Shortly after the 2024 presidential debate, pop superstar and newly-minted billionaire Taylor Swift formally endorsed the Harris–Walz ticket.
For months, the Swiftie fandom speculated whether Swift would speak out following two Swift-related terrorist incidents. The first resulted in the cancellation of her Vienna Eras concert, and the second left three young girls — Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9 — dead after their Swift-themed dance class was attacked by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
In the wake of these incidents, some Swifties wondered if Swift would lay low on politics this election. Others felt Taylor should use her platform and influence to speak up.
On Tuesday night, they got their answer. Swift’s formal endorsement of the Democratic ticket garnered more than 10 million likes in less than 24 hours.
“I See The High Fives, Between The Bad Guys”
Although Swift generally stays out of politics, she has occasionally shared her views over the years. In 2020, she endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket, allowing the campaign to use her song, “Only the Young.”
In 2018, she encouraged her Tennessee fans to register to vote, expressing her opposition to Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and voicing her support for Phil Bredesen (D–Tenn).
Her post reportedly led to over 100,000 new voter registrations within 48 hours, primarily from women under 30, a key demographic of Swift’s fanbase.
Marsha Blackburn, whom Swift referred to as “Trump in a wig” in her 2018 documentary “Miss Americana,” ultimately won the Senate race, which was unsurprising given Tennessee’s conservative history. However, Swift’s impact on voter registration did not go unnoticed.
By 2018, Swift was already an A-list, chart-topping celebrity. However, her fame has since skyrocketed. When she posted about the Senate race, she had 113 million followers. Today, that number has nearly tripled to 283 million.
Moreover, Swift’s fanbase is particularly loyal, a fact not overlooked by the Trump-Vance campaign.
“Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me? You Should Be.”
In June, rumors swirled that Trump was “obsessing” over Swift’s potential endorsement. “She’s legitimately liberal? It’s not an act? I’m surprised a country star can be successful while being liberal,” Trump wrote in his book “The Apprenticeship.” He also repeatedly described Swift as “beautiful.”
Despite Trump’s hopes, Swift had shown no signs of supporting him. She has openly expressed disdain for Trump, notably in 2020, when she criticized him directly, pledging, “We will vote you out.”
Swift even tagged then-President Trump’s Twitter handle in the post, leaving no room for ambiguity.
Despite this, Trump continued to fixate on Swift’s endorsement, hoping to sway her to his side. Earlier this year, he made a direct appeal to her on social media, arguing there was no way she could be “disloyal to the man who made her so much money.”
Yet, Swift remained silent.
In August, Trump took matters into his own hands, posting AI-generated images of Swift in an Uncle Sam outfit against an American flag background with text reading, “I Want YOU to vote for Donald Trump.” His caption for the doctored image: “I accept.”
This type of stunt, combined with previous instances of abusive AI-generated images of Swift, prompted lawmakers to back legislation for the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024, which seeks to regulate AI use and protect personal privacy.
Look What You Made Me Do
Swift cited Trump’s AI image posts as a key reason for her endorsement of his opponent.
“Recently, I learned that AI-generated images of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run were posted on his site. It heightened my concerns about AI and the dangers of misinformation,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post.
She continued: “This led me to conclude that I need to be clear about my actual intentions in this election. The best way to fight misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
“I Guess I’ll Just Stumble on Home to My Cats… Alone.”
In July, a resurfaced 2021 interview of Trump’s VP pick J.D. Vance, in which he disparaged unmarried, childless women, added fuel to the fire.
“We are effectively run by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable with their own lives and want to make everyone else miserable too,” Vance said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Swift, a 34-year-old billionaire who posed with her cat on the cover of Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year issue, fits Vance’s description.
Swift has made a career of turning criticism into catchy chart-toppers, and in true fashion, she ended her endorsement with:
“With love and hope,
Taylor Swift
Childless Cat Lady”
“I Never Trust a Narcissist, but They Love Me”
One of Trump’s most vocal supporters, Elon Musk, also weighed in. In 2023, Musk replied to a Swift tweet with a cigarette emoji, widely interpreted as calling her “smoking hot.” Later, he praised her ability to express thoughts and feelings, but Swift never acknowledged his posts.
After Swift endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket, Musk escalated his antics. “Fine Taylor,” he wrote. “You win.” He then offered to father her children and guard her cats with his life.
Swift never responded to or acknowledged Musk’s posts.
Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign wasted no time capitalizing on Swift’s endorsement. Just an hour after her post, they began selling friendship bracelets on their website.
The bracelets were sold in sets of 2 for $20 and sold out in less than an hour.
The search term “voter registration” began trending on Google shortly after.
Vote.gov reported that 406,000 people had visited the site within 24 hours of Taylor Swift’s endorsement Instagram post.
