‘I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice’: Taylor Swift gives the endorsement we’ve all been waiting for

Finally, Miss Americana speaks!

Lately, Taylor hasn’t done much in the political sphere. She does have quite the schedule these days. She’s still on The Eras Tour and being a supportive girlfriend at Kansas City Chiefs games. Still, with such a contentious election at hand and endorsements rolling in from all over the music world, Swifties were starting to get a little worried.

Cheers to the resistance

To fully understand why Swifties and pop culture observers felt like this endorsement was owed to anyone, I think we have to rewind back to Miss Americana. In the 2020 documentary, Taylor gives a candid look at her journey from being the girl that just wanted people to clap to being someone who spoke up. And she knew speaking up came with consequences. She pointed to what happened to The Dixie Chicks as an example of what happens to careers when you don’t stay neutral, especially as a country musician.

The documentary depicts her arguing with her dad about taking a public stance against Trumpism. Eventually, she made the decision to do so against their advice. And it did upset a lot of people, including Trump himself. But what it also did was drive up voter registration for young people. It encouraged her fan base to start thinking about politics and their place in it. In the documentary, she says, “It’s time to take the masking tape off my mouth, like, forever.” She expressed regret about not doing it sooner.

All to say, Swift kind of set up the expectation that she would be making her opinions public, if she really meant what she said in the doc. She was very clear 4 years ago that she wanted politicians who were going to stand up for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and against the tide of fascism that overtook this country in 2016.

Cue the crickets

One would think that giving Kamala Harris an official endorsement would be a no-brainer. Harris is an exceptionally qualified candidate who has a very good chance of becoming the first female President of the United States. Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion came out with strong support almost from the moment her candidacy was announced. That’s kind of the point where Taylor watch started.

We waited. We gave her time. And then some strange things started to happen.

There was a random blog post with an AI image of Taylor Swift that said, “I want YOU to vote for Donald Trump.” It was clearly satire, but Trump ran with it anyway, saying, “I accept!” The actual Swifties collectively gagged. Mother would never, and we knew this. Given how protective Swift is of her image and intellectual property, I think the general feeling was that Taylor would hand down her actual endorsement soon thereafter.

But then, some weeks went by. More silence.

Then people noticed that she was starting to keep some questionable company. And that’s when the internet started making some accusations.

Not going to lie: Seeing all this criticism online hurt a little bit. Personally, I was holding on to the idea that an endorsement would come when it comes, but the silence was starting to give a little too much leeway to confusion, rumors, and accusations. I even started to see rumblings of a campaign called #SwiftieBlackout where some fans planned to unfollow Swift’s social media accounts, not stream her music, and to make the hashtag #RIPMissAmericana trend for a day.

Taylor always drops the last mic

The Swiftie fandom rejoiced last night when Taylor finally had enough of the rumors and posted her position on Instagram.

She even signed it “Childless Cat Lady!” Which actually takes on new significance not just in light of J.D. Vance’s past comments, but after last night’s debate where Trump claimed that dogs and cats were in danger of being eaten.

In fact, Swifties had their own memes to dish out.

Phew! That was a tense last couple of weeks in Swiftie-land. Now that we know for sure who Taylor is voting for, want to do me a favor and check your voter registration status? Oh! And don’t forget the merch!

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Lauren Salerno

Lauren Salerno is a contributing writer at The Mary Sue. She is a literary citizen of Los Angeles and has been involved with such projects as the Shades & Shadows Reading Series, the Omega Sci-Fi Project, and The Seers' Table column of the Horror Writers Association blog. Some of her words can be found in places like the Los Angeles Times, the Office of Intellectual Freedom Blog, and The Rattling Wall. She holds a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science and stays up late at night skimming digital archives for fun. There is a special place in her heart for horror, Star Wars, and reality television. She can frequently be found haunting the halls of convention centers, perhaps moderating a panel or two. Follow her on most social media channels: @paranormalauren.