Taylor Swift has come to represent many things during her time as a mega-superstar. However, politics has never really been part of her image. But whether she likes it or not, it is now.
A recent BuzzFeed-style article on Speaker of the House John Boehner's website uses 12 Swift GIFs to criticize President Barack Obama's proposal for free community college "for everybody who is willing to work for it," which he announced last week. And yes it's just as weird as it sounds.
The article aptly titled "12 Taylor Swift GIFs for you" attacks President Obama's plan using GIFs of Swift destroying that car in her "Blank Space" music video or just generally looking pretty peeved to react to the $60 million over 10 years that the plan will cost. Boehner's Twitter account also promoted the story using references to Swift on Twitter.
12 reactions to President Obama’s #FreeCommunityCollege idea, as told by #TaylorSwift GIFs: https://t.co/YK70SvXfXc pic.twitter.com/1HhQPQOCyH
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) January 16, 2015
$60 billion for "free" college? Can't just shake that off. → https://t.co/YK70SvXfXc — Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) January 16, 2015
Dear Mr. President, there is no #BlankSpace in the taxpayers' checkbook. https://t.co/YK70SvXfXc
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) January 16, 2015
Turns out, when President Obama said "free" what he meant was "$60 Billion” → https://t.co/YK70SvXfXc — Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) January 16, 2015
Clearly, Boehner's office is using a medium and a spokesperson that it thinks will connect with the very people President Obama's plan is targeting. Nice try, but it comes off as a little forced and desperate attempt to connect with the kids these days, don't you think?
Plus, what does Swift have to say about all of this? Was this her way of publicly announcing her political views on a major scale?
Well, not quite. In fact, she didn't even know this article was in the works. Regarding the use of her likeness by Boehner, a spokesperson for Swift told ABC News, "We were not aware prior to its release."
Other than that, Swift is keeping mum on what she really thinks about the article. However, I doubt she's too thrilled about it, not because of her political views but because she probably doesn't want anything to do with politics.
Swift has attempted to dissociate herself from politics in the past. Right before the 2012 presidential election, Swift wouldn't reveal who she was voting for so as to not influence other people's votes. However, she has previously shown support for President Obama and the First Lady. Still, Swift is one of the only people that seems to unite Democrats and Republicans, so I imagine she'll continue to keep her political views to herself in the future.
