Former FBI Director James Comey is drawing fire from MAGAworld after posting a five-minute video praising Taylor Swift and calling himself a “Swiftie.”
The 64-year-old published the fawning clip on his Substack, praising the pop star as “a truly inspirational public figure,” and reflecting on her appearance on the New Heights podcast with her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
“Taylor Swift and I go way back,” Comey said of the 35-year-old. “I went to my first concert of hers 15 years ago. I’ve been to a second and I have helped financially support the attendance of a lot of family members and others. I’m in a family’s Swiftie group chat. I know all her music, and I listen to it in my headphones when I cut the grass.”
Comey’s unexpected Swiftie confession didn’t sit well with Trumpworld. White House communications director Steven Cheung called the video “sus” in a post on X. Conservative personality Benny Johnson piled on, writing, “A new James Comey hostage video just dropped. This time he calls himself a ‘Swiftie’ and says Taylor Swift helps him cope with Donald Trump. You really can’t make this up.”
In the clip, Comey, who was relieved of his FBI duties by President Trump in 2017, linked Swift’s resilience to political resistance. “We need to stand up to jerks and defend what matters, but I think we have to try to do that without becoming like them, which is what makes me think about Taylor Swift,” he said.
He also credited her for opposing Trump in 2020: “She’s made clear that she sees Donald Trump for what he is, and last year, she urged Americans not to make the serious mistake of electing him.”
The comparison drew scorn on the right. Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza said Comey was trying “to come across as a normal guy, a Taylor Swift fan, and a champion of civility and decorum,” after “using his power for years to entrap Trump, Flynn and others.”
Right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec wrote on X: “They called me crazy for saying Taylor Swift was an op.”
Comey closed the video by contrasting Swift with Trump directly, “While our elderly makeup-covered president is posting about whether Taylor Swift is still hot and declaring that he can’t stand her, what’s she doing? Living her best life.”
Comey’s video has proved just slightly less provocative than the last social media post to rankle the right. In May, he posted a photo on Instagram, showing seashells forming the numbers 8647.
“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” he wrote in the caption.
In service industry parlance, “86” is widely understood to mean “to toss out” or “to get rid of.” Following assassination attempts on President Donald Trump, the phrase has taken on a darker meaning for MAGA, backed up by Merriam Webster, which states, “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’”
The White House interpreted the photo as just that—a threat against Trump, the 47th U.S. president. “This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Taylor Budowich, White House deputy chief of staff, said in an X post.
