WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sept 15 levelled an attack against Taylor Swift, declaring his "hate" for her just days after the pop mega-star endorsed his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
In an all-caps posting on his Truth Social media account, he wrote, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"
Immediately following last week's Trump-Harris debate, Swift informed her 284 million Instagram followers that she planned to vote for Harris, currently the US Vice-President, "because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them".
She also called Harris a "steady-handed, gifted leader".
Celebrity endorsements rarely carry enormous weight, but the hugely popular Swift is seen as being in a class of her own, with more than 400 million followers on Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms — 10 million of whom "liked" her Instagram post.
"Going after Taylor Swift is a genuinely bad campaign strategy," said one poster on social media platform X. "Taylor doesn't get mad, she gets even."
Trump, who has 7.71 million followers on Truth Social, had initially dismissed Swift's endorsement of Harris by saying he was "not a Taylor fan".
But since then, with public opinion polls showing Harris gaining significant ground on Trump in what is expected to be a close presidential election on Nov 5, the former president has ratcheted up his rhetoric against one of the most successful recording artists in history.
After the Trump post, Harris' vice-presidential running mate Tim Walz wrote on X: "Swifties: With your help we're gonna defeat the smallest man who ever lived."
One of Swift's songs is titled The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.
Trump's rage against Swift brought a torrent of supporters to proclaim on X, "I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT," while others came to Trump's defence by attacking the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Ironically, on Aug 18, Trump had shared screenshots of posts with manipulated images suggesting that the pop star and her fans, popularly known as Swifties, support his campaign.
In a post on Truth Social, which included an image of Swift clad in an Uncle Sam outfit and instructing her fans to vote for Trump, the former president wrote: "I accept!"
The post included photos of women wearing shirts with the slogan "Swifties for Trump", which an expert said had the "tell-tale signs of being AI-generated".
Trump and Swift have been trading barbs for years.
After she supported Democratic candidates in the 2018 election, Trump said in response to reporters' questions at the White House: "Let's say that I like Taylor's music about 25 per cent less now."
It was not clear what Trump hoped to gain by attacking Swift, though he may calculate that any publicity is better than none.
He has been criticised, even by fellow Republicans, for his recent association with conspiracy-minded right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, who has at times joined him on his campaign plane.
The 31-year-old Loomer — who has called the Sept 11 terror attacks an "inside job" and said some recent mass shootings were staged by Democrats — recently suggested that Swift had entered an "arranged relationship" with American football star Travis Kelce "to influence the 2024 election".
There is no evidence to support any of those claims.
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