Has Taylor Swift endorsed Donald Trump in the US Presidential race? Here's the truth
File photo of Taylor Swift and Donald Trump
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has posted a fake image on social media of popstar Taylor Swift supporting his candidature for the upcoming presidential elections.
On Sunday, apost by the Republican candidate on Truth Social showed Swift dressed in red, white and blue with a caption that said "Taylor Swift Wants You To Vote For Donald Trump." "I accept!" Trump wrote.
Many are aware that Swift has never endorsed a candidate publicly in the 2024 race. However, she has supported Democrats earlier. Trump is a Republican candidate.
Swift had backed US President Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris in 2020. At the 2024 elections, Harris will be contesting for the elections against Trump.
Swift also criticized Trump in a 2020 documentary.
Swift is known to be one of the iconic figures in pop culture and has a huge fan base worldwide who proudly call themselves Swifties. Perhaps, Trump was eager to cash in on Taylor Swift's popularity, sharing photos of young women wearing "Swifties for Trump" shirts, and a satirical article with the headline "Swifties Turning to Trump After ISIS Foiled Taylor Swift Concert." The article was marked "SATIRE" above the headline.
"Swifties for Trump is a massive movement that grows bigger every single day," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement when asked for comment about the fake Swift image. We aren't sure if Cheung's comment was a jibe at the singer and her fans or if he genuinely was mistaken by the fake images.
Soon after the images surfaced online, Swift fans and watchdog groups pointed out that images posted by Trump appeared to be deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence.
Trump's post was "yet another example of AI's power to create misinformation," consumer group Public Citizen said, as per Reuters. "The potential harms to our society that could result from such misinformation, including abuses of our elections, are wide-reaching and immensely damaging," the group added.
Taylor Swift's political leanings
While Swift has been busy touring with her Eras Tour worldwide, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Swift fan Rebecca Goff handed out friendship bracelets, a common practice among the singer's fans, at a Nevada Democratic Party breakfast.
Goff told the news agency that she felt Trump was the antithesis of Swift's ideals, including celebrating girlhood and womanhood. "That's like the antithesis of what Trump and the GOP are trying to do, especially to women. They're trying to make us smaller. They want us to go back to being just housewives, child bearers," Goff said.
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Swift has so far not reacted to Trump's posts but the former US President's post also drew online mockery and scorn from the singer's fans, some of whom called on her to take legal action against the former president.
In the past, Swift's feelers into politics have been heavily scrutinized, which has also led to political misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories. Her silence had even led many to think she was a closet Republican, until 2018 when she broke both her silence and the internet by endorsing the Democratic opponent of far-right US Senator Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee.
In 2020, however, she had supported Biden and Harris. She has since spoken out in particular for the legal right to an abortion and LGBTQ rights.
In recent weeks, intense speculation has swirled on social media that Swift will endorse Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November election. While the singer has yet to comment, some of her fans have already formed a group called "Swifties for Kamala," attracting tens of thousands of followers on platforms including Instagram and X.
