If You Have A Friend With Differing Political Views, This Is For You

After memorizing the lyrics she’s penned about true love and heartbreak, it’s hard for Taylor Swift fans to admit that they perhaps aren’t privy to all of the pop icon’s innermost thoughts. While she’s been public for the past year about her romance with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift has been reticent thus far to reveal which candidate she’ll be supporting in November’s presidential election.

Some Swifties have been disappointed and frustrated by Swift’s lack of transparency on this issue, particularly because she went public in 2020 with her support of Joe Biden’s candidacy. More recently, fans are questioning Swift’s political allegiances after she was spotted at the US Open with Brittany Mahomes, whose online support of Trump has garnered thanks from the candidate himself. (Mahomes is married to Kelce’s teammate and best friend, Patrick Mahomes.)

What does Swift’s (literal) embrace of Mahomes mean? Which candidate is she backing, and, if it isn’t Trump, why is she still hanging out with a member of the opposing team?

We may never know the details of Swift’s politics, or her friendships. But this election season, many Americans do find themselves wondering if they will be able to maintain a friendship in spite of competing political views.

Luckily, most of us will have the opportunity to untangle this knot in private, away from public speculation — but that doesn’t preclude hurt feelings.

One option is to ignore the elephant (or donkey?) in the room, avoiding any mention of politics while you are together. This tactic works particularly well if your relationship is limited to a specific context. For example, when I learned that the parents of one of my son’s friends had voted for a particular