Given everything going on in this country and Trump’s ability to turn everything he touches shit, I almost think Swift has to respond to this at some point. I’m surprised she hasn’t already. I understand her desire to stay out of politics. But speaking out and denouncing this and everything about Trump isn’t her getting into politics. It’s her having to because Trump dragged her into it kicking and screaming.

She can’t stop those images from circulating. But the more they circulate, the more chances that at least some people think they’re real. Or at the very least, they may interpret her silence as a tacit endorsement. Some may even consider her a Trump supporter, especially those who don’t follow either her or politics closely enough to know that while she’s never taken an official political position, she’s proudly left leaning. Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.

Are those pictures even still up on his feed? I’m not going on that mall-restroom Twitter knockoff of his to check. I was half-surprised not to see her legal team have a C&D letter sent to him with his early morning McDonalds the next morning, a public statement by lunch, and a lawsuit filed against him for implying she endorsed him by the time the courtrooms had closed. I would fucking love to see Trump try to bully down Taylor fucking Swift’s legal team. You could put that shit on pay per view and eliminate the national debt.

Either way, those pictures have a very high likelihood of causing reputational (and, by extension, financial) harm by alienating a chunk of her fan base who may think she endorses his viewpoints. Especially when paired with his post implying she endorsed him.

I bet she could even argue that him forcing her to take a position publicly against him also constitutes financial harm, because of the possibility of it alienating any of her fans that were Trump supporters.

Right. He basically put her into a situation where whichever side she chose, she loses. It’s one of the reasons she’s never gotten involved publicly in politics. She’s smart enough to know that she’ll alienate a portion of her fans no matter which side she chooses, so as far as I can tell she preferred to just stay out of the whole thing and make all the fucking money.

And that’s not a bad thing. Not every celebrity has to be a political activist, and people who go to any concert are looking to have a fun time, not attend a really loud political rally. And her position in all of this is to give a whole bunch of young people a place to go and shut their brains off for a night.

And that’s not a bad thing.

Counter argument: sometimes doing nothing is allowing evil to prevail.

Also “I just wanna shut my brain off and have fun without POLITICS” is not really a moral high ground. Many people can’t avoid politics.