Trump addresses Taylor Swift AI debacle in typical fashion: ‘I don’t know anything about that’
Days after Donald Trump reposted AI-generated images of Taylor Swift supporting his bid for president, the Republican nominee denied knowing “anything about them.”
The former president shared a post on Truth Social containing fake images of the singer and her fans wearing “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts on Monday, seemingly suggesting that the pop star had voiced support for his re-election bid. In reality, the pop star, who threw her support behind Joe Biden in 2020 and urged her hundreds of millions of social media followers to do the same, has yet to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate.
Trump shared the photos — including one of Swift dressed as Uncle Sam surrounded by the words “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump”— along with the caption: “I accept!”
Two days after he shared the deep fakes, Fox Business correspondent Gary Trimble asked Trump whether he was worried that Swift would sue him.
“I don’t know anything about them, other than somebody else generated them. I didn’t generate them,” Trump replied on Wednesday after his campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina.
The former president then struggled to explain how he came across AI-generated images: “Somebody came out. They said, ‘Oh look at this.’ These were all made up by other people. AI is always very dangerous in that way.”
He added that he has come across deep fake videos of himself as well.
“They’re having me speak. I speak perfectly. I mean absolutely perfectly on AI. And I’m, like, endorsing other products and things.” He continued: “It’s a little bit dangerous out there.”
It’s no question as to why Swift’s support is such a hot commodity.
Last September on National Voter Registration Day, the singer-songwriter encouraged her 272 million Instagram followers to register to vote. Her request resulted in over 35,000 registrations, including a 115 percent increase among 18-year-olds, according to Vote.org.
Trump may be looking to court younger voters, as recent polls suggest that just over one in four (27 percent) of young people say they will be voting for Trump in November.
Shockingly, this isn’t the only time Trump shared an AI-generated image this week.
Ahead of the Democratic National Convention this week, where Kamala Harris accepted the nomination, the GOP nominee tweeted a fake image of a red blazer-wearing vice president speaking to a jam-packed crowd of Communists as a red flag with a gold hammer and sickle hangs overhead.
The Communist references come after Trump erroneously claimed that Harris “went full communist” after she unveiled her economic agenda last week. He has also referred to her as “Comrade Kamala.”
