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Donald Trump’s allies in US politics and conservative media have aimed a conspiracy-fuelled rhetorical offensive at Taylor Swift, taking on the world’s most renowned pop star amid fears that she could sway the 2024 election in favour of Joe Biden.
The attacks on Swift from the right have escalated sharply in recent days, making one of America’s most successful cultural symbols a target on the front lines of the country’s bitter political culture wars.
One apparent trigger of the vitriol from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement was Swift’s decision on Sunday to cheer, hug and kiss her boyfriend Travis Kelce on the field in Baltimore after his American football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, clinched a spot in this season’s Super Bowl.
Then came a New York Times article on Monday suggesting Swift was the “biggest and most influential endorsement target” for Biden’s re-election campaign.
Among the accusations levelled against Swift by some Trump allies was the claim that she is part of a plot — also involving the National Football League — to keep Biden in the White House.
“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” wrote Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech investor who ran for the Republican presidential nomination but now endorses Trump, on X. “I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.”
Although Swift’s music and performances have not been considered particularly political, she has previously sided with Democrats, citing their defence of women’s rights and opposition to white supremacy. She has also urged her mainly young and female fan base to vote in elections.
She endorsed the Democratic candidate in the Tennessee Senate race in 2018, and Biden in the 2020 general election, and in her 2020 documentary Miss Americana said she was “sad” that she had not come out against Trump in 2016. “These aren’t your dad’s Republicans,” she told her family in the film.
Trump has not commented on Swift recently, but his aides have rushed to mock both the pop star and Biden.
“They’re calling it their Hail Mary pass to drag Biden over the finish line,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the former president’s 2024 campaign, told a conservative radio host.
“This woman has made a career off of writing songs about picking the wrong guy. We should not trust her to pick the wrong guy in this presidential election.”
Other attacks were directed at Swift’s fans as much as at the singer.
“They’re elevating her to an idol, idolatry,” said Newsmax host Greg Kelly. “And you’re not supposed to do that. In fact, if you look it up in the Bible, it’s a sin! So, I don’t like that. And I’m also over this new boyfriend.”
The fury on the right over Swift is an example of the “malaise of polarisation that has the nation divided”, said Henry CW Laurence, chair of the department of government at Bowdoin College.
“And more importantly, it shows that there are people who will use any kind of wedge to create a sort of artificial division where one need not exist,” he added.
Biden’s advisers have tried to use the controversy to depict his opponents as extreme.
“To the extent she’s told us about her politics it’s really just about not being hateful,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former White House communications director, posted on X. “Protecting rights of women and LGBTQ community. That’s it. She’s not out there attacking the Heritage tax platform,” she added, referring to one of Washington’s leading conservative think-tanks.
But Democrats will also hope that Swift can emerge as a powerful outside force helping Biden’s re-election bid, when he needs a lot of help in generating enthusiasm within the base and among younger voters. The couple has been a phenomenon, creating a pop culture crossover that has had their fans salivating for new pictures and sightings on social media. Their pairing has also brought legions of Swifties, as her fans are known, to the NFL realm.
Corporate America has jumped into the hype — American Airlines, for example, has scheduled flight 1989 to go from Kansas City to Las Vegas on February 9 and 10 for the Super Bowl, in reference to the couple’s shared birth year and a Swift album title.
For his part, Kelce has drawn rightwing ire for appearing in advertisements for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine and Bud Light. Some conservatives boycotted the beer last year after a promotion featuring transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“I hope the Biden campaign figures out how to coax Taylor Swift out of her den,” said Jon Lovett on Pod Save America, a podcast run by former Barack Obama officials. “But it’s also on Taylor Swift. You built up a ton of goodwill. Time to spend it. Your country needs you”.
Universal Music Group, Swift’s label, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the artist. An NFL spokesperson said: “Football is for everyone. Enjoy the game.”
Additional reporting by Sara Germano in New York
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