool for now, but let’s not put away the guillotines just yet.
I’d say that her bonus payout to her tour staff shows that isn’t the case.
I’d argue there’s a pretty big difference between someone like Bezos and someone like swift. Specifically, it’s almost impossible to make a billion dollar business without exploiting people, and Bezos definitely exploited the hell out of people.
In contrast, I don’t think it would be accurate to say that Swift made her money by exploiting people. Of the ethical ways to make money, I would think selling albums that you wrote and performed, and tickets to concerts that you’re performing would rank pretty highly.
Additionally, a significant portion of her wealth is the valuation of her music catalog being extremely high on account of being a very popular musician.
I’m not saying she’s the most left person in the world or anything, but not aggressively exploiting people, giving a lot of money to charities, and actively championing progressive causes definitely classifies someone as “left leaning” in my book.
Billionaires should not exist, full stop. They literally cannot spend that amount of money.
She could lower the cost of her music, her tour tickets, merchandise…
I love Taylor Swift too but just because she has progressive views doesn’t mean she didn’t extract wealth from people and is hoarding it for herself.
I’m willing to eat my hat if she donates 2/3 of her wealth right now and promises to never have more than a few million in total assets.
But she isn’t. And that makes her a bad billionaire.
It’s entirely possible that Taylor’s legal team already got in touch, discreetly, and warned him to cut that shit out, or else she will unload a can of legal whoop-ass on him. She is under no obligation to endorse anyone. Whatever her political beliefs are, she may have made the purposeful choice to stay out of it. And she may not want to get involved in a lawsuit over this, unless she has to to protect her brand.
Which may also explain why now he “doesn’t know anything about it”. Denial is his go-to when he is caught.
Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.
I bet she could even argue that him forcing her to take a position publicly against him also constitutes financial harm, because of the possibility of it alienating any of her fans that were Trump supporters.
Right. He basically put her into a situation where whichever side she chose, she loses. It’s one of the reasons she’s never gotten involved publicly in politics. She’s smart enough to know that she’ll alienate a portion of her fans no matter which side she chooses, so as far as I can tell she preferred to just stay out of the whole thing and make all the fucking money.
And that’s not a bad thing. Not every celebrity has to be a political activist, and people who go to any concert are looking to have a fun time, not attend a really loud political rally. And her position in all of this is to give a whole bunch of young people a place to go and shut their brains off for a night.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Counter argument: sometimes doing nothing is allowing evil to prevail.
Also “I just wanna shut my brain off and have fun without POLITICS” is not really a moral high ground. Many people can’t avoid politics.
taylor swift gets up on stage in front of tens of thousands of people on a regular basis. she doesn’t have secret service protection for every public appearance.
draw whatever conclusions you want from those two facts.
She plays big stadiums & arenas. There aren’t really any slight lines to the stage that aren’t inside the facility. Trump was giving a speech in a field, with neighboring buildings outside the security perimeter.
TL;DR: Taylor Swift draws bigger crowds than Donald Trump, and is probably safer for it.
I have no idea, but my wife says she thinks her and her boyfriend have a no politics pact.
That’s fair too. Not everyone gives a shit about politics. I really didn’t until Dementia DonOLD the racist rapist with 34 felonies got elected and made us the laughing stock of the world. I will say that throughout my life I’ve noticed things are noticeably better when we have a Democrat President.
Funny how that seems to be the case. But — and I’m OOTL here — I know Taylor dislikes Trump to the point of arguing with her parent’s and managers about going public with that. I also hear her boyfriend and his family are Republicans. So it may be just to forestall a war between themselves or their fans, they both just agreed to sit politics out this year.
That would be really disappointing. Taylor shouldn’t let her guy silence her. But I get it. My wife and I don’t talk religion because she’s religious and I’m vehemently atheist. It works. We have five kids and a happy marriage. Maybe that’s all Taylor and whatshisname want, too.
Swift is most definitely not a Republican.
He has pissed off an actual billionaire.
One that doesn’t like him and knows how to sue the shit out of people. It’s a war that she can win too.
Taylor Swift is a real billionaire, not a dude cosplaying as one. She got real lawyers
I’m willing to bet she has the kind of good lawyers who only work for people who pay them, too.
Maybe we’ll see some swift justice for once
The law suit isn’t what matters. He’s got a massive collection of those already and it won’t matter until it all eventually catches up to him assuming he fails to get elected.
What matters is that if he pissed Taylor off enough she might actually endorse Harris openly. We know she leans blue but she’s refrained from open endorsements. Her fans are absolutely crazy and she could probably sway a bunch of Republicans easily. This is great.
I find it hard to believe that anyone who votes Republican will care enough about Taylor Swift’s influence to change their vote, but I can absolutely believe that her endorsement would swing the numbers in a big way if she just motivates politically apathetic Swifties to go to the polls.
Perhaps, but Swift’s endorsement might encourage people who were otherwise unlikely to vote.
Republicans show the effect that peer pressure has on them with their insane belief that people undergo gender reassignment surgery solely because of liberal peer pressure. Republican swifties (assuming there is such a thing in the first place?) would absolutely vote Kamala if Taylor told them to.
