Fox News host Jesse Watters on Tuesday turned maybe probably the most seen right-winger to recommend that pop star Taylor Swift might be a authorities operative. (Watch the video under.)
He gave the wacky conspiracy idea loads of airtime in sharing a clip falsely attributed to a Pentagon official.
“I like her music,” he stated of Swift on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“She’s all right. But, I mean, have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?” Watters continued.
“Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting. What kind of asset? A PSYOP for combating online misinformation.”
Watters then performed the clip of the purported Pentagon consultant at a 2019 cyber convention. The lady used Swift for instance of a public one who may fight incendiary misinformation in a “peaceful information operation.”
“I include Taylor Swift in here because she’s a fairly influential online person,” the lady stated. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of her.”
Watters then declared: “Yeah, that’s real: the Pentagon PSYOP unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online.”
Only the lady was not a Pentagon consultant. She was Alicia Bargar, then a analysis engineer on the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Watters later eased off his assertion concerning the singer.
“So is Swift a front for a covert political agenda?” he stated. ”‘Primetime’ clearly has no proof. If we did, we’d share it.”
He then tried to reignite suspicion.
“But we’re curious because the pop star who endorsed [now-President Joe] Biden is urging millions of her followers to vote,” Watters stated. He additionally famous that Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight finish who’s courting Swift and not too long ago appeared in a vaccine industrial, is “sponsored by Pfizer.”
The conservative host requested former FBI particular agent Stuart Kaplan if the operative idea was “feasible.”
Kaplan speculated on how Swift’s huge reputation might be utilized covertly and overtly to sway voters in Biden’s favor within the 2024 election. “So the answer is yes,” Kaplan stated.
HuffPost reached out to representatives for the singer for remark.
