Taylor Swift Should Avoid Giving Donald Trump What He Wants with That Awful AI “Endorsement”

On Sunday, Donald Trump re-Truthed reposted an extremely fake-looking picture of Taylor Swift, dressed as Uncle Sam and pointing a hand with only three or perhaps four sausage-sized fingers at the camera. “Taylor Swift wants YOU to vote for Donald Trump,” the text read, and while no endorsement was given either in real life or in the world of AI, the former President captioned the post with the words, “I accept.”

A few Swift fans sprinted into action. “Swifties – let’s get Taylor’s attention on this,” one fan wrote, though Swift has not issued a statement as of the time of publication. If Swift responds, it will almost certainly become the biggest news story of the day. Even bigger, in all likelihood, than the start of the Democratic National Convention, which begins Monday in Chicago.

This is what Trump wants. He wants to take attention away from Vice President Kamala Harris and the DNC.

Harris currently leads Trump in just about every national polling average  (though because of the Republican bias in the Electoral College, Democrats may need to win the popular vote by 2% or more to become President.) This happened in the weeks after the assassination attempt, and after the Republican National Convention, when Trump was probably experiencing his own convention bounce. If Harris gets a convention bounce after the DNC, the polls could get really ugly for Trump for a while, though these bounces typically don’t last.

Trump is in unfamiliar territory. Not being behind in the polls — he’s used to that. No, this is the first time since 2016 that he can’t hijack a news cycle by saying or doing something outrageous. And he’s growing increasingly desperate. In an appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists earlier this month, Trump began the Q&A by insulting one of the moderators, saying that he had “never been asked a question in such a horrible manner.” He also falsely suggested that Harris misled voters about her race. This is a strange strategy if you’re trying to win over moderate Black voters, but it makes more sense as a literal cry for attention. And it only worked for about a day!

It’s true, Taylor Swift might be able to sue Trump into oblivion — though it’s also true that no one has more experience at not paying his bills than Trump. The use of AI may even leave Trump liable under Tennessee’s ELVIS Act, though a repost on Truth Social where he only says “I accept” gives his lawyers a lot of wiggle room. But all of this is probably irrelevant to Trump. A glass of water can only be so full, and a spray tan in shoulder pads can only be sent to jail so many times.

Trump has already been convicted of 34 felonies, and he’s also been indicted for mishandling federal documents as well as election interference, both federally and in Georgia. If he doesn’t win this election, he’ll probably spend the rest of his life in jail.

Taylor Swift is welcome to sue or not sue, to vote or not vote, and to endorse or not endorse whomever she likes. But if she wanted to make this hard on Trump — and she probably does, she fucking hates him — she could respond in such a way that it doesn’t give him the attention he’s desperately seeking. A way that sets him up for the life of irrelevant obscurity he so richly deserves.

Ignore him. Sue him. Signal the Swifties and make him wish he’d never logged on. But whatever she decides, she should do it on a battlefield of her choosing. Not Trump’s.