Here we go again. Donald Trump is back to mocking superstars like Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?” he said on his social media platform Truth Social. Did he mean less beautiful or less buzzworthy? The pundits had a field day with that one.
During the same week, Bruce Springsteen, the bard of the Jersey shore, attacked the president’s leadership at his concert in England, saying the US “is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
Trump came out counter-punching.
He called the 75-year-old a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)” and quipped, “he ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare’. Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
The media ate up both posts. I mean ate them up. Just Google “Trump Swift” and you’ll find most major networks (and what seems like every website on the internet) covering the clashes: CBS, FOX, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, and even the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Donald Trump did something more striking the other day –calling to investigate celebrities– but we’ll get to that in a moment.
So why the media blitz around Swift and Springsteen? The answer is, sadly, clickbait and higher ratings. Putting bold-faced names into a headline is guaranteed to boost SEO, search engine optimization, which launches the branded content to the top of the heap for Google and similar outfits.
Here are some of the headlines:
- NBC’s Today Show: “Trump Takes Aim at Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift on Social Media”
- MSNBC: “Trump Lashes Out at Bruce Springsteen After He Calls President ’Treasonous’”
- Fox: “Trump Reignites Feud with Taylor Swift, Says Pop Star ‘No Longer Hot’”
- CBS: “Trump Suggests His Opinion of Taylor Swift Made Her Less Popular”
I’m not saying journalists shouldn’t give these spats some brief attention, but do we really need to cover every round of these squabbles as if they were as important as the furor over the president accepting a $400 million jet from Qatar?
For viewers watching this spectacle, it’s like rubbernecking at an accident. You can’t help but gaze at the pile-up. The president of the United States lets no insult stand without a strong rejoinder. And his MAGA base loves it. So do journalists who take delight in the mudslinging among the famous and the infamous. All this provides a welcome respite from covering the intricacies of the House tax bill or the gyrations of the stock market.
Taylor Swift and Donald Trump “had beef,” as my teenager says, since before the election. Trump’s disdain for Swift began in 2018 when she criticized Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), saying she “appalls and terrifies” her. At the time, he told reporters, “Let’s just say I like Taylor’s music about 25% less now, OK?”
In February of 2024, he gave a quote to an author saying, “There’s no way she can endorse crooked Joe Biden…I like her boyfriend Travis even though he may be a Liberal, and probably can’t stand me!”
In August, he created a false AI endorsement of him. And in September, he struck again, a few days after Swift announced on Instagram she planned to vote for VP Kamala Harris. “I was not a Taylor Swift fan. It was just a question of time…she is a very liberal person, she seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”
Four days later, he posted, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
All of these jabs were covered in just the same way as we’re seeing now. Breathlessly and endlessly.
Trump’s mocking of Swift is in sharp contrast to 2012, before Trump was even in politics. He tweeted at her, “Thanks for the beautiful picture – you are fantastic!” That same year, Trump congratulated Swift on a major hosting gig with the Recording Academy, saying, “Taylor is terrific!”
Oh, how times have changed.
Springsteen and Trump have been at it for years, like two boxers in a ring who never put down their gloves. After launching his attack, Springsteen, an indefatigable performer, is back in the headlines and relevant to people who aren’t part of his core fan base. Pretty smart.
But just as I was going to conclude that all this amounted to shadow-boxing, the president upped the ante by calling for investigations into more superstars:
“HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? …AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO??? I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter.”
This is actually a story that should be covered, as he wants to use the resources of the Justice Department. Yet, strangely enough, it has gotten little attention so far.
As for Donald Trump mocking the abilities of Swift and Springsteen, in my humble opinion, both musical celebrities are extremely talented and popular (trust me on this, it took me forever to get tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour in Philadelphia.)
The truth is, covering the quarrels is like catnip for everyone involved. Apparently, including me. Here I am giving the story more legs and playing into their hands. In Taylor’s immortal words, “Look What You Made Me Do.”
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