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\n\tTaylor Swift<\/a> and Bad Bunny<\/a> are both major superstars \u2014 and they\u2019ve shared some parallels<\/a> in their careers and discographies for several years. Now, they\u2019re even using the same playbook to deal with taunts and baiting from Donald Trump<\/a> and the White House\u2019s social media teams.<\/p>\n \n\tSince Trump took office during his second term, he and his administration have been using social media as part of their communication strategy. The propaganda-like, rage-bait-style clips often lean into internet culture and use popular music to make light of Trump\u2019s most egregious actions, like his immigration policy<\/a> and war-hungry<\/a> foreign policy.<\/p>\n \n\tOlivia Rodrigo<\/a>, Katy Perry<\/a>, Ariana Grande<\/a>, and Noah Kahan<\/a> are just some of the artists who have had their music used in these videos without their permission \u2014 and vehemently spoken out against these actions and against the president. In the past couple of weeks, the Trump administration seems to have wanted to provoke a response from two of the world\u2019s biggest superstars: Bad Bunny and Swift.<\/p>\n \n\tOn July 30, the official White House TikTok used \u201cLa Mudanza\u201d for a particularly tone-deaf video<\/a> about immigration that celebrated the number of deportations under Trump. A week later, a video with text that said, \u201cmood because it\u2019s August and Donald Trump is your president\u201d set to Swift\u2019s \u201cAugust\u201d was uploaded by Team Trump, the president\u2019s official campaign account. The caption was an overt provocation: \u201cI\u2019m sure Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song,\u201d it read. Days later, another<\/a> clip from the same account featured an edited version of Swift\u2019s Red<\/em> album cover with text that said, \u201cDid you know that Taylor Swift wrote a whole album about the color of the Republican party?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNeither musician has released a public statement denouncing the use of their music in Trump\u2019s videos.\u00a0Instead, two of the world\u2019s biggest superstars quietly removed their songs from videos posted by official accounts linked to the Trump administration. (It\u2019s unclear if there is a TikTok feature that allows selective sound muting on videos or if the respective teams reached out to the social media accounts directly.) The tracks are still available for other TikTok accounts to use in their videos, making their silence a pointed \u2014 and smart \u2014 approach. Both Bad Bunny and Swift seem to recognize the president and his administration\u2019s tactics for what they are: antagonizing moves that keep the Trump conversation centered on his social media presence, rather than his actual policies and the harm they commit. Why would they add their star power to the conversation and stoke the flames when that\u2019s exactly what the White House appears to want?<\/p>\n