This election is actually about Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has been an outspoken Democrat for some time now. After publicly regretting not campaigning against Donald Trump in 2016, she endorsed liberal candidates in Tennessee in 2018 and baked Biden-themed cookies in 2020. In some ways, her endorsement of Kamala Harris, posted on Instagram after last night’s presidential debate, is no surprise. But in 2024, she’s more than just an artist voting Blue. She’s the celebrity who best embodies the tensions that seem to boil down to this particular election: the reality of girl power and independence in America, and the backlash against them.

The effects of endorsements are never straightforward. Celebrities can actually drive donations and generate enthusiasm; in 2018, Swift sparked a record surge in new voter registration by posting a link to Vote.org. But celebrities can also anger and annoy people, meaning that an endorsement of a controversial artist who is loathed by a crucial demographic of voters can be worse than no endorsement at all. An NBC poll last November found that only 16 percent of voters had a negative view of Swift. Since then, however, many Republicans have made a concerted effort to boost that number. A Trump spokesperson said Rolling stone about a “holy war” being waged against Swift, which appears to be an effort to portray one of the most famous people on the planet as the product of an elite conspiracy against masculinity.

The way conservatives have demonized Swift is familiar: Right-wing figures like Fox’s Jesse Watters and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have suggested that her celebrity is a psychological operation designed to sow liberal ideas. As febrile as this idea may seem, it is part of a classic tactic of treating pop culture as a propaganda effort by “Hollywood” (rather than the combined efforts of artists and corporations pandering to public opinion). Such attacks are intended to invalidate the political relevance of virtually every artist, providing cover for Trump supporters who like to hum “You Belong With Me.”

Another line of attack was meaner and more calibrated to NOW. A podcaster from the manosphere commented on Swift’s Person of the Year Time Another, Charlie Kirk, asked his fellow podcasters if Swift still had eggs. Such rhetoric might once have seemed like the stuff of a chauvinist fringe, but in 2024, Republicans have chosen a vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, who has openly mocked “childless cat ladies.” The GOP is clearly hoping to exploit the growing gap between men’s and women’s political leanings. So while Democrats are counting on pop stars—who fill stadiums with straight women, their boyfriends, and gay people—Republicans are focusing on video game streamers and podcasters who sell testosterone-boosting supplements.

Swift is a perfect bogeyman in this effort. Her cats appear in her music videos, her lyrics, and, of course, her Time cover photoshoot (which generated the photo she posted with her message of support yesterday). More importantly, her music is about The state of being a woman, single and childless. Over the years, her songs have portrayed her as a bright-eyed romantic in search of the one but continually disappointed by men—sleazy playboys or sad taciturns—who don’t meet her standards. At times, she’s defiant, refusing to buy into “the 1950s shit they want from me,” as she sang in 2022. But on this year’s track “The Prophecy,” she sounds scared, heartbroken at the thought of eventually conforming to the old maid stereotype. Clearly, this anxious push and pull—between what she wants, what she gets, and society’s judgment—is humanizing and relatable to her millions of listeners.

Read: The Story That Holds Taylor Swift Back

Trump himself drew it from another angle. In comments published in a 2024 book on The apprenticeHe glossed over Swift’s political views, but gave her this unsolicited compliment: “I find her very beautiful, in fact, exceptionally beautiful!” He later reposted AI-generated images that appeared to show Swift supporting Trump. These actions may seem absurd, but they also, with almost disturbing precision, insulted some of Swift’s public ideals of self-determination and dignity.

In an industry that has so often reduced women to their appearance, Swift has long made a point of asserting herself as a songwriter, thinker, and businesswoman. In 2017, she won a lawsuit against a radio personality who kidnapped her without her consent; she sought just $1 in damages, underscoring the symbolic implications of her verdict. Earlier this year, when pornographic deepfakes of her circulated, someone in Swift’s camp told the BBC that the police had made a false statement to the police. Daily Mail The images were “abusive, offensive, exploitative,” and her fans worked to bury them. While many states have criminalized leaking nude photos, critics have suggested that AI, as futuristic as it is, could be a regressive force. Big tech, it seems, was playing a role in conservative efforts to roll back women’s rights, including controlling its own image. (As expected, Elon Musk posted a dirty joke about supporting Swift last night.)

All of this context can be seen in Swift’s statement applauding Harris’s campaign. She mentioned Trump’s release of AI images—invoking “the dangers of spreading misinformation”—and signed off as the “Childless Cat Lady.” She praised Harris as a “gifted and determined leader” and Tim Walz for his support of “LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and women’s right to control their own bodies.” But for the most part, as my colleague Helen Lewis noted, her message of support was restrained and understated. It mainly urged fans to do their own research and register to vote. The matter-of-fact tone contrasted with caricatures of perpetually excited and hysterical liberals. Perhaps it was also designed to end the gender war.

Swift is not known for being easy on her haters. She sings about “dressing for revenge” and is currently re-recording albums to settle scores with her record industry foes. With the right wing turning on Swift over the past year, I figured she might bring some fury to the race. But Swift isn’t quite taking the bait, at least so far. She’s feeding into the Harris campaign’s efforts to project an air of optimistic calm, and in doing so, sending a message: Swift’s version of womanhood is the status quo, the normal, the banal. Getting upset at someone for being successful, opinionated, and having cats is, on the other hand, weird.