Former President Donald Trump has categorically stated that he is not a Swiftie.
Days after Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president, the Republican presidential candidate expressed her dislike for the smash-hit pop star in all capital letters.
“I hate Taylor Swift!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
Following the debate between Harris and Trump on Tuesday night, Swift voiced her support for the Democratic vice president.
“She is fighting for a right and a cause that I believe we need warriors to defend,” Swift wrote to her more than 280 million followers on Instagram. “I think she is a calm and talented leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more if this country is led by calm instead of chaos.”
Swift said she was inspired to go public with her “actual plans for this election as a voter” after she realized Trump had spread false information making it seem like he had won her vote.
Last month, Trump shared an AI-generated image of Swift dressed as Uncle Sam in a fake endorsement speech and other images promoting the idea that he had won over some of her fan base. “I accept,” he said when posting the image. He has since denied knowing anything about it.
Swift’s past endorsements and political statements have a track record of inspiring civic engagement. She first made her political statements public ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, voicing her support for LGBTQIA rights and gender and racial equality. Her support for two House candidates in Tennessee led to tens of thousands of people registering to vote.
Swift’s recent Instagram endorsement drove more than 300,000 visits to the voter registration website Vote.gov, according to NPR.
Swift may have influence, but it’s not clear how much: An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday found that her support had “negligible effect” on whether respondents were more likely to vote for Harris.
Celebrity endorsements can also backfire: the celebrity may take attention away from the candidate, or their fans may not share the same political views.
On Wednesday, the day after the debate, Trump dismissed Swift’s endorsement of Harris in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
“I’ve never been a fan of Taylor Swift,” Trump said.
“It was only a matter of time. There’s no way she would support Biden,” he added. “But she’s a very liberal person. She always seems to support Democrats, and she’s probably going to pay a price for that in the market.”
That night at MTV’s Video Music Awards, Swift urged people to register to vote while accepting the fan-voted award for Video of the Year.
“Please register to vote in something so important – the presidential election,” Swift said.