Last year, as the midterm elections were just around the corner and the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation was fresh on everyone’s minds, Taylor Swift spoke out about her political beliefs for the first time, angering some fans and delighting others. Now, the “Shake it off” singer says that she is ready to get involved in politics, according to a piece she wrote for Elle magazine.
The soon-to-be 30-year-old singer wrote a piece titled “30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30,” and in it, she discusses learning such things as how to be assertive and not letting outside voices determine what is important to her. The singer also discusses the fact that she realized she needed to get educated about politics and wants to speak out about it because she is seeing how politics impacts the most vulnerable members of society.
“I took a lot of time educating myself on the political system and the branches of government that are signing off on bills that affect our day-to-day life,” Swift wrote. “I saw so many issues that put our most vulnerable citizens at risk, and felt like I had to speak up to try and help make a change.”
She also made an apparent reference to President Trump and other leaders in the country, saying that the current leaders have engaged in rhetoric that she finds abhorrent. To battle it, she wants to get more involved in politics, particularly in the upcoming 2020 elections.
“Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric,” Swift said. “I’m going to do more to help. We have a big race coming up next year.”
For ELLE’s April issue, @taylorswift13 is sharing 30 lessons she learned before turning 30. “I need to be able to forgive myself for making the wrong choice, trusting the wrong person, or figuratively falling on my face in front of everyone,” she writes. https://t.co/0jNvXQe3RD pic.twitter.com/H5pLIpMpuq
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) March 6, 2019
All this elaborates on what Swift said in October 2018. At that time, she made a post on Instagram saying that she has been hesitant to speak out on political issues, but the past two years forced her to speak out. She said that she has always voted for people who support LGBTQ rights and refuses to vote for anyone who espouses racist opinions. But previously, she had kept that opinion to herself. Now, she says she is willing to speak out in order to support marginalized people.
She also announced that she was voting for Phil Bredesen because he supports gay marriage, LGBTQ rights, and because he would protect women from domestic violence.
Donald Trump famously responded to Swift’s newly-vocal political opinion by saying he liked her music less now.
That doesn’t appear to have deterred Swift, who is pledging to take an even more active role in politics.
