Taylor Swift conspiracy theories as singer becomes a target in the US election

01 February 2024 , 08:35

733     0

Taylor Swift has been branded a 'psy-op' by many right-wing conspiracy theorists

In recent weeks, Taylor Swift has become the subject of wild conspiracy theories as she's become a target in the US election.

Right-wing conspiracy theorists say that the singer's soaring popularity and involvement in the NFL with her boyfriend Travis Kelce are all part of a left-wing plot to spoil Donald Trump’s chances of winning back the White House.

When the 34-year-old hitmaker began her career, she avoided partaking in the discourse surrounding politics and whether or not she was on the side of the Democrats or Republicans. But in more recent years, Taylor has spoken out, and she did just this in 2018 when she supported the Democratic candidates in Tennessee.

And then two years later, in 2020, Taylor endorsed Joe Biden and urged Donald Trump on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “we will vote you out” while he was president of the States at the time.

READ MORE: Can Taylor Swift make the Super Bowl? 13-hour dash from Tokyo for Travis Kelce explained

Harry Styles and Taylor Swift's awkward Grammys reunion - 10 years after split

Taylor Swift has a number of conspiracy theories swirling around her at the moment (AFP via Getty Images)

But with the hitmaker's popularity and influence having grown and risen to astronomical heights in recent months thanks to her massive successes and Eras Tour, it seems people - mainly right-wing and MAGA supporters - are concerned about how she might influence the next election in the States.

Rumours have circulated in recent weeks and months that the hitmaker could be a "psy-op", which is a "psychological operation". This is defined as an "operation to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their motives and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organisations, groups, and large foreign powers".

Because of Taylor's boyfriend Travis Kelce having made it through to the Super Bowl with his team the Kansas City Chiefs, conspiracies have been further fuelled. People think she could be a "Pentagon asset" and an "election interference psy-op" who will team up with the left-wing and "rig" the Super Bowl before endorsing Joe Biden in the next election.

Right-wing supporter and conspiracy theorist, Jack Posobiec, took to Truth Social this week, following Taylor's appearance in Baltimore for her boyfriend's game on Sunday, with him saying in a video: "I think – and I’ve said this, I’ve taken a lot of crap for this online – I think they’re using Taylor Swift right now."

He went on: "They’re gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against everything: against Trump, for Biden, they’re gonna get her and all you know they call them the Swifties they’re going to turn those into voters, you watch."

And towards the end of 2023, the End Wokeness account on X penned: "Taylor Swift has a cult-like following that would drink poisoned Kool Aid for her. The media knows this and is feeding it. Music. Entertainment. Sports. Now they crowned her Person of the Year. The next step? Politics. If you don’t think the regime has plans to weaponize her just in time for 2024, you clearly have not been paying attention."

At the start of the year, when conspiracies kickstarted, Jesse Watters did a segment about it on Fox News where he asked: "Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?" adding: "Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting. What kind of asset? A psy-op for combatting online misinformation."

He then played a "heavily edited clip" of a presentation given by an academic, suggesting that the singer is a psy-op. "Yeah, that’s real. The Pentagon psy-op unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset," he said.

But the clip that was shared was from a 2019 presentation, where an academic spoke about hypothetical scenarios for how information can be manipulated, with the academic using Taylor Swift as an example.

Mollie Quirk