Trump probably thinks Taylor Swift planned wedding to ‘upstage’ his July 4: report

Donald Trump and Taylor Swift are both attention-seeking cultural behemoths with their legions of enthusiastic fans and claims to represent core American values. And, for this Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, they are each trying to seize the national spotlight over the long weekend.

“Call it a quirk of wedding planning or the battle for the Fourth of July, but the coming weekend is shaping up to be a culmination of a decade-long cultural Cold War between two of the world’s most famous people: Taylor Swift and Donald Trump,” the New York Times reported Thursday.

It’s possible that Swift, who’s famous for her splashy July 4 parties at her Rhode Island estate, factored America’s 250th anniversary into planning her wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce on Friday at Madison Square Garden. But the world will probably never know whether she gave consideration to Trump’s planned rally and fireworks show in Washington D.C. on Saturday.

“Do I think that she did this to upstage Donald Trump? Absolutely not,” Susan Del Percio, a Republican political consultant who has been critical of the president, told the New York Times. “Do I think Donald Trump thinks that she did this to upstage him? Absolutely. Because that’s the way he thinks.”

Neither Swift nor the White House responded to requests from the New York Times for comment.

In this unofficial but unavoidable national holiday face-off between two people who have been public in their dislike for each other, Swift gets to fire the first shot. With the world’s media watching, festivities for Swift and Kelce’s multi-day wedding extravaganza are expected to get underway Thursday evening with an “intimate” rehearsal dinner for 100 people. The ceremony and reception for 1,000 guests takes place on Friday and is expected to include a slate of A-list entertainers and sports stars, according to the New York Times and New York Post.

For what’s been dubbed Swift and Kelce’s “American royal wedding”, Swift has an arena-sized venue to work with. Reports indicate that world tour-level set design is going into the production, though sources have denied reports that the couple is building a castle inside Madison Square Garden — which would have allowed the pop star to fulfill a common bridal fantasy of getting to play princess on her big day. “Not a castle but it looks very special,” a source told People.

Trump hopes to seize the spotlight on Saturday, Independence Day itself, with a massive event on the National Mall to celebrate the nation’s Semiquincentennial. He’s dubbed it his “TRUMP RALLY” and has promised flyovers, military bands and the “LARGEST FIREWORKS SHOW IN HISTORY,” including hundreds of thousands of explosives.

The Swift and Trump events “represent a nearly simultaneous flex by two supersize constants in American culture, both at world-famous venues, Madison Square Garden and the White House,” the New York Times also said.

Del Percio’s suspicions about Trump being annoyed by Swift’s wedding plans are not unreasonable, given the fact that he’s been vocal about his displeasure with the singer since she started to speak out against him during his first term in office.

In a 2019 interview, Swift called his presidency an “autocracy,” then accused him in 2020 of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism” in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. She also vowed, “We will vote you out in November.” Swift endorsed Joe Biden that year, and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, prompting Trump to lash out on social media by declaring, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”

After Harris lost and Trump was inaugurated for the second time, he took delight in an opportunity to goad her when they found themselves in the same physical space in February 2025. Both attended Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, when Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs suffered a humiliating defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, 22-40. Swift also was reportedly booed by people in the Caesars Superdome when a live video of her appeared on the jumbotron. Trump reacted by taking to Truth Social to post side-by-side videos of the two of them, with her being booed and him being applauded. He later posted, “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”

More than a year later, the situation was reversed when they both attended games at Madison Square Garden, her future wedding venue, as part of the New York Knicks championship run. Trump attended Game 3 at the Garden with his granddaughter Kai Trump. Not only did the Knicks lose, he was booed by a crowd of people in what was once his hometown. Meanwhile, Swift attended Game 4, and the team won, mounting the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

Now comes a momentous weekend for both Swift and Trump. For Swift, media outlets, including People magazine and a reported two dozen reporters and editors at the New York Times, have begun their wedding “countdowns” and “live updates.”

But both events could be affected by an intense heat wave that is scorching the East Coast over the next few days, with temperatures already reaching the low 90s in New York City and Washington D.C. as of 9 a.m. Thursday, the New York Times reported.

At least, Swift’s wedding festivities are indoors, so the heat outside shouldn’t be too much of an issue as long as the air-conditioning at Madison Square Garden holds up. But Trump’s rally and fireworks show might be in trouble, both because of the heat wave and some other issues, the Daily Beast reported.

Trump himself acknowledged Wednesday that temperatures could be in the triple digits on July 4, as the 80-year-old president gives his “really long speech just to show I can do anything.” But the heat wave has left planners from the Trump-aligned Freedom 250 organization concerned about a low turnout on the National Mall, the Daily Beast said. Planners also worry that tighter-than-ever security around the event, because of Trump’s presence, could deter attendees. The usually family-friendly fireworks show, moreover, been delayed until 10:30 or 11 p.m. to account for Trump’s speech, which might make it a no-go for parents with young children.

Already, reports of sparse crowds have marred the Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair on the National Mall, the Daily Beast said. As a White House insider said, “This is meant to be about celebrating our nation, so we hope to see as many people as possible.”