Donald Trump unleashed new invective at superstar Taylor Swift after she endorsed VP Kamala Harris for president.
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Trump posted Sunday morning on Truth Social in his trademark all-caps style, without context or elaboration.
Responding to Trump in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Liz Cheney — the Republican former congressional representative who is backing Harris — quoted his comment and wrote, “Says the smallest man who ever lived,” referencing a track from Swift’s most recent album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Ana Navarro, the GOP strategist and commentator who is a vocal Trump critic, posted on X, “Donald Trump has lost what little sanity he had left. Taylor Swift broke him.”
Popular on Variety
Last week, Swift posted on Instagram that she intends to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris for U.S. president following Harris’ decisive debate victory over Trump on Sept. 10. Swift’s Instagram Story linked to the U.S. government’s Vote.gov, driving more than 400,000 visitors to the voter-information site in a 24-hour period.
“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift wrote in the IG post in part. “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
In her post, Swift also called out Trump for previously using a fake, AI-generated image of her to make it appear that Swift was endorsing him.
Trump’s Sept. 15 post about Swift on Truth Social, the Twitter-like social network operated by Trump Media & Technology Group
Trump once expressed admiration for Swift, at least for her appearance. “I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented,” he told Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh in the book “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass.”
Following Swift’s public backing of Harris, Trump claimed, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan” and said “she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” During a call in to Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” show, the ex-president instead praised Brittany Mahomes, who is married to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Patrick is friends and teammates with Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and Swift and Brittany Mahomes were photographed hugging each other at the U.S. Open tennis tournament earlier this month in New York.
“Well I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better. If you want to know the truth. She’s a big Trump fan. I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” Trump said, when asked about Swift’s endorsement for Harris. “It was only a matter of time. You couldn’t possibly endorse Biden. But she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace. But I like Brittany. Brittany is great. She’s the one I like much better than Taylor Swift. Wife of the great quarterback. I think she’s terrific.”