Jesse Watters has aired a bizarre conspiracy theory that Taylor Swift’s meteoric rise is a government ‘psyop’ to win the election for Joe Biden.
Former Trump Administration officials and far-right figures have long speculated this about the pop megastar due to her politics and popularity.
But in recent days they have rediscovered a 2019 NATO conference presentation about combating misinformation, which they believe is evidence.
Swift was only mentioned in passing as an example of an influencer big enough for the government to work with in promoting a particular message.
Watters on Tuesday night put the conspiracy theory into the mainstream, despite admitting he ‘obviously has no evidence’.
Presenter Alicia Marie Bargar illustrated her point with this photo of Swift encouraging her millions of fans to vote on election day in 2016 – and not even saying who to vote for
Taylor Swift was mentioned in passing at the International Conference on Cyber Conflict conference as an example of an influencer big enough for the government to work with in countering online misinformation
‘Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?’ he asked, implying the government orchestrated Swift becoming the biggest celebrity of 2023 so she could be used as a covert Democratic Party agent.
‘Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting.
‘What kind of asset? A psyop for combatting online misinformation.
‘Yeah, that’s real. The Pentagon psyop unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset.’
Watters ended his spiel by admitting he ‘obviously has no evidence’ that Swift was ‘a front for a covert political agenda’.
‘If we did, we’d share it… but we’re curious because the popstar who endorsed Biden is urging millions of her followers to vote,’ he said.
However, Watters’ characterization of the presentation was not accurate, as Swift was discussed for a matter of seconds in a 90-minute presentation.
The speech was also not by a ‘Pentagon psyop unit’, but Alicia Marie Bargar, a then-research engineer at Johns Hopkins University who now works at Shopify.
Her presentation at the International Conference on Cyber Conflict conference in August 2019 was titled ‘Challenges and Opportunities to Counter Information Operations Through Social Network Analysis and Theory’.
Jesse Watters on Tuesday night put the conspiracy theory into the mainstream, despite admitting he ‘obviously has no evidence’
Bargar discusses her research about how misinformation spreads online, from ISIS to health conspiracies, and various ways to identify and counter it.
‘The first one, and the most common [example of influence], is working with famous people or influencers to share information of a particular message,’ she said.
‘I include Taylor Swift in here because she’s a fairly influential online person, I don’t know if you’ve heard of her.’
Bargar illustrated her point with a photo of Swift encouraging her millions of fans to vote on election day in 2016 – and not even saying who to vote for.
‘Celebrities, at least in the U.S., regularly will post pictures of themselves with an encouragement for people to go vote and this has a measurable affect on voter turnout,’ she said.
However, she noted the risk with this approach was that the celebrity may not want to share what you want, or make the misinformation worse with clumsy delivery.
The presentation then moved on to other ways to combat misinformation, such as working with particular communities.
Watters brought on former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan to bolster the conspiracy theory that Swift was secretly working for the Biden campaign.
Watters dragged Swift’s boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce (pictured together), into the segment implying he was part of the supposed ‘psyop’ as he was ‘Mr Pfizer’
Kaplan said that the president’s PR team would do well to contact a celebrity like Swift who shared their values and had a legion of fans.
The celebrity could then be induced to give ‘public service announcements’ that were, he said, ‘analogous to the old days of the deployment of a psyop’.
‘In modern times, with these people having such influence and an immeasurable amount of followers, she can potentially single-handedly swing voters… so the answer is yes, Jesse,’ he said.
‘It is possible that Taylor Swift doesn’t realize she is being used in a covert manner to swing voters.’
The arrangement Kaplan described was identical to advertising deals brands from Apple to Nescafe strike with celebrities on a daily basis.
Watters pointed out that thousands of young people registered to vote after Swift encouraged them, and asked ‘I wonder who got to her?’
Swift has long been targeted by former Trump Administration officials and other far-right figures as someone they believe to be secretly working with the Democrats.
‘The Taylor Swift girlboss psyop has been fully activated,’ one wrote after the singer was named Time’s Person of the Year last month.
‘From her hand-selected vaccine shill boyfriend to her DINK lifestyle to her upcoming 2024 voter operation for Democrats on abortion rights. It’s all coming.’
‘The Taylor Swift girlboss psyop has been fully activated,’ one wrote after the singer was named Time’s Person of the Year last month
After seeing the NATO conference video on Tuesday, Jeff Clark, who was assistant attorney general in the Trump White House, declared ‘Taylor Swift is a Trojan Horse’
Another former Trump official, ex-senior advisor Stephen Miller, insisted ‘what’s happening with Taylor Swift is not organic’.
Speculation about Swift being used by the Democrats to drum up votes ramped up after she was named Time’s Person of the Year last month
Jeff Clark, who was assistant attorney general in the Trump White House, shared this post approvingly.
‘This is what happens when we cede culture to the Left. Brainless youth raising themselves on Taylor Swift’s saccharine bland music and that washing over into the serious world of politics,’ he added on December 6.
Clark likened a hypothetical Dwayne Johnson and Taylor Swift presidential ticket to the plot of 2006 satirical film Idiocracy, where future society has devolved so badly an average 20th Century person is considered a genius.
After seeing the NATO conference video on Tuesday, Clark declared ‘Taylor Swift is a Trojan Horse’.
Another former Trump official, ex-senior advisor Stephen Miller, insisted ‘what’s happening with Taylor Swift is not organic’.
An alt-right Twitter account regularly shared by Elon Musk also speculated Swift would be used by the Democrats to drum up votes for Biden.
‘Taylor Swift has a cult-like following that would drink poisoned Kool Aid for her,’ it wrote.
‘The next step? Politics. If you don’t think the regime has plans to weaponize her just in time for 2024, you clearly have not been paying attention.’