Jan 24, 2020 - Economy

Taylor Swift regrets not speaking out against Trump in 2016

Shane Savitsky

Taylor Swift at the Sundance premiere of Netflix's "Miss Americana." Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Taylor Swift says in a forthcoming Netflix documentary that she wishes she commented on politics for the first time in 2016 to help defeat President Trump, rather than breaking her silence ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, per The Daily Beast.

What happened: A pivotal scene in "Miss Americana" shows Swift holed up with her family and public relations staff, preparing to endorse Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate in Tennessee on Instagram. Told that the move might prompt the public to think she's simultaneously condemning the president, Swift responds, "I don’t care if they write that. I'm sad I didn't say it two years ago."

Her publicist also warns her that Trump could personally come after her — to which Swift responds, "F--k that. I don't care."

The big picture: Swift's Instagram endorsement of Bredesen, who eventually lost the race, called out his Republican opponent, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, for voting against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and refusing to support same-sex marriage.

In the documentary, Swift rails on Blackburn: "I can't see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words 'Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That's not what we stand for."
She also calls her "Trump in a wig."

Flashback: Swift cites the backlash to the Dixie Chicks' decision to speak out against former President George W. Bush in 2004 as a reason for why she kept silent on politics for so long.

"My moral code as a kid and now was the need to be thought of as good. Overall, the main thing I always strived to be was, like, a good girl," she says to open the documentary.

Go deeper: Taylor Swift explains why she didn't endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016

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Taylor Swift regrets not speaking out against Trump in 2016

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