--- ---  # President Trump Has Thoughts About Taylor Swift Criticizing a Candidate He Supports by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 8, 2018 10:18 PM UTC  Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at AT&T Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/TAS18/Getty Images for TAS) Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at AT&T Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/TAS18/Getty Images for TAS)Matt Winkelmeyer/TAS18—Getty Images for TAS 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) Trump Weighs in on Taylor Swift Criticizing Marsha Blackburn ```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":"2026-04-13T07:55:20.854Z","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":"/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"}}]}] ```