Taylor Swift: Trump is “gaslighting the American public”

Taylor Swift, who has for years maintained a strict apolitical stance, is pivoting into more opinionated territory. In a new interview with The Guardian's Laura Snapes, she makes those opinions explicit, likening Donald Trump's presidency to an autocracy and says that he's “gaslighting the American public into being like, ‘If you hate the president, you hate America.’” Elsewhere in the interview, which is out in full tomorrow, she confirms that she's "obviously" pro-choice.

As for the criticism Swift faced for not clearly endorsing a candidate during the 2016 election, she tells Snapes that she feels “really remorseful for not saying anything,” but that her public image during that period made her feel like a "hindrance." “I was just trying to protect my mental health," she says. "Not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people to vote. I just knew what I could handle and I knew what I couldn’t. I was literally about to break.” Going forward, she says she plans to “do everything I can for 2020.”

Swift's seventh album, Lover, dropped today. Stream it below.