By Jon Blistein
An upcoming book about Donald Trump and the impact of his hit reality TV series The Apprentice contains, for some reason, some new Donald Trump thoughts about Taylor Swift.
The excerpt was revealed in Variety, as the publication’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh wrote the upcoming book, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass (out June 18). Setoodeh asked Trump about Swift during an interview last November, in the midst of the wild success of year one of the Eras Tour.
Trump’s response will probably surprise no one: It was mostly focused on Swift’s looks, then veered into her ostensible politics. Trump even managed to refer to himself in the third person.
“I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful!” Trump said. “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!”
The exchange offered a little insight into the bizarre workings of Trump’s brain. He proceeded to quiz Setoodeh more about Swift’s politics, asking, “She is liberal, or is that just an act? She’s legitimately liberal? It’s not an act? It surprises me that a country star can be successful being liberal.”
After Setoodeh noted that Swift hadn’t really made country music in years, Trump continued to follow his own train of thought, offering up: “Garth Brooks is liberal. Explain that! How does it happen? But he’s liberal. It’s one of those things…”
After (rather infamously) staying silent during the 2016 election, Swift has frequently spoken out against Trump and endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 election. But despite her opposition to him — and the absurd amount of deranged conspiracy theories she’s inspired on the right — Trump has never really gone after Swift the way he has his other detractors. Just this past February, for instance, he even seemed confident that Swift would endorse him this time around because he signed the 2018 Music Modernization Act.
“Joe Biden didn’t do anything for Taylor, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There’s no way she could endorse Crooked Joe Biden, the worst and most corrupt President in the History of our Country, and be disloyal to the man who made her so much money.” (Swift has yet to make any endorsements this year.)
Perhaps one reason Trump has held back on Swift — and even complimented her in his creepy old man male gaze-y way — is, at the end of the day, she has the one thing he seems to respect more than anything: Fame. “She’s got a great star quality,” Trump said in Apprentice in Wonderland. “She really does.”
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
