Donald Trump Questions if Taylor Swift Is ‘Legitimately Liberal’: ‘It’s Not an Act?’

Former President Donald Trump called the legitimacy of Taylor Swift’s political beliefs into question in a new excerpt from the book Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass by Variety editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh. During an excerpt from one of their interviews, Ramin explained that he’d asked the former reality show host about his thoughts on Taylor.

During part of the conversation, Trump, 77, explained that he was surprised to learn about Taylor’s political beliefs given her country roots. “She’s legitimately liberal? It’s not an act? It surprises me that a country star can be successful being liberal,” he said in the excerpt.

Given the former president’s advanced age, he seems to have missed the memo on the fact that Taylor, 34, has shifted away from making country music and ventured into proper pop music with 2014’s 1989. Still, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Trump isn’t aware that the “Shake It Off” singer hasn’t been considered a total country artist for a decade, because when he was asked about her music, he admitted that he wasn’t too familiar with her tunes. The writer noted that he told the Republican presidential candidate about Taylor’s genre leap, but instead, he talked about another left-leaning country singer. “Garth Brooks is liberal. Explain that! How does it happen? But he’s liberal,” Trump said.

Earlier in the conversation, Trump did compliment the “Only the Young” popstar, mostly focusing in on her physical appearance and fame. “She’s got a great star quality. She really does,” he said. “I think she’s beautiful—very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful!”

Taylor was considered an apolitical artist prior to the 2018 midterm election. The popstar broke her silence on her political views that year by endorsing Democratic candidates in Tennessee’s election. During the 2020 election, she endorsed President Joe Biden, and she publicly called out Trump in multiple statements on social media. “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).