Donald Trump Can’t Stop Talking About Taylor Swift
Everyone seems to be talking about America’s perhaps most famous couple, singer-songwriter superstar Taylor Swift and three-time Super Bowl-winning football player and podcast host Travis Kelce, getting married. Even the President.
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Not too long ago, Donald Trump said he “hates” Swift, who endorsed his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election after he had falsely implied that she endorsed him. Since then Trump has called Swift a “woke singer” who is “no longer hot.”
But that didn’t stop him from offering his well-wishes after Swift and Kelce announced their engagement on Tuesday.
“I wish them a lot of luck,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House just hours after the news. “I think he’s a great player, I think he’s a great guy, and I think that she’s a terrific person, so I wish them a lot of luck.”
In his many years as a public figure, Trump has been known to offer his reactions to news about celebrities and their relationships. Here’s a rundown of all the times Trump has commented on Swift.
September 2009
As Swift received the Best Female Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards for “You Belong With Me” on Sept. 13, rapper Kanye West notoriously interrupted her speech, saying, “Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”
Many celebrities spoke out in defense of Swift. Speaking to TMZ, Trump reacted to the “disgusting” outburst, calling for a boycott of the rapper “so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.” Trump claimed West “couldn’t care less about Beyoncé” and was merely “grandstanding to get attention.”
August 2012
Trump called Swift “fantastic” in a 2012 post on Twitter and thanked her for a “beautiful picture.” It’s unclear what the context of the post was or whether a photo was taken of the two together, though they both appeared the following month in a star-studded Macy’s commercial.
October 2012
“Re: Taylor and Conor–great news for Taylor!” Trump posted a few months later on Twitter. The post came after Swift’s reported breakup with Conor Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s future Health Secretary.
“Glad to hear that @taylorswift13 will be co-hosting the Grammy nominations special on 12.5,” Trump posted on Twitter a few days later. “Taylor is terrific!”
November 2015
In an interview with Yahoo! Politics, when asked what he thought of Swift, Trump said, “terrific.” While he hadn’t publicly commented on the singer for years, he had appeared to remain a fan: the previous December, Trump’s wife Melania posted on Facebook a video clip of Trump driving his car while Swift’s music was playing on the stereo.
October 2018
Swift grabbed headlines after her first foray into politics by endorsing Tennessee Democrats Phil Bredesen, who was running against incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn, for the U.S. Senate and Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives.
Trump, who was midway into his first term as President, reacted to reporters outside the White House: “You know, Marsha Blackburn is doing a very good job in Tennessee, she’s leading now substantially, which she should. She’s a tremendous woman. I’m sure Taylor Swift doesn’t know anything about her. And let’s say that I like Taylor’s music about 25% less now, OK?”
September 2023
In an interview with conservative news outlet The Daily Caller, Trump reacted to reports of the budding romance between Swift and Kelce. “I wish the best for both of them. I hope they enjoy their life, maybe together, maybe not—most likely not.”
November 2023
At a rally in Houston, Trump mentioned Swift when discussing the “Justice For All” recording of the Star-Spangled Banner by a group of defendants jailed for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“When that came out, it went to the number one song,” Trump said. “It was beating everybody. It beat Taylor Swift, it beat Miley Cyrus, who was number one and two. They were number one and two. We knocked them off for a long time.” (“Justice For All” debuted atop Billboard’s Digital Song Sales Chart in March 2023 and also reached No. 1 on iTunes.)
February 2024
At the start of the election year, Trump accused Swift of being “disloyal” to him if she were to endorse Joe Biden. Swift had not yet announced her endorsement, though she had supported Biden in 2020 and had occasionally publicly criticized Trump in the years since.
“I signed and was responsible for the Music Modernization Act for Taylor Swift and all other Musical Artists,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will. 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. Besides that, I like her boyfriend, Travis, even though he may be a Liberal, and probably can’t stand me!”
June 2024
According to a newly-published excerpt of a book by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, Trump described Swift as “unusually beautiful.”
“I think she’s beautiful—very beautiful!” Trump reportedly told Setoodeh during 2023 interviews for the book. “I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented… I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful!”
Trump also questioned Swift’s political leanings: “She is liberal, or is that just an act? … It surprises me that a country star can be successful being liberal.”
August 2024
As the election drew nearer, Trump shared a handful of AI-generated images that suggested Swift backed his presidential bid and wanted her supporters to too. “I accept!” he posted alongside the images.
September 2024
After Swift made clear that she endorsed the Democratic ticket, Trump told Fox & Friends, “Well, I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth,” referring to Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes. “She’s a big Trump fan.”
Trump declared that he was “not a Taylor Swift fan,” noting that her Harris endorsement was disappointing but not surprising. “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,” he said.
Days later, on Truth Social, Trump posted: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
February 2025
Earlier this year, Swift attended the Super Bowl to support Kelce, who was competing for a third consecutive and fourth career NFL championship. Trump was also in attendance and, while he was also backing the Chiefs, who ultimately lost, he appeared to glory in the fact that some Philadelphia Eagles fans booed Swift when she was shown on the jumbotron at the stadium in New Orleans.
Trump shared a video of the booing on Truth Social, and he separately posted: “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”
April 2025
While hosting the victorious Eagles at the White House in April, Trump mentioned Swift again.
“It was an incredible game. A little surprising, but right from the beginning of the first quarter of the big game,” he said, before appearing to depart from his script, “which I was there, I watched in person. I was there along with Taylor Swift. How did that work out? How did that one work out?” He then went back to recapping the game: “The Eagles scored a touchdown on their signature play…”
May 2025
Without any clear prompt, Trump posted on Truth Social in May: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’” About the comment, a White House official told CBS News: “As a business and entertainment mogul President Trump is highly qualified to comment on the rise and fall of various celebrities.”
August 2025
After controversy ignited over an American Eagle ad featuring actor Sydney Sweeney, whose “great jeans”—a seeming wordplay on great genes—sparked social media backlash over alleged racism, Trump weighed in with a Truth Social post.
The President praised Sweeney, “a registered Republican,” and said American Eagle had “the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there.” He went on to lambast other companies for going “woke,” which he claimed was bad for business, before offering Swift as an example.
“Just look at Woke singer Taylor Swift,” he said. “Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can’t stand her (HATE!). She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT. The tide has seriously turned — Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Contrary to Trump’s assertion, Swift, a self-made billionaire, appears to be as successful and popular as ever, with her recently announced next album The Life of a Showgirl anticipated to break records and seemingly the entire world talking about her upcoming wedding.