'This is her revenge': Trump openly hates Taylor Swift. But after she humiliated him at the Knicks... insiders say what's coming next will send him nuclear

Donald Trump probably predicted the less-than-warm welcome from the New York City crowd.

His decision to attend the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden last Monday resulted in a ring of steel around the arena: fans had to line up hours in advance to get in and watch parties near the venue were canceled.

When the besuited president was shown on the giant screen, standing stiffly to salute the national anthem, a cacophony of boos rang through the febrile stadium.

And it got worse. The Knicks lost 111-115 to the San Antonio Spurs, ending their 13-game winning streak. Trump, the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game, was immediately deemed a bad omen. Two days later, a very different scene played out.

Taylor Swift took her seat courtside, clad in a Knicks-blue T-shirt designed by her friend, singer Alana Haim, with 'Stevie Knicks' emblazoned in orange across her chest. A blue and orange ribbon was tied fetchingly in her hair.

Where Trump had appeared stiff and disengaged, watching from owner James Dolan's private box along with the other suits - Dolan was later forced to deny that the president, who turned 80 this weekend, nodded off - Swift was at the heart of the action. As the nail-biting game played out and the crowd's energy soared, the singer leapt to her feet beside Haim sisters Alana and Este, and ecstatically cheered the home team on.

The result was a remarkable triumph for the Knicks and - by association - for Swift: Down by a record 29 points in the third quarter, they clawed their way back to win 107-106.

Much to her amusement, a source told the Daily Mail, the joke quickly circulated that Swift had broken the 'Trump curse.' In this round of the president versus the showgirl, the verdict was in. Swift had won.

Because while Swift, 36, may not care to pit herself against Trump - and according to one close to her, 'she has no interest in turning any of it into a public feud' - the truth is that the die was cast long ago. Ever since Swift broke a lifetime of keeping her own political counsel to voice support for former Vice President Kamala Harris and inspired Trump to post petulantly: 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.'

According to one former Trump aide, Swift's triumphant appearance at Madison Square Garden was 'her revenge for the Super Bowl' in New Orleans last year - where she was booed and the president cheered.

Now, as both Swift and Trump gear up for hugely important milestones in their lives - Swift's wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce and Trump's much-hyped America 250 celebrations - all signs suggest that Swift will once more be a thorn in the prickly president's side.

Indeed, Trump's celebrations for America's 250th birthday are already being overshadowed by Swift.

Rumors of Swift's wedding being held over the July 4 weekend are guaranteed to enrage the president. Trump is expecting all eyes to be on Washington DC for his Freedom 250 concerts. But Swift is certain to command attention with her wedding celebrations, which will reportedly take place in New York City.

The outcome seems inevitable: Trump will once more be upstaged by Swift.

But their relationship was not always this antagonistic.

In August 2012, Trump, then just a reality TV show host, tweeted: '@taylorswift13 Thanks for the beautiful picture - you are fantastic!' The picture itself was never publicly shared.

That same year, when it was announced Swift would co-host a Grammy nominations televised show, Trump tweeted his support: 'Taylor is terrific!'

He remained a fan for several years: in December 2014, Melania Trump posted a video to Facebook of her husband driving his car while listening to Swift's song Blank Space.

But when Trump entered politics the following year, descending the Trump Tower escalator in June 2015 to announce his presidential candidacy, the problems began.

At first, Swift was reluctant to get involved, mindful that speaking her liberal mind risked alienating her country-loving Republican fans.

When Hillary Clinton challenged him for the White House, Swift did not publicly back her - a decision she later said she regretted.

In 2019, she told Vogue magazine that she thought coming out in favor of Clinton as Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna did would backfire.

'Unfortunately, in the 2016 election you had a political opponent who was weaponizing the idea of the celebrity endorsement,' said Swift. 'He was going around saying, "I'm a man of the people. I'm for you. I care about you." I just knew I wasn't going to help.'

By October 2018, she had changed her mind and began weighing in.

That month, the Nashville-raised singer told her fans in Tennessee to back the Democratic candidate for the Senate, Phil Bredesen. He lost to Republican Marsha Blackburn but Trump was wounded, declaring that he liked Swift's music 'about 25 percent less now.'

When the next presidential contest came around, Swift abandoned her previous reticence.

'I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,' she announced on Instagram on September 10, 2024 - minutes after the conclusion of the Trump-Harris debate.

'I'm voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.'

She said she was 'heartened and impressed' by Harris's running mate Tim Walz, praising him as someone who 'has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body for decades.'

She added: 'I've done my research, and I've made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make,' signing off as: 'Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady' - a dig at JD Vance, who said the country could not be ruled by 'childless cat ladies who are miserable at their lives.'

Trump responded by saying he was 'not a Taylor fan,' and hammered his point home with that furious announcement that he 'HATED' her.

And she continued to bug him just by her existence.

In May 2025, seemingly out of nowhere, Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'Has anyone noticed that, since I said "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT," she's no longer "HOT?"'

Asked about the comment, a White House official told CBS News: 'As a business and entertainment mogul President Trump is highly qualified to comment on the rise and fall of various celebrities.'

In August of that same year, he returned to this theme, praising Sydney Sweeney - who said she voted Republican - and criticizing Swift.

'Just look at Woke singer Taylor Swift,' he said on Truth Social. 'Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can't stand her (HATE!). She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT. The tide has seriously turned — Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be. Thank you for your attention to this matter!'

Now, once again, that antagonism is on full display.

Swift's Knicks glory and her stealing his July 4 thunder will likely enrage him further.

Indeed, he has plenty to be furious about.

Within days of the musical lineup for the Freedom 250 concert being unveiled, every act but Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida had backed out, saying they did not want to be involved in anything partisan.

Trump's team is staging a Great American Fair in DC but that too looks to be something of a washout: multiple states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - declined an invitation to showcase their region. Pennsylvania has yet to decide whether it will participate.

Swift's upstaging of the president will surely spark another flurry of furious posts - especially given the trap that Trump seems to have set for himself.

When asked about the artists pulling out of his 250th anniversary party, he declared: 'I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar.'

Trump might think he's got more clout than Elvis, but is he any match for Taylor Swift?