this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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Donald Trump is trying to brush off the fact that he shared A.I.-generated images of Taylor Swift endorsing his campaign to his Truth Social account earlier this week, now claiming that he doesn’t know “anything about them.”

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[–] Nightwingdragon 167 points 2 months ago (10 children)

Given everything going on in this country and Trump's ability to turn everything he touches shit, I almost think Swift has to respond to this at some point. I'm surprised she hasn't already. I understand her desire to stay out of politics. But speaking out and denouncing this and everything about Trump isn't her getting into politics. It's her having to because Trump dragged her into it kicking and screaming.

She can't stop those images from circulating. But the more they circulate, the more chances that at least some people think they're real. Or at the very least, they may interpret her silence as a tacit endorsement. Some may even consider her a Trump supporter, especially those who don't follow either her or politics closely enough to know that while she's never taken an official political position, she's proudly left leaning. Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.

Are those pictures even still up on his feed? I'm not going on that mall-restroom Twitter knockoff of his to check. I was half-surprised not to see her legal team have a C&D letter sent to him with his early morning McDonalds the next morning, a public statement by lunch, and a lawsuit filed against him for implying she endorsed him by the time the courtrooms had closed. I would fucking love to see Trump try to bully down Taylor fucking Swift's legal team. You could put that shit on pay per view and eliminate the national debt.

[–] UnpopularCrow 154 points 2 months ago (5 children)

She did respond and said she wanted to wait until after her tour so her fans were safe. She is definitely alluding to an endorsement as well.

Here is the quote:

"Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows," Swift wrote. "In cases like this one, 'silence' is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to.”

https://www.themarysue.com/taylor-swift-owes-us-nothing/

[–] Chocrates 102 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

When is her tour over?

Edit:

It commenced on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and is set to conclude on December 8, 2024, in Vancouver, consisting of 149 shows that span five continents.

Welp, either she changes her mind or it'll be too late to do anything.

[–] 2piradians 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe she just wants to stay out of it. I think that's responsible since Meal Team 6/Y'all Qaeda attacking her fans is a real possibility.

[–] Chocrates 21 points 2 months ago

For sure, her quotes though seemed to Indicate to me that she wanted to voice her opinion but not until she could do it without affecting her tour

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Ah yes the famous "let the terrorists frighten you into silence" strategy

[–] ThunderWhiskers 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's bullshit. Just because it's not convenient for our political strategy doesn't mean she has to risk her safety or the safety of her fans by further involving herself.

If she speaks out against the maniacal right there is a greater than zero chance that many innocent people other than her will be hurt. It would not be the first time.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (3 children)

... she's proudly left leaning.

She's a billionaire. She's no more left leaning than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. She just flies socially progressive flags.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 2 months ago (8 children)

She made a billion by selling tickets to huge venues all over the world where she performed.

She actually did work to get rich, unlike Bezos, who steals his wealth from his workers.

I guarantee she exploits people like any other capitalist, but there are different types of billionaires.

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[–] dariusj18 38 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'd say that her bonus payout to her tour staff shows that isn't the case.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'd argue there's a pretty big difference between someone like Bezos and someone like swift. Specifically, it's almost impossible to make a billion dollar business without exploiting people, and Bezos definitely exploited the hell out of people.

In contrast, I don't think it would be accurate to say that Swift made her money by exploiting people. Of the ethical ways to make money, I would think selling albums that you wrote and performed, and tickets to concerts that you're performing would rank pretty highly.
Additionally, a significant portion of her wealth is the valuation of her music catalog being extremely high on account of being a very popular musician.

I'm not saying she's the most left person in the world or anything, but not aggressively exploiting people, giving a lot of money to charities, and actively championing progressive causes definitely classifies someone as "left leaning" in my book.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Billionaires should not exist, full stop. They literally cannot spend that amount of money.

She could lower the cost of her music, her tour tickets, merchandise...

I love Taylor Swift too but just because she has progressive views doesn't mean she didn't extract wealth from people and is hoarding it for herself.

I'm willing to eat my hat if she donates 2/3 of her wealth right now and promises to never have more than a few million in total assets.

But she isn't. And that makes her a bad billionaire.

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[–] dhork 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's entirely possible that Taylor's legal team already got in touch, discreetly, and warned him to cut that shit out, or else she will unload a can of legal whoop-ass on him. She is under no obligation to endorse anyone. Whatever her political beliefs are, she may have made the purposeful choice to stay out of it. And she may not want to get involved in a lawsuit over this, unless she has to to protect her brand.

