--- title: Trump Weighs in on Taylor Swift Criticizing Marsha Blackburn description: Donald Trump has some words about Taylor Swift criticizing the candidate he fervently supports. canonical: https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-08T22:18:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:02:09.559Z og:title: Trump Already Addressed Taylor Swift's Political Stance og:description: A reporter explained the pop star's endorsement of Democratic candidates og:url: https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30d5b6e38869da9c/69893c1d457a5233fbd5f918/taylorswiftontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6000 og:image:height: 3375 og:image:alt: Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Already Addressed Taylor Swift's Political Stance twitter:description: A reporter explained the pop star's endorsement of Democratic candidates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30d5b6e38869da9c/69893c1d457a5233fbd5f918/taylorswiftontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=838dfea1-cf34-4503-8377-1647fa6e324e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FH20XUsp.m3u8) (0:20)  _Published 2018-10-08. President Donald Trump’s back and forth with fellow celebrities is anything but over. Following Taylor Swift’s Instagram endorsement of Democratic Tennessee candidates, the President himself weighed in._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 8, 2018 10:18 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s back and forth with fellow celebrities is anything but over. Following Taylor Swift’s Instagram endorsement of Democratic Tennessee candidates, the President himself weighed in. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 8, 2018 10:18 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s [back and forth with fellow celebrities](http://time.com/5322064/donald-trump-jimmy-fallon-stephen-colbert-rally/) is anything but over. Following [Taylor Swift’s](http://time.com/5418427/taylor-swift-politics/) [Instagram endorsement](https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/?hl=en&taken-by=taylorswift) of Democratic Tennessee candidates Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives in the upcoming Tennessee election, the President himself weighed in. Trump only just recently held a Make America Great Again rally last week to drum up support for Bredesen’s rival Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn’s campaign, who Swift vehemently criticized. “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. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn,” Swift wrote in her lengthy post. On Monday at the White House, Trump doubled down. “Marsha Blackburn is doing a very good job now in Tennessee,” he said, according to [_The Hollywood Reporter_](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/trump-responds-taylor-swifts-turn-politics-1150317). “She’s leading now substantially, which she should. She’s a tremendous woman. I’m sure Taylor Swift doesn’t know anything about her. Let’s say I like Taylor’s music about 25% less now, OK?” A reporter had only just explained to Trump that the pop superstar took a side Sunday night after years of silence on political matters. So Trump was answering the question off the cuff. Trump praised Swift’s music in 2012\. But for Swift’s part, she did not wade into the 2016 election, and has famously never voiced an opinion about Trump’s administration. So after years of opting not to be vocal about politics with some exceptions, when she spoke up, it mattered. > [](https://twitter.com/kathrynw5/status/1049407199062224902) ## Transcript [00:00] Well, Marsha Blackburn is doing a very good job in [00:00] Tennessee. She's leading now substantially, which she [00:00] should. She's a tremendous woman. I'm sure Taylor Swift [00:00] has nothing or doesn't know anything about her. And let's [00:00] say that I like Taylor's music about 25 % less now. okay. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/"},"headline":"President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports","datePublished":"2018-10-08T22:18:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:02:09.559Z","description":"A reporter explained the pop star's endorsement of Democratic candidates","url":"https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30d5b6e38869da9c/69893c1d457a5233fbd5f918/taylorswiftontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30d5b6e38869da9c/69893c1d457a5233fbd5f918/taylorswiftontrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour","caption":"Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour","creditText":"Matt Winkelmeyer/TAS18—Getty Images for TAS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5418989/trump-on-taylor-swift-marsha-blackburn/","name":"President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports","description":"President Donald Trump’s back and forth with fellow celebrities is anything but over. 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