Taylor Swift's song "August" has been removed from a Donald Trump TikTok post that jokingly claimed she would be "super excited" to hear it, NME reported on August 8. The Team Trump account had posted a video on August 3 showing the president watching fireworks with Melania Trump, with Swift's 2020 song playing behind it; the sound is now unavailable.
Two more of Swift's songs have also gone silent on posts from Trump's team: an earlier video using "Father Figure" has had its audio removed, and fans noticed a third post using "Opalite" was pulled as well. Swift has not commented publicly.
Swift and Trump have clashed repeatedly. In 2024 he called her "unusually beautiful" and claimed her political views were "just an act," and his Truth Social account later shared AI-generated images falsely suggesting she had endorsed his campaign, which he later said he did not know about. Swift went on to endorse Kamala Harris that year, prompting Trump to write, "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT," and to say she would "probably pay a price" for it.
Trump mocked Swift after she was booed at the 2025 Super Bowl, but later congratulated her on her engagement to Travis Kelce, calling her "a terrific person."
Swift joins a growing list of artists who have objected to Trump using their music, including Ariana Grande, who criticized the White House after her song "Bye" appeared in a video of ICE agents detaining people, and Olivia Rodrigo, who accused the administration of using her music to promote "racist, hateful propaganda." Kesha, Boards of Canada, Sabrina Carpenter, the Rolling Stones, Adele, Neil Young, Jack White, ABBA, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters and Eddy Grant have made similar objections, per NME.
The dust-up comes in a busy year for Swift otherwise, which has also included her induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame's 2026 class.
The facts
- August was removed from an August 3 Team Trump TikTok
- The post had joked Swift would be super excited about it
- Father Figure and Opalite were also muted on other Trump posts
- Trump and Swift have repeatedly clashed since 2024
- Trump mocked her at the 2025 Super Bowl, then called her a terrific person
- Other artists including Grande and Rodrigo have made similar objections
How this checks out
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Reported by 2 independent outlets
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