Taylor Swift Speaks Out Against the Pres

Aug 26, 2019 | 5:57 AM

Taylor Swift said President Donald Trump probably thinks of the U.S. as an “autocracy” and that she has become disillusioned with the state of American politics in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian.

Taylor says she’s upset that the current political atmosphere in the U.S. involves “gaslighting the American public into being, like, ‘If you hate the president, you hate America.'” Speaking about Trump, she adds, “We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy.”

Taylor recently explained that she stayed silent during the 2016 election because – given her negative public perception at the time – she felt she would be “a hindrance.” But she also tells The Guardian that she felt she simply couldn’t handle getting involved, because she was dealing with the emotional repercussions stemming from the re-occurrence of her mother’s cancer, and her feud with Kim Kardashian. “I was just trying to protect my mental health – not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people to vote. I just knew what I could handle and I knew what I couldn’t,” she explains. “I was literally about to break.” Now, she says she feels “really remorseful for not saying anything.”

Taylor also explained why she keeps her relationship with Joe Alwyn private. “I’ve learned that if I do [talk about it], people think it’s up for discussion, and our relationship isn’t up for discussion,” she said. Taylor and Joe started dating back in 2016.

“If you and I were having a glass of wine right now, we’d be talking about it – but it’s just that it goes out into the world,” Taylor continued. “That’s where the boundary is, and that’s where my life has become manageable. I really want to keep it feeling manageable.”

Meanwhile, Swift earned the top selling week for an album in 2019 after only one day of sales for her seventh studio album Lover.

The album sold around 450,000 copies on August 23rd, its first day of release, according to Billboard. That number does not include streaming numbers. The previous top sales week for 2019 was the Jonas Brothers’ album Happiness Begins, which sold 357,000 copies in its first week.

Billboard says that industry forecasters predict that Lover will sell 550,000 copies in its first week and streaming numbers will push it to 700,000 equivalent album units for the first week.

Two days after Taylor fired off the latest salvo in her battle with Scooter Braun, the manager congratulated the singer on the campaign around her “brilliant” new album, Lover.

The message came after Swift said she will be re-recording songs from her first six albums, which are now owned by Braun – a move that could seriously undercut the value of her back catalog and Big Machine Records, the label that released and owns them.

Braun tweeted, “Regardless of what has been said the truth is you don’t make big bets unless you are a believer and always have been. Brilliant album with #Lover. Congrats @taylorswift13.” He added, “Supporting was always the healthier option #brilliantalbum #brilliantcampaign congrats.”

While a few fans commended Braun for his comments, most reactions to his tweet came from enraged Swifties, who hurled insults, warned him to leave her alone and demanded that he give her back her masters.

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Full Story: The Guardian & Billboard