'Just an act?' Trump argues Taylor Swift is 'pretending to be liberal'

A new book by Variety editor Ramin Setoodeh revealed Donald Trump wonders if pop star Taylor Swift is only pretending to dislike him — despite her being an open critic and confessing online during the 2020 election year she wishes she'd spoken out against him "two years ago."

Trump conceded she was "probably liberal" when speaking to Setoodeh in one of six conversations.

“I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented,” Trump told Setoodeh for his book, "Apprentice in Wonderland." “I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!”

The excerpt of the book, which first appeared in Variety, also quoted Trump saying she was likely just pretending to be a liberal.

“She is liberal, or is that just an act?” he asked Setoodeh.

“She’s legitimately liberal? It’s not an act? It surprises me that a country star can be successful being liberal," Trump said of the "Bad Blood" writer.

Swift may have begun her career as a country star, but she crossed over to pop music in 2014, a year before Trump announced he was running for president.

A Trump campaign official begged Swift not to support President Joe Biden in 2024, warning it would turn Trump's “culture-warrior dial up to 11.” The comment is a reference to the mockumentary "This is Spinal Tap" in which a character has an amplifier made to turn the music up louder than the standard ten.

“It would be more fuel thrown onto the culture-war fires,” the official said. “Another left-wing celebrity who is part of the Democrat elite telling you what to think.”

Swift released an emotional video in 2020 in which she was debating politics with her family and whether she should speak out against Trump.

“Don’t get involved. Don’t get involved in politics; we don’t want to see you there,” Fox News host Jeanine Pirro pleaded with Swift. “Joe Biden is in (a) hole with young people, he knows it. And if he thinks Taylor can get him out of that hole, he’s gonna go for it.”

Swift also voiced her thoughts on Trump in her song "You Need to Calm Down," which was released on Trump’s birthday.

“I ain’t tryna mess with your self-expression, but I have learnt the lesson that stressin’ and obsessin’ ‘bout somebody else is no fun," Swift sings in the song.

She also references people who post shade on Twitter early in the morning as "a copout." The line is widely believed to target Trump.

“Apprentice in Wonderland" is set to be released next week.