logo
Taylor Swift v Donald Trump: the enemies compared in charts

Taylor Swift v Donald Trump: the enemies compared in charts

Times16 hours ago
President Trump has billed himself as a peacemaker, but there is one war between entrenched armies that he is determined to wage — his feud with Taylor Swift.
This month Trump declared, in block capitals, that Swift was 'no longer hot'. The pop superstar did not respond directly, but a rebuke of sorts came two weeks later as she announced her new album, The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift's appearance on the New Heights podcast alongside her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, to promote the album beat her rival's viewership record: 1.3 million watched the opening 60 minutes, against 800,000 who tuned in for the first hour of Trump's appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience before last year's election.
Kelce and Swift on the New Heights podcast
BACKGRID
Trump's conversation with Joe Rogan covered UFOs, murder plots and claims of electoral fraud
JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
Trump and Swift both have a claim to being defining figures of 21st-century America. How else do they match up head to head?
Swift has built a vast business empire from her wildly popular music. Thanks to the value of her back catalogue and record-breaking Eras tour, Forbes estimates she is worth $1.6 billion.
Trump, however, has real estate all over the world, as well as stocks and cryptocurrency holdings. Taken together, he is worth about $5.1 billion.
Trump's use of social media has fuelled his political rise and he revels in upending the news agenda with a single post.
Yet even in this domain, Swift comes out on top for sheer numbers.
Across all platforms — Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and Trump's own Truth Social — Swift has about 747 million followers. Trump has 229 million. When it comes to 'likes' on Instagram, Swift wins comprehensively. She averages 6.6 million per post, while Trump's account draws 195,000.
Swift has beaten Trump in Google search interest only 17 times in the past decade. For much of that time the president has been far ahead, largely thanks to his never being out of the news.
Occasions when Swift has been more searched include November 2021, when she released the 'Taylor's Version' of her Red album.
Trump generally garners more interest on Wikipedia, too.
Trump flies on Air Force One for official business but also has 'Trump Force One', a custom Boeing 747. Swift has a Dassault Falcon 7X. This is how they measure up:
Swift could splash $250 million on a 747 if she wished, though given controversy about her carbon footprint as a result of private-jet usage, she is probably happy to concede this one to Trump.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'Trump's sanitising history for his own power - we've moved beyond an Orwellian
'Trump's sanitising history for his own power - we've moved beyond an Orwellian

