Taylor Swift is ready to name names. The once notoriously politically silent (opens in new tab) singer tweeted directly at Donald Trump this afternoon, following the murder of George Floyd (opens in new tab)by a white police officer who was filmed pinning him to the ground in Minneapolis. Protests in the city have erupted in response to the officer in question not being arrested.
Trump fueled controversy by encouraging officers to shoot protesters should they loot ("these THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen," Trump wrote (opens in new tab). "Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!") Twitter even censored Trump's tweet for "glorifying violence," the social media platform's starkest action ever taken against Trump.
Swift tagged Trump in her tweet, writing, "After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump."
After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrumpMay 29, 2020
Swift has spoken about her disapproval of the Trump administration (opens in new tab) before in interviews and discussions with fans, but she has never before tweeted to the President, directly criticizing him.
In an August interview with The Guardian, Swift described the political atmosphere (opens in new tab) Trump created as “gaslighting the American public into being like, ‘If you hate the president, you hate America.’” She added, “We’re a democracy—at least, we’re supposed to be—where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he [Trump] thinks this is an autocracy.”
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