Images of Taylor Swift 'endorsing' Trump were AI-generated

Editor's note: On Sept. 10, Taylor Swift announced that she plans to vote for Kamala Harris. In an Instagram post, she wrote: 

"Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. " 

This story continues as originally published in August. 

On Aug. 18, former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shared social media posts suggesting Taylor Swift endorsed him for president. 

“I accept!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social along with several screenshots of images. One appeared to show Swift dressed up like Uncle Sam with text that reads “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” The others show several groups of young women wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts. 

VERIFY reader Nancy texted us to ask if Swift actually endorsed Trump, as the post implies.

THE QUESTION

Did Taylor Swift endorse former President Donald Trump?

THE SOURCES

• Review of Taylor Swift’s social media accounts
• X posts from @Amuse between Aug. 17 and Aug. 19
• Aug. 16 X post from Wisconsin Right Now, an online news outlet
• Aug. 17 Wisconsin Right Now YouTube video
• V Magazine interview with Taylor Swift published on Oct. 7, 2020
• Taylor Swift Oct. 7, 2020, X post
• RevEye, a reverse image search tool

THE ANSWER

No, Taylor Swift hasn’t endorsed former President Donald Trump. 

WHAT WE FOUND

As of Aug. 19, Swift has not publicly endorsed any candidate in the 2024 presidential election. VERIFY checked Swift’s social media accounts, national news organizations and Swift fan sites and found no evidence of an endorsement. We also reached out to Swift’s team but did not receive a response. 

In the 2020 election, during an interview with Vanity Fair, Swift said she was going to vote for Biden, not Trump. She also posted her support of Biden and Harris on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 7, 2020.

On Truth Social, Trump shared his acceptance of what appears to be a Swift endorsement along with a collage of social media posts that feature images of young women wearing “Swifties for Trump” shirts. Of the images he shared, only two are real. The rest are fake and are likely made with artificial intelligence. 

The image that appears to show Swift endorsing Trump, the bottom left image of Swift dressed up like Uncle Sam, was made with artificial intelligence. That image was originally posted by X account @akafacehots on Aug. 17. The hat’s texture in the image is cartoonish and the hand is distorted at the knuckles and isn’t to scale with the rest of the body. 

The images of the groups of young women wearing different “Swifties for Trump” shirts were also made with AI. Many of the women appear to look the same or similar and the image creator said it was satire. VERIFY also conducted a reverse image search and found no news outlets writing about any large “Swifties for Trump” rallies.

While those images are fake, the pictures on the bottom right and rop right of the woman with blonde hair and the “Swifties for Trump” shirt are real. The woman pictured is 19-year-old Jenna Piwowarczyk. VERIFY was able to trace the photos from Trump’s post to ones posted to Wisconsin Right Now’s X account on Aug. 16.

On Aug. 17, Wisconsin Right Now posted this video of Piwowarczyk in the “Swifties for Trump” shirt and she acknowledged that a picture of herself wearing the shirt was going viral on a X. She said she met Trump while wearing the shirt during a June 18 rally in Racine, Wisconsin. 

VERIFY reached out to the Trump campaign but did not hear back at the time of publication.