Metro

time5 minutes ago

  • Metro

'Trump's sanitising history for his own power - we've moved beyond an Orwellian

The world-renowned Smithsonian Museums give America a negative reputation. At least, that's what Donald Trump thinks. The museum is the latest target of Trump's 'clean-up' of Washington DC. He claims it focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was', and spreads 'anti-American ideology'. The White House has said current and former exhibitions at the museum will undergo a review to make sure they align with Trump's agenda and view of history. Historian and propaganda academic Ian Garner told Metro: 'What Trump is doing looks like a pretty naked attempt at sanitising history in order to maximise his own power.' If Trump's attempts to change how the Smithsonian retells the story of America, he could go beyond skewing understanding of the past and present – but also the direction of the future, Garner warned. 'Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. 'And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.' Those words were written by George Orwell in his dystopian novel 1984. Regarded as his magnum opus, it is a critique of authoritarianism and warns against the loss of individual thought. It ends with the protagonist Winston Smith agreeing with 'Big Brother', which represents the authoritarian government that wants him to believe that 2+2=5. But Garner points out: 'We now live in a world where we can have the main character believing that 2 + 2 equals 5, but also 10, 12, 14, 28, and anything else, because people can hold all of these things in their heads all at once in the digital world. And that's something that we haven't faced before. 'We've moved beyond Orwell, because we're no longer living in the world of analogue communications of television and newspapers. Orwell couldn't have conceived the confusion that we end up with in the present, in the social media era, where reality can be constantly reconstructed,' he added. That reconstruction of reality is still in its early stages, Garner said, but the danger is real and needs to be recognised. There are a few displays and museums that Trump isn't happy with. One exhibit is about Benjamin Franklin, and lists his scientific discoveries, linking them to the slaves he owned. Another reference is to George Floyd's death, which Trump says puts police in a bad light. Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.' But the museum has already made changes to its exhibits, removing mentions of Trump's impeachment at the American History Museum. If Trump goes further in his attempts to amend exhibits and how they portray history, Garner explained it would damage the reputation of the museum and perpetuate the idea that there is a 'false history' and a 'real history'. Past autocracies have had words for things they deem false, or not enough in line with the country – Stalin referred to these things and ideas that weren't loyal to the Soviet Union as 'cosmopolitan'. Trump's word of choice? 'Woke'. In a tangent on Truth Social about museums, Trump wrote: 'I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities, where tremendous progress has been made. 'This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the 'HOTTEST' Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.' 'Woke' is an empty vessel of a word, which has become meaningless, Garner argues – but by deploying it, people like Trump and his allies are trying to shut off or close off discussion about the past. Historically, governments have always wanted to control elements of the past, pump out certain narratives. But the more authoritarian the government becomes, the more that version of the past becomes central to their governing idea, and the less tolerance they're able to allow in representing the past. 'Everybody does it,' Garner said. 'But more recently, Hitler did it, Mussolini did it, Stalin did it, and Putin does it. So it doesn't matter whether Trump now goes ahead and changes exhibits in the Smithsonian or not. 'What matters is that he's put out the idea that this should happen, that the Smithsonian is some sort of 'woke' institution that needs to be reformed.' 'They bury it under this torrent of emotion, so that we're not really talking about the past at all. We're just talking about anger, about fury, about rage, disillusionment,' Garner adds. More Trending 'And these are the emotions that brought Trump to power in the first place. That's what he wants people to be engaging in, not the history or the present or the future of the country at all.' It's unclear how far the overhaul of museums in Washington, DC, will go, but if it's anything like Orwell wrote about in his novel, it won't stop just at reangling history in museums: 'Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful. 'Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Trump says he wants to get to heaven but is at the bottom of the totem pole MORE: Zelensky should never have to hand over land to Putin MORE: What could happen if Zelensky and Putin actually meet?

WH Smith shares tumble after £30 million accounting error
WH Smith shares tumble after £30 million accounting error

The Independent

time5 minutes ago

  • The Independent

WH Smith shares tumble after £30 million accounting error

WH Smith has warned its yearly profits will be lower than expected due to an accounting error in the US. Shares in the London -listed travel retailer were down by about a third on Thursday morning. WH Smith said it discovered its trading profit in North America had been overstated by about £30 million when reviewing its finances. The error related to how it calculated the amount of supplier income it received, leading it to be recognised too early. The retailer is now expecting a trading profit for the US of about £25 million for the year to August – a cut from the previous £55 million forecast. As a result, the company lowered its outlook for annual pre-tax profits to around £110 million. The London-listed business incorporates its travel locations, such as shops in airports, train stations and hospitals, which total about 1,300 around the world. Whereas the high street chain of about 480 shops was sold to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital in June. As part of the deal, the WH Smith name will disappear from British high streets and be replaced by the brand, TGJones. The travel locations were not included in the sale and will not be changing. WH Smith shares were down by about 35 per cent in early trading on Thursday.

Judge Frank Caprio's final message to fans in heartfelt Instagram video
Judge Frank Caprio's final message to fans in heartfelt Instagram video

The Independent

time5 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Judge Frank Caprio's final message to fans in heartfelt Instagram video

issued a final farewell message to his fans in a heartfelt Instagram video before his death on Wednesday (20 August) following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In the video, recorded from his hospital bed, he says: "Unfortunately, I've had a setback, so I'm asking you to remember me in your prayers.' Nicknamed "the nicest judge in the world" after going viral on the TV show Caught in Providence, he was known for his humour and kindness while making judgements in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, during a career which spanned more than 40 years.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store