Ray Dalio says Taylor Swift should be president

Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio attended a Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert in Singapore, posting a selfie from the crowded venue with a caption explaining why he thinks the megastar should be the next president of the United States.

“@TaylorSwift for president!” Bridgewater Associates founder Dalio wrote Thursday on Instagram.

“I just saw her in concert in Singapore and realized that she can bring Americans together with people in most countries much better than either candidate, and that bringing people together is the most important thing,” Dalio wrote.

He added: “Watching this concert with people from all over the world made me feel comfortable and connected and reminded me how powerful this global culture is.” “Wouldn't it be great if we had two candidates who could drive that culture and make smart leadership decisions as well?”

While the post was likely made as a joke, politicians and pundits are well aware of the record-breaking Grammy-winning singer's powerful influence and massive fan base.

Dalio later tweeted an update, explaining his state of mind when he first made the post.

“RE: MY TAYLOR SWIFT FOR PRESIDENT! COMMENTS No, I wasn't drunk (although I obviously need to work on my selfies) and yes it was a joke, which is half the truth,” Dalio wrote in the post on social media site X .

“The true half is that I think she can bring people together much better than any of the presidential candidates, and that bringing people together is one of the most important things for a president to do.”

Swift's efforts to get out the vote have previously motivated tens of thousands of young people to register to vote in a single day.

And the reputation she gained for supporting Joe Biden's campaign against former President Donald Trump that year fueled right-wing conspiracy theories that she was being used as a tool in the hands of Democrats or even the Pentagon and the CIA in this year's presidential race.

While some Republican lawmakers and television pundits suggest Swift is part of an orchestrated conspiracy to bring about the end of the Biden administration, her fans responded with, “You need to calm down.” Swift made no endorsement of the 2024 election, but she encouraged her 283 million Instagram followers to vote in a post on Tuesday for the Super Tuesday primaries.

Dalio, who turned Bridgewater into the world's largest hedge fund, has previously emphasized what he believes is the need for a more centrist approach to US politics. Many voters are not thrilled about the prospect of a rematch between Trump and Biden, and are bracing for a tough campaign season in the summer and fall, when the rivals' bad blood risks fueling further polarization in the country's politics.

“What we need is a very strong middle,” Dalio said at a Malian forum in November.

He added: “We have irreconcilable differences between parties that will not accept loss.”

He said at the time that he saw former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as the most promising candidate. He may now be hoping that Swift will fill the void left by Haley's recent exit from the race.

The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing concert tour in history, encompassing 152 shows on five continents over 21 months.

Since launching her tour, Swift has become a billionaire and boosted the economies of numerous cities and states, beyond the dreams of many forecasters. The US Federal Reserve in 2023 cited its concerts as providing significant economic boosts to US cities, and some analysts estimated that by October of that year, the shows and subsequent gold rush of travel and fan spending had added $5.7 billion to the US economy.

In Singapore alone, six consecutive days of concerts are estimated to have added between $225 million to $300 million to the city-state's economy in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey of economists published by Bloomberg.