‘I Accept’: Internet erupts after Trump shares ‘Swifties for Trump’ images

Former President Donald Trump bragged about support from Taylor Swift fans, and the reaction was … swift.

In a post Sunday on Truth Social, Mr. Trump shared four images of social-media posts, three of them photos of people wearing “Swifties for Trump” swag and commentary about Ms. Swift’s recent Vienna concerts being canceled by ISIS terror threats. Some of the images were reportedly AI generated, though some were not.

“I accept!” Mr. Trump posted to accompany the images.

The fourth image was an obviously created poster of Ms. Swift in an Uncle Sam costume with the caption “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” That image included commentary about liberals “completely melting down” whenever Mr. Trump posts about the pop mega-star and those of her fans who support him.

And melt down they did.

“’I Accept’: Donald Trump Falsely Claims Taylor Swift Election Endorsement,” wrote Deadline, and the New York Times wrote a story under the headline “Trump Promotes A.I. Images to Falsely Suggest Taylor Swift Endorsed Him.”

The Times noted that Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, warned about the political implications Monday on CNN of a self-styled “genius” not knowing that images sometimes aren’t real.

“This genius, over the weekend, decided to poke the eyes of Swifties and suggest that Taylor Swift is endorsing him,” Mr. Swalwell said. “They are going to have a marvelous time ruining everything for Donald Trump over the next 78 days.”

The report also noted that A.J. Delgado, a campaign communications adviser for Mr. Trump who now opposes him, solicited a Swift publicist asking that she, in the Times’ words, “clear up the misinformation.”

“Are you and your client asleep? You’re going to let this go uncorrected?” Ms. Delgado wrote on X.

Mr. Trump frequently reposts images that were obviously created and artificially composed for satiric or sarcastic purposes.

Later on Sunday, for example, Mr. Trump posted a video that led with an animated image of “Kamala Harris” holding up an “I am a moron” sign.

Ms. Swift endorsed President Biden in 2020.