'This is exhausting'
Trump proves Swift's point

"I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" That's what Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform this week. He's a little late. Most of the rest of America figured out whether they were Swifties or haters at least three albums ago. Of course, Trump wasn't referring to the billionaire pop star's music, but to her endorsement of his rival Kamala Harris. I can't imagine any other president reacting with such petulance. Nixon or Johnson might have thought something similar if a superstar opposed them, but they would never have uttered it in public.
The only former world leaders I can think of with a similar small-mindedness and lack of impulse control are would-be authoritarians: the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, for example, who once called the U.S. ambassador a "gay son of a bitch." Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, who said a congresswoman was too ugly to be "worth raping." Or outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has labeled rivals and journalists "pimps" and "dirt." Yet even they had more self-discipline than to throw a tantrum about a singer.
I realize that this is far from the most egregious thing Trump has said in just the past few weeks. At the debate, he repeated the lie that Haitian immigrants were eating cats, while a few days later he called migrants "TERRORISTS, CRIMINALS, AND MENTALLY INSANE." But that's exactly the point. All these rants pile up, to remind us of the nonstop cycle of outrage that characterized Trump's years in office.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That's what Swift was referencing in her endorsement, when she said she thought America should be led by "calm, not chaos." And it's what she was getting at in the spoken-word portion in one of her old hits from 2012. Talking of a tedious man who keeps begging for her attention, she says, "I just, I mean — this is exhausting, you know? Like, we are never getting back together. Like, ever." The question is how many voters feel the same.
This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Susan Caskie is The Week's international editor and was a member of the team that launched The Week's U.S. print edition. She has worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Transitions magazine, and UN Wire, and reads a bunch of languages.
-
JD Vance rises as MAGA heir apparent
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The vice president is taking an increasingly proactive role in a MAGA movement roiled by scandal and anxious about a post-Trump future
-
Congress should 'step in' to block Trump's White House ballroom makeover
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additions
Speed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
Eighty years after Hiroshima: how close is nuclear conflict?
Today's Big Question Eight decades on from the first atomic bomb 'we have blundered into a new age of nuclear perils'
-
Epstein: A boon for Democrats?
Feature Democrats' push to release the Epstein files splits the GOP, sending the House into an early summer recess
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oil
Speed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
Israel faces international anger as Gazans starve
Feature World leaders pressure Israel to let in aid as famine spreads across Gaza
-
Redistricting: How the GOP could win in 2026
Feature Trump pushes early redistricting in Texas to help Republicans keep control of the House in next year's elections