Want some Taylor Swift music playing during Donald Trump’s latest political debate? Alexa, play “Don’t Blame Me.”
In an interview with Fox News published Wednesday, the former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate addressed recent social media posts that included images of Swift that appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence to help his campaign.
Asked by Fox Business reporter Grady Trimble if he was “concerned” about legal action being taken by the pop superstar, Trump claimed he had no knowledge of the origins of the image, which was posted to Truth Social over the weekend.
“I don’t know anything about it other than somebody created it. I didn’t create it,” Trump said, without naming the creator of the images. “These are all created by other people.”
Citing his own experience with AI spoofing, Trump said AI “is always going to be very dangerous in that way.”
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“The same thing is happening to me,” he said. “They have me talking about AI perfectly, perfectly, and promoting other products and things.”
“Swifties for Trump is a massive movement that grows every day,” Trump spokesman Stephen Chang said in a statement to Fox News Digital, adding that “Kamala Harris is guilty of all the pain she has inflicted on all Americans.”
USA Today has reached out to a representative for the Trump campaign for comment.
AI-generated images of Trump have previously been shared on social media, including one of the former president being detained by police, attending a barbecue with black supporters and leading a crowd through a street lined with American flags.
read more:Donald Trump posts fake endorsement of Taylor Swift, AI images of Swifties supporting Trump
Donald Trump shares fake endorsement of Taylor Swift on social media
On Sunday, Trump posted several supposedly AI-generated images on Truth Social implying that Taylor Swift and the Swifties were endorsing his campaign, even though Swift has expressed disdain for the Republican candidate in the past.
“Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump,” read one image that depicted Swift as Uncle Sam, while another AI image marked as satire read, “Swift fans turn to Trump after ISIS blocks Taylor Swift concert.” The latter image referred to a terror plot that was allegedly planned at Swift’s Vienna concert earlier this month. Austrian authorities, with the help of US authorities, thwarted the alleged attack.
The photos are a mix of real and AI images, including one of pro-Trump Swifties, which resembles the real-life group MAGA Swifties.
Pop Stars and Politics:Trump campaign removes video after Beyonce reportedly sent cease and desist order
What are Taylor Swift’s political views?
The “I Can Do it With a Broken Heart” singer is not endorsing a candidate for the 2024 presidential election. However, she spoke about her political beliefs in the 2020 Netflix documentary “Miss Americana.”
While discussing her endorsement of U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) in the 2018 midterm elections, Swift’s publicist, Tree Payne, warned her that Trump was targeting her. Swift quipped, “I don’t care. If I get bad press for saying, ‘Keep homophobic racists out of office,’ then I get bad press for that.”
As a result of this conversation, Swift took to Instagram on October 7, 2018, to warn her fans not to vote for Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) (Blackburn was eventually elected to the United States Senate).
“In the past I have been reluctant to publicly express my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and the world over the past two years I feel very differently about it now. I have always and will continue to vote based on candidates who will protect and fight for the human rights that I believe we all deserve in this country,” her caption read.
Swift wrote that she could not support Marsha Blackburn because “Marsha Blackburn’s voting record in Congress horrifies and terrifies me.”
After listing Blackburn’s positions on issues like women’s safety and LGBTQ+ rights, Swift wrote, “These are not my Tennessee values.”
Contributors: Taijuan Moorman, Jordy McCreary and Kimi Robinson, USA TODAY
