NEW YORK: TaylorSwift, currently promoting the release of her latest album, has accused DonaldTrump of treating his White House reign as an "autocracy," in a newpolitical turn for the singer. "We're a democracy - at least, we'resupposed to be - where you're allowed to disagree, dissent, debate," thepop star said in snippets of an interview teased Friday by The Guardian.Speaking about the US president, the 29-year-old said, "I really thinkthat he thinks this is an autocracy."
In Americanpolitics, Swift said, "all the dirtiest tricks in the book were used andit worked." She described the current state of affairs as"gaslighting the American public into being like, 'If you hate the president,you hate America.'" Swift has faced criticism in the past for shying frompolitics, especially in 2016 when she did not use her enormous platform toendorse a candidate in the pivotal presidential vote.
Now she says sheis "remorseful" for not speaking up during that election, saying inhindsight she would have backed Hillary Clinton. But Swift said at the time herrow with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian along with her mother's cancer diagnosishad her keeping a low profile. "I was just trying to protect my mentalhealth - not read the news very much, go cast my vote, tell people tovote," she said in the interview, set for full publication Saturday.
"I just knewwhat I could handle and I knew what I couldn't. I was literally about tobreak." Swift spoke out last October ahead of the 2018 midterm vote,endorsing the Democrat running for US Senate in her home state of Tennessee andciting the Republican candidate's poor record on women's rights. She told TheGuardian she would "do everything I can for 2020," pointing toongoing battles threatening a woman's right to choose the option of abortion.
Isolated Trump
Meanwhile, anisolated President Donald Trump arrived yesterday for the G7 summit in Biarritzbearing threats of tariffs against host France and a decision to deepen histrade war with China, despite fears of US or even global recession. Trumpdislikes the kind of multilateral forums epitomized by the G7, insisting on apolicy of "America first" and his own skills, honed in a real estatecareer, of one-to-one deal making.
Ahead of thesummit in the elegant French seaside resort, he has criticized most of hispartners, rowing with them over Iran, trade, global warming and Brexit. And onthe eve of his trip, he brushed aside concerns of global economic slowdown toexchange new tariffs with China, insisting "we'll win." In anotherpiece of brinkmanship, he also confirmed right before departing on the MarineOne helicopter that he would retaliate against France's iconic wine exports ifPresident Emmanuel Macron didn't retreat on a new tax that will hit US digitalgiants like Google.
"We'll betaxing their wine like they've never seen before," he vowed. The other G7leaders - from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - are waitingfor Trump with a mixture of alarm and resignation. Macron has even decided thatfor the first time the G7 won't issue a group statement at the end of thesummit, given the extent of divisions. At last year's meeting in Canada, Trumpwithdrew his signature in a fury at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Itwould be "pointless," Macron said.
World economy atstake?
Other G7 leadersare already alarmed at the fallout from the escalating US-China trade war. ButTrump, bullish as ever, steeply ramped up tariffs against China on Friday afterBeijing slapped its own new tariffs against US products. Trump says he alone isable to take on the Chinese after decades of intellectual property theft and aslate of other unfair trading practices. He called the struggle "a littlespat." At the G7 he is expected to seek allies, but the other leaders aredeeply skeptical about whether Trump's crusade can ever succeed - or whether itwill tip a slowing world economy over the edge.
The first workingevent of the G7 will be a session early Sunday that the White Housespecifically asked at the "last minute" to be added to the agenda: ameeting of the leaders on economic growth. Trump will tell his partners"to write the rules for this century, in contrast to the unfair tradepractices that we see coming out of China," a senior administrationofficial told reporters. Trump will also urge the Europeans, Canada and Japanto shake up their own economies along US lines. "You'll have the presidentreally engaging in honest conversations," the official said.
Cozy no more
Despite thediplomatic storm clouds gathering over Biarritz, on the Atlantic coast, Trumpsaid the trip "will be very productive." But there are questions overthe future of the G7 as Trump's nationalist approach turns it into somethingmore like a 6+1. G7s always used to be cozy affairs, giving the leaders oflike-minded, capitalist democracies a chance to relax and talk frankly in thecontext of largely shared values.
However, there isincreasingly little common ground between Trump and what would ordinarily beamong the closest of US allies. Yet another diplomatic hand grenade went offdays before the trip, when Trump reiterated his desire to recreate the G8format with Russia, expelled in 2014 after Vladimir Putin's invasion ofCrimea.- Agencies