Donald Trump has shared AI-generated images of Taylor Swift and her dedicated fanbase sporting “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts, alluding that the star has become an unlikely follower of the MAGA movement.
Swift’s popularity transcends the world of pop music with one Instagram post urging her 283m followers to register to vote last September resulting in more than 35,000 online sign-ups, according to Vote.org.
Despite her vast political influence – particularly resonating with Gen Z – the “Shake it Off” hit-maker has yet to officially endorse any presidential candidate for the 2024 election cycle, after backing President Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump, however, appears to believe that Biden’s stepping off the Democratic ticket might have swayed Swift, and her fanbase of Swifties, to vote Republican.
He shared several deepfake images which included a propaganda-style poster of Swift dressed like Uncle Sam, pointing to the viewer and overlaid with the message “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump”.
Another shows several AI-generated fans smiling and wearing “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts along with a headline which is labelled “satire” which reads: “Swifties turning to Trump after ISIS foiled Taylor Swift Concert.”
Writing on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump captioned the post: “I accept!”
One of the images shared does however show a real Trump-Swift supporter. Jenna Piwowarczyk, 19, is both a self-styled Swift Supremacist and an ardent supporter of Trump.
The photograph of her wearing the White ‘Swifties for Trump’ T-shirt has gone viral on X, with the teenager claiming to have met the former president while wearing the top, with him responding, “she is great”.
Piwowarczyk confirmed to The Independent that the photo of her reposted by Trump is legitimate and was taken in Racing, Wisconsin in June during a Trump rally.
Trump later shared a conspiracy theorist video which suggested that Swift fans who formerly voted Democrat have switched allegiance to the Republicans after a string of cancelled concerts following a foiled terror plot from Islamic State.
“If Trump was in office, this would have never, never happened,” the woman said in the video, despite the three cancelled Eras Tour shows being in Vienna, Austria.
There is no hard evidence to suggest which way Swift’s fans are voting.
An unofficial “Swifties for Trump” account on X has less than 4,000 followers, while an unofficial “Swifties 4 Kamala” account, also created in July, has over 60,000 followers on the platform
Kamala Harris’s campaign has allegedly been in contact with “Swifties for Kamala”, with the group’s co-founders telling CNN the vice president’s team “reached out to us asking how they can support in our initiative”.
Following Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, Swift noted that she was “completely blindsided” and vowed “we will vote you out” ahead of the 2020 election – which Biden subsequently won.
Swift also urged the public to not vote for Republican Marsha Blackburn as she ran for the Tennessee Senate in 2018 and two years later branded her “Trump in a wig” in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
Trump’s reposting of the AI images marks an effort to undermine Harris’s campaign before the Democratic National Convention gets underway on Monday, with rumours swirling about Swift – and Beyoncé – potentially performing on stage.
Trump also posted another AI-generated image on Sunday which showed Harris speaking to a crowd of communists with a huge banner adorned with the Soviet Union hammer and sickle in the background.
The Independent has contacted Swift’s representatives for comment.