Jesse Watters recently suggested that the agency’s psychological operations unit once pitched the idea of turning the singer into “an asset for combating misinformation online”
There’s no shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding Taylor Swift. In fact, she often encourages them to dig for clues about her upcoming music releases — like whether the snake print boots she was photographed in this week were hinting at a return to her Reputation era. But recently, the conspiring has gone a little off the rails. Earlier this week, Fox News‘ Jesse Watters thought he cracked the code, declaring: “It’s real. The Pentagon psy-op unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online.”
The host claimed that the mission began about four years ago and backed up his theory with a clip from a 2019 NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence conference where a presenter used Swift as an example of a powerful influencer.
In response, the Pentagon has decided to dismiss the claim in favor of spotlighting something far more important. “As for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh shared in a statement, according to Politico. “But that does highlight that we still need Congress to approve our supplemental budget request as Swift-ly as possible so we can be out of the woods with potential fiscal concerns.”
In the past year or so, we’ve seen the FBI use the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) to encourage people to send them tips about federal crimes; Mayors and governors across the United States presenting the singer with keys to the city and full-blown name changes just for showing up in their city on the Eras tour; and senators using Swift’s song lyrics to make puns during the Judiciary Committee’s Ticketmaster hearing in 2022. The plot has never been more lost.
When Time declared Swift as 2023’s Person of the Year in December, it launched right-wing commentators into another conspiracy-fueled fit. They seem to be particularly concerned that the singer — with her extremely large and incredibly young audience — is functioning as a political weapon aimed at the upcoming presidential election.
Essentially, becoming a doomsday prepper, but specifically for the day when Taylor Swift somehow takes over the United States government, is the final step of becoming completely unhinged.
