While her popularity is reaching new heights in the United States, singer Taylor Swift has become the subject of some of the craziest conspiracy theories circulating on social media. The latest of them claims that the American artist is a Pentagon pawn recruited by the Democratic Party to influence the results of the 2024 presidential election, AFP and Agerpres reported.

Host Jesse Watters of America’s favorite conservative channel Fox News this week resurrected some crazy theories first floated on social media by right-wing commentators suggesting the pop star is working for Joe Biden’s administration, while admitting that he “obviously didn’t have evidence” to support these claims.

“Ever wonder why Taylor Swift is everywhere? “Four years ago, the Pentagon’s psychological operations unit came up with the idea of ​​using it as a resource at a NATO conference,” Jesse Watters said, showing footage of the US agency’s 2019 Cybersecurity and Disinformation Summit.

But the video does not show any connection between the singer and the Pentagon or any other government institution. In fact, it is a presentation by a non-NATO researcher who cites Taylor Swift as a simple example of influential people on the Internet.

Jesse Watters also mentioned on the same show the sudden increase in traffic on the Vote.org platform after the singer posted a message on Instagram inviting her approximately 270 million fans to register to vote, which he said showed that “someone » will influence her from the White House.

As contacted by AFP, the press agent of the singer Taylor Swift referred to a message published on Tuesday on the social network X by Andrea Haley, president of Vote.org.

“Our collaboration with Taylor Swift exists to help all Americans get to the polls,” explained Andrea Haley. “This is in no way a Pentagon operation,” she added.

Fox News declined to comment further.

American experts estimate that the pop singer’s exposure to conspiracists will likely increase as the presidential election approaches.

Alarming popularity

Following Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year, the 34-year-old artist broke all records with her Eras Tour last year, and her private life has also been the subject of much public attention, especially since the beginning of his highly publicized relationship with American football star Travis Kelce.

Personal attacks followed. Far-right commentators have accused Taylor Swift of performing black magic during her concerts, while conservative personality Charlie Kirk has questioned whether the pop star is “still fertile” on his podcast.

“Swift, by her own admission, is not only a satanic witch, but also a tool of the Pentagon to influence the votes of thousands of young voters,” a user of an account promoting conspiracy theories from the QAnon movement.

For University of Michigan professor Swapnil Rai, “the speech is overly sexist because it’s much easier to attach such strange theories to a woman.”

“MAGA” vs “Swifties”

In December, far-right commentator Laura Loomer also described the 2024 US presidential election as a showdown between “MAGAs and Swifties”, pitting supporters of Donald Trump against singer Taylor Swift.

If Taylor Swift is not a pawn of the Pentagon, then her electoral support is still in the center of attention on the eve of the elections.

“No one has more influence on electoral support than Swift,” said David Jackson, a professor at Bowling Green State University.

Taylor Swift, who is naturally tight-lipped about her political beliefs, has openly endorsed Joe Biden against Donald Trump in 2020, accusing the Republican politician of “fueling the fires of white supremacy and racism throughout his tenure (or) “.

In the past, the artist advocated for the rights of LGBT+ people and spoke out against the decision of the Supreme Court to cancel the constitutional guarantee of the right to abortion.

The Republican Party is “concerned about its ability to reinvigorate young people’s interest in the electoral process,” said Johanna Blackley of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

“To accuse her of being a pawn of the state is a disingenuous attempt to undermine potential future support from the artist for Joe Biden,” she concluded.