EXCLUSIVE: Despite the ardent wishes of politicians and pop fans, Taylor Swift will not be appearing at the Democratic National Convention this week.
“Everybody loves Taylor, but having her here would overshadow everything,” a DNC insider tells Deadline of a drop-in by the ‘Shake It Off’ singer. “Think about it, no one would remember a word the Vice President said in her acceptance speech. All the headlines would be about Swift.”
“That doesn’t help us right now,” the source added of Kamala Harris’ jet fueled bid for the White House since Joe Biden stepped aside late last month. The Vice President is set to give her acceptance speech on August 22. President Joe Biden will speak tonight after a DNC tribute to the 46th POTUS and remarks by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Along with Beyoncé, who has allowed the VP to use her 2016 ‘Freedom’ tune as theme music, Swift is seen as the celebrity earthquake that could shift the electoral landscape in favor of the poll leading Harris over Donald Trump. To that end and with some performers at the DNC being kept under wraps, rumors have been circulating for weeks that the Blue state and Red state popular Swift could jet into Chicago to offer an endorsement of the Vice President.
Swift has not issued an endorsement of any presidential candidate this election so far.
Still, the DNC rumor mill had been grinding hard because of the calendar.
On stage right now at a wet Wembley Arena in London, the superstar has only one more show on the European portion of her Eras Tour. After tomorrow’s Wembley concert, Swift’s schedule is pretty open until she hits Miami in October.
However, even though she supported Biden and Harris in 2020, it looks like Swift won’t be in the Windy City.
While Swift hasn’t said anything yet, it also doesn’t look like she will be endorsing Trump – even though the former president tried to spread some extremely fake news of such support on social media last night.
Trump’s acceptance of a never given endorsement by Swift still hasn’t left the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host’s campaign without hope. “Swifties for Trump is a massive movement that grows bigger every single day,” a spokesperson for the GOP campaign told Deadline early this morning after Trump’s reposting of AI images of Swift and her fans.
Whatever the actual strength of Swifties for Trump, Swifities for Kamala has explored in recent weeks. The group has over 60,000 members and is planning an August 27 fundraising call for the Veep.
Addressing the alleged conflicting fan support for the bitter political rivals, Swifties for Kamala co-founder Irene Kim made her feelings on the obviously manipulated images posted by Trump on Sunday. We do not represent every Swiftie, but I think there is a reason we don’t need AI to show our support for Kamala,” she told Wired magazine.
With or without Taylor Swift, the DNC today until August 22 with live coverage on cable news and online, with primetime excepts on the broadcast networks. Deadline is there and will be reporting from the convention all week long.
