Taylor Swift songs removed from Trump campaign and White House TikToks

The @TeamTrump TikTok account began the week with a provocation: I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song! The video, which showed President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watching fireworks from a balcony, used Swift's 2020 track "August" accompanied by the text, Mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president.

By Friday, August 7, US users found the audio stripped from the post. According to ibtimes.co.uk and Huffingtonpost, the music was replaced by standard copyright notices stating This sound isn’t available or The copyright owner hasn’t made this sound available in your country.

Related YouTube video

This removal is part of a broader pattern of disappearing audio across Trump-affiliated accounts. A Team Trump video featuring the song "Father Figure," posted on 6 November 2025, also had its audio removed, as reported by ibtimes.co.uk and Freepressjournal. However, the policing appears selective; ibtimes.co.uk reports that a November 2025 video on the official White House TikTok account featuring "The Fate of Ophelia" remained intact during recent checks.

The technical friction follows a shift in legal leverage. Swift officially regained ownership of her original master recordings and copyrights in May 2025 after a six-year struggle, according to Aol.

The Trump team responded to the removals by posting a live version of the song "Red." This video featured a mock-up of the album cover that replaced Swift's portrait with an image of Trump wearing a red MAGA hat and a fake Red (Donald Trump's Version) playlist. The caption claimed the singer wrote a whole album about the colour of the Republican Party, and reworked song titles into political slogans, including Everything Has Changed (At Our Southern Border) and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (The Biden Harris Administration), according to aol.com and Ibtimes. This audio was also subsequently removed.

The current dispute is the latest flashpoint in a feud that began in October 2018. Following Swift's endorsement of Democratic candidates in Tennessee, Trump remarked that he liked her music less, according to aol.com. Tension escalated in September 2024 when Swift endorsed Kamala Harris on Instagram, stating she was voting for Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.

Trump responded on Truth Social by posting I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT! and later questioned if the singer was no longer "HOT?" since he had expressed his dislike. He further claimed she is a very liberal person who would probably pay a price for it in the marketplace, according to aol.com. This contrasted with previous proclamations that she was talented, as noted by huffingtonpost.co.uk.

Timeline of Political and Cultural Friction

• October 2018: Swift endorses Democratic candidates in Tennessee; Trump criticizes her political involvement.
• 2020: Swift posts that Trump is WELL AWARE we do not want him as our president.
• September 2024: Swift endorses Kamala Harris; Trump posts I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT! on Truth Social.
• May 2025: Swift regains ownership of her original master recordings.
• July 2026: Following Swift's wedding to Travis Kelce, the White House posts an altered image of a Madison Square Garden digital marquee reading Trump Is Your President.

Swift is not the only artist challenging the administration's use of their work. According to Cbc, dozens of musicians, including Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, have called for the administration to stop using their music.

Despite these protests, the administration continues to pair popular music with political imagery. cbc.ca reports that the White House shared a video in April featuring the Artemis II crew meeting with the president, utilizing the track "High Infidelity" and the lyric: Do you really want to know where I was April 29th?

In June, the @TeamTrump account—which has approximately 14 million followers—posted a video of Trump dancing at a UFC event, appearing at a rally, and interacting with children. The clip used the song "I Knew It, I Knew You" from Toy Story 5, accompanied by a caption claiming Nobody loves our country & the American People more than @President Donald J Trump, according to freepressjournal.in.

The administration's communications team has also used hit songs to underscore footage of US military operations against Iran, the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and immigration crackdowns, according to cbc.ca and freepressjournal.in. When questioned about the provocative nature of these posts, a White House spokesperson told multiple news outlets that such videos were created specifically because the administration knew news outlets would breathlessly amplify them.

It remains unclear whether these audio removals are being initiated manually by Swift's rights holders, her label, or through TikTok's automated systems.

Swift has not recently spoken publicly about Trump or commented on the latest use and removal of her songs, according to freepressjournal.in.