CNN
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Taylor Swift has but to endorse any presidential candidate this election cycle. However former President Donald Trump says he accepts the celebrity’s non-existent endorsement.
Trump posted “I settle for!” on his Fact Social account, together with a carousel of (Swift) pictures – a minimum of a few of which look like AI-generated.
One of many AI-manipulated pictures depicts Swift as Uncle Sam with the textual content, “Taylor desires you to vote for Donald Trump.” The opposite pictures depict followers of Swift sporting “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts.
A consultant for Swift didn’t instantly reply to CNN’s request for remark.
One of many posts that was shared by Trump is satire. A slew of pretend, AI-generated pictures of “Swifties for Trump” references the thwarted planned terrorist attack at Swift’s Vienna concert events earlier this month with a caption that claims, “Swifties turning to Trump after ISIS foiled Taylor Swift live performance.” (The unique X account that first printed the put up wrote, “LOL @realDonaldTrump shared my put up,” confirming that the put up was, actually, satire.)
Swift’s followers – referred to as Swifties – have gotten political this election cycle. Instantly after President Joe Biden stepped apart and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, a big group of Swift’s followers shaped a group known as “Swifties for Kamala,” which isn’t affiliated with the singer. The group, which has mobilized Swift followers to assist elect Harris and different Democratic candidates down the poll, has greater than 60,000 followers on X.
At the moment, an official “Swifties for Trump” group has not been shaped, although the celebrity does have conservative, pro-Trump followers who’ve expressed their assist for the previous president throughout their particular person social media accounts.
Trump’s marketing campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, instructed CNN in a press release, “Swifties for Trump is a large motion that grows larger each single day!”
In 2020, Swift endorsed Biden and Harris of their bid for the White Home.
Talking of her endorsement on the time, Swift told V magazine in October 2020, “The change we want most is to elect a president who acknowledges that folks of shade need to really feel secure and represented, that ladies deserve the appropriate to decide on what occurs to their our bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ group deserves to be acknowledged and included.”
On the evening of the vice presidential debate in 2020, Swift posted on social media, “Gonna be watching and supporting @KamalaHarris by yelling on the television rather a lot.”
Whereas Swift has not endorsed Harris in her presidential run this 12 months, she has fueled fan hypothesis. After a latest present on the European leg of her “Eras” tour, Swifties had been sure that the singer had left an Easter egg endorsement of Harris when a girl’s silhouette pictured onstage appeared to depict the vice chairman. However CNN debunked that theory, reporting that the silhouette in query was truly one in every of Swift’s background singers.
Swift, who was not political for the primary decade of her profession, has been vocally supportive of Democratic candidates and insurance policies lately. She is an advocate of the LGBTQ group and has spoken steadily about ladies’s rights and reproductive well being.
In her 2020 documentary, “Miss Americana,” Swift expressed remorse for not talking up about political causes sooner. “I must be on the appropriate facet of historical past,” she mentioned in an emotional scene together with her father. In one other scene, Swift instructed her publicist that she doesn’t care if she faces backlash for popping out in opposition to Trump. “I don’t care. If I get unhealthy press for saying, ‘Don’t put a homophobic racist in workplace,’ then I get unhealthy press for that.”
Swift tweeted about her disdain for Trump in 2020, writing, “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your complete presidency, you might have the nerve to feign ethical superiority earlier than threatening violence? ‘When the looting begins the capturing begins’??? We’ll vote you out in November.”
A “Swifties for Kamala” spokesperson swiped again at Trump for posting AI pictures, telling CNN that their group launched as a result of their group “shares values” with Harris and her working mate, Tim Walz.
“We consider Harris-Walz will combat for our rights and the rights of our family members, and assist make this nation safer for everybody,” Carly Lengthy, communications director of Swifties for Kamala, instructed CNN on Monday, including that the group has raised greater than $10,000 for the Harris-Walz marketing campaign. “Our motion additionally started and gained important momentum as a result of, as Taylor Swift mentioned again in 2020, Donald Trump is ‘a homophobic racist,’ and as a group, we don’t and can’t assist having a president like that. We don’t signify each Swiftie, however consider there’s a motive we don’t want AI to indicate our assist for Harris.”
Regardless of his put up, Trump appears to acknowledge that Swift doesn’t truly endorse him.
Within the new e book, “Apprentice in Wonderland,” Trump instructed writer Ramin Setoodeh, “I feel she’s lovely — very lovely! I discover her very lovely. I feel she’s liberal. She most likely doesn’t like Trump.”
After the e book was launched, Swifties on the left took to social media with a message for the previous president: “Stay away from her.”