On Tuesday’s episode of Fox News' “Jesse Watters Tonight,” Watters broadcasted a conspiracy theory — much to the amusement of many right-wingers — suggesting that pop star Taylor Swift is part of a government “psyop.”
Watters’ theory was concocted in an effort to answer growing concerns from conservatives who speculated that Swift was more than just a pop musician because of her outsized influence on fans. Some critics called Swift a “Trojan horse” while others agreed that Swift’s “girlboss psyop has been fully activated.”
“She’s all right. But, I mean, have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?” Watters questioned.
“Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting. What kind of asset? A PSYOP for combating online misinformation,” he continued, referring to a video that Jeffrey Clark — who was indicted alongside Trump in the Georgia election case — had re-shared on X. In it, research engineer Alicia Marie Bargar casually mentions Swift while speaking at the 2019 International Conference on Cyber Conflict: “I include Taylor Swift in here because she’s a fairly influential online person,” she said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of her.”
“Yeah, that’s real: the Pentagon psyop unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online,” Watters erroneously declared, before admitting that he “obviously has no evidence” that Swift is “a front for a covert political agenda.”
“If we did, we’d share it. But we’re curious because the pop star who endorsed [now-President Joe] Biden is urging millions of her followers to vote,” he said.
