Donald Trump, who attempted to overturn the democratic vote of the American people in 2020, on Sunday accused the pop star Taylor Swift of being “disloyal” should she endorse Joe Biden for president.
With the rightwing conspiracy theory machine fretting that Swift is a Pentagon plant whose relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his team’s victory yesterday in the Super Bowl, was designed to give Swift a platform to swing the election for Biden, Trump weighed in with his own thoughts.
He said there was “no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden” and would never be “disloyal to the man who made her so much money”.
Trump said Swift and other artists benefited from the Music Modernization Act, which helped performing artists more easily earn royalties and licensing fees through music streaming services, and which was passed during his presidency.
Swift endorsed Biden in the 2020 race, though she has yet to support anyone publicly in the latest campaign. A recent Instagram post in which she encouraged her supporters to vote reportedly led to more than 35,000 voter registrations. Trump said Biden “didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will” and said that he liked Kelce “even though he may be a liberal, and probably can’t stand me”. Kelce attracted rightwing ire for once appearing in a campaign to encourage people to get the Covid vaccine.
Biden’s campaign had some fun with the conspiracy theories, tweeting after the Chiefs victory: “Just like we drew it up,” along with a photo of “Dark Brandon”, a rightwing meme of Biden looking demonic that his supporters have appropriated as their own.
Just like we drew it up. pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 12, 2024
Other politicians have scrambled to align themselves with Swift, with Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, declaring on social media that he was a Swiftie and that his favorite deep cut was White Horse from Fearless, her 2008 album.
Meanwhile, some Republicans have warned politicians on their own side of the dangers of going after the wildly popular and influential singer.
The Music Modernization Act that Trump claimed was his idea updated copyright law to better adapt royalty and licensing payments to the age of music streaming. It was a strong bipartisan effort supported by both the House and Senate unanimously.
One of the lawyers involved, Dina LaPolt, told Variety on Sunday that Trump “did nothing on our legislation except sign it”.
