The White House Tik Tok account seemed to have drawn a short-lived retreat in its trolling of superstar Taylor Swift (who, if you need reminding, Donald Trump “hates”).
A TikTok video posted to the White House account earlier this week depicted the president and First Lady Melania Trump from behind as they watched a fireworks display in a night sky. The text over the photo read, “Mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president.”
The video was accompanied by the Swift song “august,” and at the bottom of image was a note from “Team Trump” saying, “I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song!”
The trolling was short lived though. By last night, both the song (from Swift’s Folklore album) and the teasing note were removed from the account, replaced with a message in the U.S. reading, “The copyright owner hasn’t made this sound available in your country.”
The song removal was greeted with praise from Swift fans in the Tik Tok comments. “TAYLOR REMOVING THE AUDIO. QUEEEEN” and TAYLOR QUEEN SWIFT” were a couple examples. Another was: “She removed it, clocked you guys.”
Trump’s social media team couldn’t bow out with dignity, though, instead posting another Tik Tok video yesterday using Swift’s song “Red,” with the message, “Did you know Taylor Swift wrote a whole album about the color of the Republican Party.”
The latest bit of online goading follows a period of relative peace between the camps, with Trump – having been angered by Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris – said last year upon learning of Swift’s upcoming wedding to Travis Kelce, told reporters, “Well, I wish them a lot of luck. He’s a great player, and I think he’s a great guy, and I think that she’s a terrific person, so I wished them a lot of luck.”