Will Taylor Swift back Kamala Harris and ignore Ivanka Trump’s birthday cake appeal?
The 'Swifties for Harris' account also launched on X Sunday. While not affiliated with the singer, it garnered more than 19,000 followers in less than 24 hours.
Now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket, an intriguing new question is swirling around efforts to defeat Donald Trump in November.
The question is whether Taylor Swift will endorse Harris. If Swift does, it could mean that the most famous entertainer on the planet right now could lend her considerable cultural power to back the vice president in her quest to make history by becoming the nation’s first woman, the first Black woman and the first Asian American to become president of the United States.
That’s the question posed by at least one pundit, Vanity Fair contributing writer Kase Wickman, who pointed out Monday that Swift is “the influencer to end all influencers, able to wield her massive popularity and power effectively enough to impact economies and legislation, moviemaking practices and album release strategies.”
Wickman also noted that Forbes named Swift the fifth most powerful woman in the world, with her ability to reach her hundreds of millions of social media followers, many of whom are fiercely loyal. Her endorsement for Harris would be “an incomparable asset to the former California senator’s nascent 2024 presidential campaign,” Wickman said. The “Swifties for Harris” account on X (formerly Twitter) also was launched Sunday. Although it’s not affiliated with Swift, it has already garnered more 19,000 followers.
Swift has used her voice in the past to influence politics, mostly by driving voter registration efforts in state and national elections. The multi-platform artist and recent force in NFL’s growing popularity with young women also “proudly” endorsed the Biden and Harris ticket in 2020, saying that two in the White House would help heal the country after Trump stoked “the fires of white supremacy and racism” during his “entire” presidency from, 2017 to 2021.
Swift has not said anything about her position in the upcoming election, despite reporting efforts by the Biden campaign to reach out to her earlier this year. But both Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, have appeared eager to try to curry favor with her in their own unique ways.
Just last week, Ivanka Trump arguably used her daughter Arabella’s 13th birthday as an occasion to display some family appreciation for the “Bad Blood” singer. Donald Trump’s oldest daughter and senior White House adviser posted Instagram photos of a Swift-inspired heart-shaped cake, which was the centerpiece of Arabella’s party.
One photo shows the cake with white writing across its white frosting. The words — “Boys only want love if it’s torture” (sic) — come from Swift’s hit song, “Blank Space,” Wickman also reported. The photo also shows red candles, forming the number “13” aflame, a reference to Arabella’s age and to Swift’s favorite number.
A second photo shows the cake after it’s been sliced into. Bright, blood-red frosting oozes out of it, copying the cake that Swift stabs into during her music video for “Blank Space,” Vanity Fair also reported. Ivanka Trump captioned the photo, “Best cake for my favorite Swiftie.”
“Why is the Trump family promoting Taylor Swift when she spoke out so vehemently against Donald Trump? She literally despises him!” one person replied to Ivanka Trump’s post, though others said “it’s just a cake.” They also pointed out that many 13-year-old girls are Swifties and there isn’t necessarily any underlying meaning.
Ivanka Trump may have declared that she’s staying clear of politics during this election, but Wickman said that she isn’t just “a typical mom” but “the super-wealthy princess” of her father’s “MAGA empire,”
If nothing else, Ivanka Trump’s post for Arabella’s birthday also provided an opportunity for the former first daughter to lure her friend Kim Kardashian into a complicated social media moment.
As is well known, Kardashian is Swift’s long-time nemesis and the apparent subject of the singer’s diss track “thanK you aIMee” on her most recent album. The lyrics allude to Kardashian’s role in stoking snake-themed social media attacks on Swift as she backed her then-husband Kanye West in claiming that he made Swift “famous” in his song, “Famous.” When Swift was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in December 2023, she told the magazine that Kardashian and West’s attacks adversely affected her mental health.
Kardashian replied to Ivanka’s Swift-themed birthday images by wishing Arabella a “Happy Birthday,” Wickman reported. Some people wondered if the reality TV star was trying to extend an olive branch of sorts to the singer.
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump’s father spoke publicly in a new book about his admiration for Swift being “very talented,” as well as for being “very beautiful, actually.” Then again, in the book, “Apprentice in Wonderland,” Trump expressed disappointment that the singer is “liberal.”
In February, Trump went on his Truth Social platform, just before the start of Super Bowl LVIII, to say there is “no way” the pop megastar would endorse a Biden-Harris ticket. As if Trump were issuing a warning, he said that Swift wouldn’t want to be “disloyal.” Trump’s statement came a few hours before Swift appeared at the game to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce, who helped lead the Kansas City Chiefs in a victory against the 49ers.
Trump claimed on Truth Social that he made Swift “so much money,” referring to when he signed copyright reform legislation that streamlined how rights-holders get paid when their music plays on streaming services. “Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will,” Trump said. “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden … and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”
Rolling Stone pointed out “the absurdity” of Trump’s belief that Swift would come around to support his candidacy. Among other things, she also denounced him in an Elle magazine essay in 2019, writing: “Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders, and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric.”
Swift famously kept quiet about her political opinions during the first decade of her career, especially when she was initially known as a country music artist. Swift’s silence led to rumors that she was a secret Republican.
In her 2020 documentary, “Miss Americana,” she showed why she decided to finally share her political views in 2018. That’s when she publicly endorsed two Democratic candidates running in midterm races in Tennessee. “I need to be on the right side of history,” Swift said in the documentary.
Her support for Biden and Harris in 2020 came in the wake of the George Floyd protests that same year. In a tweet, she not only accused Trump of “stoking racism,” she also proclaimed, “We will vote you out in November.”