White House Uses Taylor Swift Song In TikTok About Trump — Fans Howl At Irony

In a bizarre twist that blurred the line between politics and pop culture, the White House used Taylor Swift's song in a TikTok video featuring US President Donald Trump, sparking outrage, irony, and debate over whether the move was even legal.

White House Sparks Viral Storm

On 3 November 2025, the official White House TikTok account posted a 22-second montage set to Swift's song 'The Fate of Ophelia' from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. The clip featured military aircraft, the US flag, and shots of President Donald Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Second Lady Usha Vance. The caption read simply: 'OUR VIBES 🇺🇸'.

As the lyric 'Don't care where the hell you've been' played, the screen cut to Trump's infamous 2023 Fulton County mugshot, followed by the words 'THE FATE OF AMERICA' over an image of Trump serving customers at a fast-food counter.

Within hours, the video amassed more than 4 million views and half a million likes, sparking intense debate over both the creative choice and the underlying message.

For many viewers, the irony was unmistakable, the administration of a president who publicly declared hatred for Swift was now using her music to bolster its image.

Trump's History of Clashing With Taylor Swift

The move was especially shocking given Trump's long-standing feud with the global pop superstar.

In September 2024, Swift publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president and criticised Trump's policies. Trump responded on Truth Social with the now-viral line: 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!'

Swift had previously criticised Trump's handling of women's rights and racial justice, stating in a 2020 Vogue interview that she would 'do everything I can to end the hate and division he fuels'. The singer's political evolution, from silence to outspoken advocacy, became a cornerstone of her later albums and tours.

Her team has not issued any statement regarding the TikTok post, but her fanbase, known as Swifties, has erupted online with calls for legal action. One viral post read, 'Taylor needs to sue. They can't use her art to glorify a man who despises her values'.

The White House Responds — 'Congrats, You Got Played'

The controversy escalated when a White House spokesperson spoke to The Wrap, defending the post as intentional provocation. The spokesperson said, 'We made this video because we knew fake news media brands like The Wrap would breathlessly amplify them. Congrats, you got played'.

The statement suggested that the post was deliberately designed to generate outrage and media coverage, a political strategy increasingly used to dominate online conversation and redirect attention from policy matters.

Analysts have interpreted the move as a calculated effort to weaponise viral culture. By using a song from one of the world's most influential artists, and one of Trump's loudest critics, the administration effectively guaranteed attention from both fans and the press.

Yet, the tactic may have backfired. The backlash was immediate, with many branding it 'tone-deaf' and 'manipulative'. Political media scholar Dr Evelyn Roth of Georgetown University told the BBC that 'appropriating a critic's art is not engagement, it's provocation masquerading as relevance'.

For Swift and her fans, however, the episode underscores the uncomfortable reality of how art can be co-opted by politics — and how even pop's most powerful figure can lose control over her own message.

In the end, the White House's use of 'The Fate of Ophelia' may have achieved exactly what it intended, to make noise, to provoke, and to remind the world that in today's political arena, virality trumps virtue.