„Wipe the makeup off his face”

Trump’s bizarre attack on Taylor Swift and the reactions.

It was a moment that stood out even among the long list of Donald Trump's verbal missteps. From the Middle East, where he was attending diplomatic meetings as President of the United States, Trump used his platform on Truth Social to launch an out-of-nowhere attack on Taylor Swift. “Has anyone noticed that Taylor Swift is no longer ‘HOT’ since I said I HATE her?” he wrote – a statement that seemed strange even by Trump’s standards.

Taylor Swift, who continues to perform in sold-out stadiums and dominates the charts, had neither mentioned Trump nor made any political statements in recent weeks. But for Trump, this seemed irrelevant. His words were a direct attack on the singer – and the reactions were swift.

One of the loudest voices came from singer Azealia Banks, who mocked the president on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “People really want to BE Taylor Swift and would trade their realities out in a heartbeat to do so and that’s just tragic.” And then she added, “Trump is the president of the USA and wants to be a popular blonde singer-songwriter. This is insane. When is somebody going to wipe the makeup off his face because the sassy peach is feeling it again. This is embarrassing.”

Her biting response reflected what many were thinking: A president, caught between diplomatic meetings in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, suddenly attacking a pop star – it seemed like a bizarre farce. Other critics accused Trump of behaving like a “snarky teenager.” “Since when is it appropriate for a sitting president to be doing dumb stuff like this?” Banks continued. “Isn’t Trump like 83? Diapers. Jeezus.”

But while many on X and other platforms laughed at or were outraged by Trump’s post, there was also the other side – his supporters, the “MAGA” crowd, who celebrated him for his “fearlessness.” For them, it was yet another sign that Trump refused to be controlled, that he would say whatever he thought, no matter how absurd or offensive it might be.

Yet beneath the spectacle of headlines and social media comments lies a deeper truth: A president who loses himself in public insults while on a diplomatic mission is a president who is giving away his own dignity. And when even pop stars like Taylor Swift and Azealia Banks can publicly take him down, it shows just how much the shine of his office has faded.