Nikki Haley Is Confused By the Right-Wing Freak-Out Over Taylor Swift: ‘I Don’t Know What the Obsession Is’

As MAGA Nation continues to have a four-alarm meltdown about a conspiracy theory claiming the upcoming Super Bowl is rigged in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs as part of an elaborate psyop involving Taylor Swift, Nikki Haley says everyone needs to calm down.

The former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is the only candidate still challenging one-term former president Donald Trump for the GOP’s presidential nomination and during a chat with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday (Feb. 1) Haley said she was confounded by the right wing’s latest phantom menace.

“I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what the obsession is,” Haley said of the barrage of outlandish stories on conservative media outlets such as Fox News, OAN and Newsmax wildly speculating that Swift is somehow colluding with the NFL and the White House to turn the Feb. 11 Super Bowl into a glorified Pres. Biden endorsement-fest.

“Taylor Swift is allowed to have a boyfriend. Taylor Swift is a good artist. I have taken my daughter to Taylor Swift concerts before,” Haley said. “To have a conspiracy theory of all of this is bizarre. Nobody knows who she’s going to endorse, but I can’t believe that that’s overtaken our national politics.”

Swift, for the record, has not endorsed anyone in the upcoming election, though she did throw her support behind Biden in the 2020 election in which he beat Trump. To boot, the singer may or may not even make it to Super Bowl LVIII to see boyfriend KC tight end Travis Kelce take on the San Francisco 49ers because she has an Eras Tour gig in Japan the night before.

That has not stopped wildly unfounded speculation from at least one former GOP presidential candidate and avid Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy. The Ohio businessman recently tweeted out a suggestion that “there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall,” in seeming reference to the elaborate QAnon-like theory that Swift will steal the spotlight at the most-watched TV event of the year by announcing her support for Biden during the big game.

As is her wont, Haley tried to pivot from MAGA madness to the issues she’s trying to promote in what most political pundits believe is a lost cause effort to wrest the nomination from twice-impeached Trump. “I mean, right now, you have got 60 percent of American families living paycheck to paycheck. We’ve got a border that’s out of control. We have got wars happening around the world,” Haley said. “The last thing I really think we need to be worried about is who Taylor Swift is dating and what conspiracy theory is going to have her endorsing a person for president.”

Haley isn’t the only one throwing cold water on the right’s bizarre obsession. NBA great Charles Barkley slammed those complaining that Swift has “ruined” football. “You’re just a loser,” Sir Charles told CNN this week, while The View host Whoopi Goldberg asked “why is she triggering everybody? They are freaking out.”

Watch video of Haley talking Swift (at the 5:00 minute mark) here.