Taylor Swift stepped out for a very visible dinner with Sabrina Carpenter in New York City on Friday night — the kind of outing where the avant-garde “English Teacher” Thom Browne ensemble, the Gucci slingback platforms (yes, the same designer she name-drops in “Cancelled!”), and the “I know you’re watching” sidewalk stride all worked together. But while the photos (and the height comparisons) hit the timeline in record time, something else did too: a second Trump-administration TikTok using one of Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl tracks. And once again, Swift said nothing.
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Let’s back up. Three days earlier, the official White House TikTok account posted a video set to Swift’s single “The Fate of Ophelia,” recut as “The Fate of America” and paired with footage of the military, a missile launch, J.D. Vance, and President Donald J. Trump’s mugshot, per Rolling Stone. Then, on the same night Swift dined with Carpenter, another TikTok from Trump’s official campaign account surfaced — this time using “Father Figure.” Two songs in one week. Two political videos built on Swift’s work. Zero response.
It’s the contrast that’s impossible to ignore, because if there’s one thing Swift has been historically allergic to, it’s unauthorized use of her music or image. She pulled her entire catalog off Spotify in 2014 over compensation concerns. In 2017, her legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to blogger Meghan Herning over an essay linking Swift to alt-right symbolism, prompting the ACLU to step in and publicly call the move “a heavy-handed attempt to silence a critic.”
Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter are seen on Friday, November 7, 2025 in New York City, the same day one of Trump’s official accounts used a track of “The Life of a Showgirl” in a video.
And it isn’t just public figures. Fans have felt the legal perimeter, too. In 2015, a UK couple had their wedding video muted entirely on YouTube after Swift’s “Shake It Off” played during their first dance — vows, speeches, and all. That wasn’t an isolated glitch; Swift’s team has reportedly issued DMCA claims on fan-uploaded videos, even when they weren’t monetized.
When the president she’s publicly opposed — the same one who blasted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social last year and the same one she accused of using an AI-generated Swift to fake an endorsement — turns around and uses her music for political messaging, and Swift, who openly endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024, says nothing, fans notice. As one put it, “This is the second video with a Taylor Swift song and Swifties are still coming up with excuses. She could say something at any time.” Another was even blunter: “Taylor hasn’t said a word. She’s letting us know who she is.”
And the silence isn’t happening in a vacuum. The Life of a Showgirl era is already testing her base’s patience: Over 30 physical album variants, costing north of $650 for completists, limited Instagram comments, lyrics seen as dog whistles, and a teaser video flagged by YouTube as “altered or synthetic content,” which fans described as “the billionaire using AI to promote a record.”
Meanwhile, another artist in her lane handled things very differently. When the Trump administration used Olivia Rodrigo’s “All-American Bitch” in an ICE-themed self-deportation video this week, Rodrigo called it out within hours, labeling it “racist, hateful propaganda.” It’s a clean point of comparison because Swift could have done the same — and didn’t. And that contrast hits even harder when you remember their history: in 2021, Swift and her co-writers were quietly added to the credits of two Rodrigo songs (“1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back” and “deja vu”) after Rodrigo interpolated Swift’s work, a move that kicked off a whole discourse about power, ownership, and how fast music credits can get sorted out when the people at the top decide they matter.
So yes, Swift gave the internet a Sabrina Carpenter dinner moment. But the bigger story may be what she didn’t do: respond, object, or even acknowledge that the sitting president has now used two of her songs for political messaging. For an artist known for controlling every pixel of her narrative, this silence doesn’t feel accidental. It feels like part of the strategy — and fans are starting to say that out loud.
Click here to see all the times Donald Trump has gone off about celebrity women’s looks.