Which may also explain why now he "doesn't know anything about it". Denial is his go-to when he is caught.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.

I bet she could even argue that him forcing her to take a position publicly against him also constitutes financial harm, because of the possibility of it alienating any of her fans that were Trump supporters.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

taylor swift gets up on stage in front of tens of thousands of people on a regular basis. she doesn't have secret service protection for every public appearance.

draw whatever conclusions you want from those two facts.

[–] athairmor 14 points 2 months ago

She might be able to afford better security than the Secret Service.

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[–] MehBlah 140 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

He has pissed off an actual billionaire.

[–] peopleproblems 45 points 2 months ago

Isn't that one rule of being rich, don't piss off the other rich people?

Because you either end up dead or poor which to some can be worse

[–] GladiusB 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

One that doesn't like him and knows how to sue the shit out of people. It's a war that she can win too.

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Taylor Swift is a real billionaire, not a dude cosplaying as one. She got real lawyers

[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’m willing to bet she has the kind of good lawyers who only work for people who pay them, too.

[–] P1nkman 16 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

to put in perspective, Taylors Eras tour made soo much money, she could have probably paid each of the employees who helped run the tour a million dollars each and she would still have a lot of money.

she already gave some of them 6 figure bonuses.

[–] DaddleDew 17 points 2 months ago

And she pays them.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Maybe we’ll see some swift justice for once

[–] DontRedditMyLemmy 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I'll bet he just shakes it off

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[–] VinnyDaCat 76 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The law suit isn't what matters. He's got a massive collection of those already and it won't matter until it all eventually catches up to him assuming he fails to get elected.

What matters is that if he pissed Taylor off enough she might actually endorse Harris openly. We know she leans blue but she's refrained from open endorsements. Her fans are absolutely crazy and she could probably sway a bunch of Republicans easily. This is great.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I find it hard to believe that anyone who votes Republican will care enough about Taylor Swift's influence to change their vote, but I can absolutely believe that her endorsement would swing the numbers in a big way if she just motivates politically apathetic Swifties to go to the polls.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Perhaps, but Swift's endorsement might encourage people who were otherwise unlikely to vote.

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[–] Veneroso 14 points 2 months ago

It might even be a "normie" to "activist" pipeline.

That's hard to predict. On one side, Trump convinced people that he won an election he lost, and committed violence in his name.

Maybe Swifties will phone bank?

[–] Brkdncr 13 points 2 months ago

Young adults in republican families would def switch vote.

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Wow he also looks like absolute shit apparently

[–] Sterile_Technique 39 points 2 months ago (1 children)

🌎👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait…. You can express this through the medium of emoji?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago

🌎👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

[–] ripcord 13 points 2 months ago

Again! Still!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

He's looked like shit since the first time I ever saw him in home alone 2

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[–] elliot_crane 38 points 2 months ago (1 children)

FTA:

“I don’t know anything about them, other than somebody else generated them,” Trump told Fox Business correspondent Gary Trimble after his campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “I didn’t generate them.”

Hmm.. why do I get the feeling that he generated them?

[–] AbidanYre 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You really think he even knows how?

[–] elliot_crane 18 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Fair enough, someone probably helped him. What I don’t believe is that he wasn’t involved at all and the pictures just landed in his lap.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago

Trump about to learn what it looks like when an actual billionaire who hires quality lawyers (and pays them!) takes legal action against someone. For a guy who abused the courts for decades to bully people into doing what he wants, he sure is getting bent over the stand a lot these days.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago

Im starting to believe he doesnt know about them or project 2025. Of course he knew about them before. But dementia does bad things to your memory.

[–] linearchaos 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just another lawsuit he won't pay.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago

He uh... really should be. She is legit rich as all fuck and has a lot of reasons to want to crack down on anything "AI" of her.

But also? He has all but guaranteed that T-swizzle openly endorses Kamala (rather than all but endorsing her). She is pretty unapologetically liberal and... spite is a hell of a drug.

Like, if you have to piss off a fanbase? Go after the k-pop fans before you go after Taylor Swift.

[–] Sam_Bass 14 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Maybe she can do to him what theyve all tried and failed to do

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[–] Dorkyd68 12 points 2 months ago

He looks gross and old is how he looks

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Don't be afraid, SleepyDon, keep posting, the more the better. She won't sue.

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