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The post was sandwiched between a screed about capital-gains taxes and a video clip from a Donald Trump rally. Four phrases, all-caps: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
Haters gonna hate (hate, hate, hate, hate), Taylor Swift has observed, and the declare has been validated, now, by an skilled. Yesterday morning, Trump made his present emotions about Swift recognized on Truth Social—a particularly belated response, it could appear, to the pop star’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, issued final Tuesday night. While “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” was not a proportional response, it was a revealing one—as a result of Trump’s anger didn't come out of nowhere. It got here, as an alternative, from the identical place so lots of his declarations of hatred do: indignation.
And so, as his fellow Americans had been going about their Sundays, he took his revenge. He hates Taylor Swift now, the previous president would really like you to know. He hates her in all caps. He hates her with an exclamation level.
Swift’s endorsement of Harris might need been surprising, nevertheless it was not, strictly, a shock. She has made no secret of her political leanings; she has, the truth is, starred in a documentary whose complete premise was her unwillingness to preserve her political leanings to herself. In the previous, Swift has made her feelings known by direct endorsements—of the Tennessee congressional candidates Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper in 2018, of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020—and thru blunt commentary. Trump “thinks this is an autocracy,” she said in 2019. Trump spent his presidency “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism,” she said in 2020. She has criticized his makes an attempt to “subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely.” In August 2020, Swift said that Trump had “chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”
With these, and along with her newly introduced help for Harris, the artist who sings in poetry made some extent of utilizing prose—strident, clear, unable to be misinterpreted. Whether her feedback will sway voters is unknown. But Trump loves adulation, and he possible needed Swift’s endorsement—badly sufficient to declare her help even when she hadn’t given it: In August, Trump shared a set of pictures that included an image of Swift dressed as Uncle Sam. “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump,” the caption learn.
“I accept!” Trump “replied” whereas sharing the collage.
This was fakery, all the way in which down—and in her Harris endorsement, Swift referred to the incident, writing that it “conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.” The pictures had been of a bit with different moments that appeared to recommend Trump’s perception that Swift may very well be charmed into supporting him. In a ebook revealed in June, Trump went on the report praising Swift’s look: “I think she’s beautiful—very beautiful! I find her very beautiful.” For a second, he conceded the truth: “I think she’s liberal,” he advised the ebook’s writer. “She probably doesn’t like Trump.” But then: “I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful!”
The flattery got here after Trump declared, in February, that “I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists. Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will.” He added: “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”
Beauty and riches—these are the currencies Trump understands. And loyalty leads to, in his world, remuneration. Swift might have spent years making her emotions recognized—however emotions, Trump is aware of, can change. He appeared to imagine that he really might win her endorsement, regardless of her years’ value of protestations. He appeared to imagine that she owed him her help. After all: He had made her cash. He had referred to as her lovely. What else is there? He had initiated the transaction, and he anticipated to be repaid.
When Swift refused, the previous president responded like a jilted boyfriend: damaged coronary heart, wounded pleasure. Look what you made me do. “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” might learn primarily as pitiable—a 78-year-old man treating the web as his private burn ebook. But the put up additionally marks an actual change. When Swift introduced, in 2018, that she can be supporting Bredesen, the Democrat in Tennessee’s senatorial election, Trump was ready to giggle about it: “I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now, okay?” he said. The previous laughter has now curdled into one thing extra private and petulant—and probably harmful. Haters will hate, sure. The query is: to what finish?
