Taylor Swift Embroiled in Election Conspiracy Theory

Taylor Swift's success is generating a new conspiracy theory among some MAGA supporters who think that the singer-songwriter is being used to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.

On Wednesday, Swift was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year." She was one of a group of nine finalists that included Barbie, King Charles, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The soon-to-be 34-year-old dominated national and global headlines in 2023. She embarked on her wildly popular Eras Tour, which is projected to become the biggest tour of all time and the first to gross over a billion dollars. The tour has had profound economic effects on numerous cities and towns that saw mini booms during her tour stops, and even the U.S. economy as a whole has benefited.

Ten college classes have been devoted to Swift, according to Time, and there's been a huge increase in football viewership as a result of her relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce.

But the decision to give Swift the magazine's annual designation also drew speculation from Make American Great Again conservatives who suspect she's part of an election ploy.

"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 social media account @EndWokeness wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

"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," the tweet said.

Laura Loomer, a hard-right figure whom former President Donald Trump had wanted to hire to work on his 2024 campaign, echoed those comments, saying it "isn't shocking since she's who the Democrats are counting on to interfere in the 2024 Presidential election."

"What would the Democrats do without their idol who runs through men like water and spews anti-Trump drivel every chance she gets?" Loomer tweeted. "Her entire world tour has become a Democrat Party Voter Registration drive."

Newsweek reached out by email to Swift for comment.

Swift has not weighed in on the next presidential election, although she endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, telling V magazine at the time that he could help with the nation's "healing process." She was also critical of Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying in 2020 that Trump's "ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely."

Although she had largely stayed out of politics before, Swift has become increasingly vocal about it since she endorsed former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, in the Senate race against Republican Marsha Blackburn five years ago.

"In the past I've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now," Swift said in a 2018 Instagram post. "I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country."

Blackburn went on to win the election by an unexpectedly large margin.

Swift's toe dips into politics, as well as her relationship with Kelce, have been the subject of conservative scrutiny. Earlier this year, Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren called Swift and her boyfriend a "match made in liberal heaven."

Conservative activists like Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec blamed Swift for the GOP's election losses in some states this year, urging Republicans to come up with a plan to counter Swift's "army of voters."

On Wednesday, Posobiec pointed out that this wasn't the first time Swift was named Time's "Person of the Year."

"Swift was already named as a co-Person of the Year in 2017 for her work helping to launch the MeToo movement. She has been used [as] a statecraft asset for years," Posobiec wrote on X. "2024 will be the full payoff."

Swift was among the hundreds of women who were recognized as the "People of the Year" in 2017. Referred to as the Silence Breakers, the group consisted of faces behind the #MeToo movement that triggered a national outcry over sexual harassment. Swift had won a lawsuit earlier that year against a radio DJ whom she alleged groped her.

"I figured that if he would be brazen enough to assault me under these risky circumstances and high stakes, imagine what he might do to a vulnerable, young artist if given the chance," Swift told Time in 2017.