Look what you made her do! Taylor Swift chose to break her silence on politics because she is no longer affected by naysayers and wanted to use her platform for good, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.
Loyal Swifties have long questioned why the influential pop star never speaks out about politics — and just recently, she realized it was time to. “She thought, ‘What’s the point of having this fame if I’m not going to use it for good?’” the source says. “Taylor finally decided to share her political opinion because she realizes that she’s at the peak of her career and doesn’t care about haters at this point.”
A day after the “…Ready for It?” singer, 28, posted a message on Instagram on Sunday, October 7, encouraging people to participate in the upcoming mid-term elections, Vote.org experienced a significant spike in voter registration.
“We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift’s post. Vote.org saw [Tennessee] registrations spike specifically since Taylor’s post,” Kamari Guthrie, director of communications for Vote.org, told Buzzfeed. “Thank God for Taylor Swift.”
Swift’s post urged her 112 million followers to exercise their right to vote while also explaining why she finally chose to speak out. “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG,” she wrote alongside a black-and-white Polaroid photo of herself. “I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
The “Gorgeous” singer also took aim at candidate Marsha Blackburn for not sharing her values before she endorsed two Tennessee Democrats, Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper. “For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway,” she continued. “So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count.“
Swift’s message garnered the attention — and support — of many of her peers. Former frenemy Katy Perry “liked” her post and Modern Family star Sarah Hyland applauded the “Style” singer for speaking out. “VERY proud that @taylorswift13 has spoken up about the upcoming midterm election,” the actress tweeted on Monday, October 8. ”Talking about your political views on a public platform is never easy with the amount of hate in the world.”
Not everyone approved of her message, though. President Donald Trump remarked on Monday, October 8, that he likes “Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now.”
