President Donald Trump’s Washington DC celebration took an awkward turn after Taylor Swift’s “august” disappeared from a TikTok posted by the president’s team, prompting Swift fans to celebrate what they viewed as a pointed response. Now, Swift fans and TikTok users are mocking Trump’s celebratory video on TikTok since it literally had to be censored and muted.
Team Trump had recently used Swift’s 2020 song from Folklore in a TikTok marking the arrival of August. The video showed Trump and first lady Melania Trump watching fireworks, accompanied by text celebrating the president and the new month. The video’s caption then appeared to deliberately needle Swift: “I’m sure Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song!”
But the celebration did not go entirely as planned.
The audio was subsequently removed from the TikTok, with the platform displaying a copyright-related notice indicating that the copyright owner had not made the sound available in the relevant country. The apparent removal quickly became the focus of social media reactions, with Swift fans interpreting it as a subtle rebuke to the Trump team.
“TAYLOR REMOVING THE AUDIO QUEEEEEEN,” one TikTok user wrote. Another user took the reaction a step further, writing, “I hope Taylor Swift sues you and wins,” a comment that reportedly drew tens of thousands of likes. Other users mocked the Trump team after the audio vanished. “Is the song with us right now?” one person joked, while another wrote, “sorry what was that? cant hear the song.”
People online assumed Swift didn’t want the MAGA ties
The incident also revived debate over Swift’s political views. The pop star notably endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, putting her publicly at odds with Trump. One user claimed that Swift “would always break MAGA allegations,” while another interpreted the audio removal as Swift effectively saying, “I’m not MAGA.”
However, it remains unclear whether Swift herself personally requested the song’s removal. Neither Swift nor her representatives had publicly explained the situation as of Saturday, and the available information does not establish whether the removal resulted from a direct request, copyright enforcement or TikTok’s licensing system.
The Trump team did not appear to back away from using Swift’s music as a political provocation. A subsequent post referenced her song “Red,” joking that Swift had supposedly written an entire album about the color associated with the Republican Party. For now, the muted “august” video has left Trump’s attempt at a provocative Washington DC celebration with an unexpected soundtrack: silence.
