There seems to be either the smart Donald or the not so smart Donald which is to say the dumb Donald; and sometimes there is not much in between. Well, the dumb Donald has struck again. Fortunately, the smart Donald greatly outweighs the dumb Donald, except on occasions when his hubris overrides his common sense.
Former President Donald Trump, who at times seems never to have outgrown his adolescent angst, wrote on Truth Social on September 15, “‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!‘” in all caps. It should be interesting if Swift, who expectedly endorsed Kamala Harris for president on September 10 via Instagram, ever replies to Trump’s juvenile remark.
So far, Swift has ignored Trump‘s remark. That is, so far.
When I googled the phrase “I hate Taylor Swift,” the legacy (propaganda) media and a plethora of other websites promptly reported and criticized Trump‘s remark. My top ten search results included CBS, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, NPR, People, CNBC and New York Magazine and three others.
What Trump did would have been the equivalent of Richard Daley publicly stating that he hated Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan in a Chicago Tribune newspaper ad In the sports section while trying to become the mayor of Chicago in 1995. That would have been political suicide in the Windy City.
Fortunately, Trump is running for president of the U.S. and not the mayor of Chicago.
Taylor Swift, who easily has tens of millions of American fans or Swifties, and was Time magazine’s person of the year for 2023, may be the most popular female singer since Aretha Franklin in the 1960s, Cher in the 1970s and Madonna in the 1980s. According to Forbes, unbelievably “some 53% of U.S. adults said they were fans of Swift.”
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there were 331.4 million Americans living in the U.S. while “more than three-quarters (77.9%) or 258.3 million were adults, 18 years or older.”
That means according to Forbes that Swift has potentially 129 million American fans. Now, that is a lot of fans.
In addition to her huge number of American fans, Tay Tay’s enormous net worth is $1.3 billion, and she could potentially purchase a lot of radio, television and internet advertising stating how much she likes Vice President Harris and NOT former President Trump. She is also potentially a mini-financial Alex Soros.
Will Taylor Swift have the multi-decades staying power of Aretha, Cher or Madonna in the future? The 34-year-old just might, but time will tell.
However, what Trump has foremost forgotten is that Swift grew up on an eleven-acre Christmas tree farm in West Reading, Pennsylvania, which is an absolute must-win state.
When Swift was fourteen her father, who was a stockbroker, moved his family to Henderson, Tennessee where she graduated from high school. Swift is especially popular throughout the South, which Trump desperately needs to sweep.
I personally do not listen to Swift’s music, but many Republicans and Independents do. Her huge fan base, especially women under the age of 40, is just too big to alienate, and they may likely will be voting in droves because of abortion and other major political issues on November 5.
If I were Trump, I would tersely and gentlemanly apologize to Swift as soon as possible on Truth Social. That way he would appear belatedly remorseful, and perhaps lessen any further alienation of the tens of millions of Swift’s fans.
Then the smart Donald should also hold a rally in or near Republican dominated Berks County, Pennsylvania to “make friends” with the undecided Swift fans and other uncommitted voters. Pennsylvania is a must-win state for Trump in order for him to become the next president of the U.S. on January 20, 2025, and time is of the essence.
Let us hope that the smart Donald makes the right decision, but I somewhat doubt that he will. I hope that I am wrong.
– Robert L. Maronic