TMZ.com

President Joe Biden and his team are reportedly yanking their hair out trying to get Taylor Swift's endorsement -- but if history's any indication ... there's nothing to worry about.

The NYT did a deep dive into Biden's 2024 campaign, and specifically ... focused on how his aides are apparently discussing T-Swift, and brainstorming on ways to get her to officially sign her name on the Biden ticket heading into the November election.

According to the outlet ... Biden's aides/surrogates have been talking about their Taylor approach quite a bit in recent months -- and the conversations have gotten so intense, it seems, that they've actually discouraged applicants for social media gigs to save it on their "Taylor Swift strategy."

The reason ... they already have more than enough ideas, and they don't need/want some young whippersnapper to chip in any more proposals on getting her involved/interested.

One suggestion that's been (jokingly) floated, per the Times ... sending Joe to one of Taylor's "Eras" tour stops -- although, it sounds like this might've been talked about when she was performing stateside. At the moment, her tour is on its international leg ... and she's not scheduled to return for any American shows until the Fall, which would be too late.

Obviously, Joe never actually popped up at any of her "Eras" gigs (at least thus far) -- which kinda makes ya wonder if the Prez's team has reached out and/or been rebuffed.

It goes without saying why Joe and co. want Taylor to publicly endorse him -- she's got hundreds of millions of fans ... and is arguably more popular today than she ever has been. What's strange about this report is that they kinda make it seem like it's been somewhat difficult to get Taylor to come around ... or worse yet, that her endorsement isn't a given.

The reason that's strange is because Taylor has already endorsed Biden in the past -- namely, during the 2020 election ... when she backed him/Kamala Harris and slammed Trump.

Around October 2020, she wrote ... "I spoke to @vmagazine about why I’ll be voting for Joe Biden for president. So apt that it’s come out on the night of the VP debate. Gonna be watching and supporting @KamalaHarris by yelling at the tv a lot. And I also have custom cookies." Earlier May of that year, she explicitly said "We will vote you out" to DT.

Plus, it's Taylor is very obviously liberal and she constantly backs Dems anytime she steps into the political arena -- so the prospect of her endorsing Joe again is ... kind of a no-brainer, right? Perhaps not if this report is to be believed ... on its face, it seems it's iffy.

In the end, we're sure Taylor will come around and get behind Biden -- but in the meantime, it appears she's kinda making him and his camp squirm a bit as they try and court her.

If you're unaware of what sort of pull Tay Tay has these days -- just peep this poll that came out over the weekend ... which definitively said she alone could sway the 2024 election. It sounds like people REALLY care what she thinks lately, and Team Joe's well aware of that.

Kate Middleton is finally out of the hospital after undergoing surgery nearly 2 weeks ago -- and the official word is ... she's doing alright, and continues to get better.

The Princess of Wales is back home and resting with her family -- this according to Kensington Palace ... which made the announcement Monday. They wrote, "The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery."

They add, "She is making good progress." This is reassuring, considering how long she was hospitalized, and how suddenly this news was sprung onto the public in the first place.

There's more from Kensington as well -- with the Royal house saying, "The Prince and Princess wish to say a huge thank you to the entire team at The London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they have provided."

More good news for the Royals ... King Charles was also released from the hospital Monday. Remember, he went in for a prostate procedure ... just around the same time as KM.

While the King's procedure/health issue was crystal clear ... Kate's remains somewhat of a mystery -- as no one seems to know what exactly the problem was. Although, that hasn't stopped people from speculating ... with all sorts of ailments being floated as possibilities.

The music industry, the NFL, the U.S. economy, and now ... The White House?!? According to a new poll, Taylor Swift could sway voters in the 2024 presidential election.

The poll, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, showed 18% of voters said they're "more likely" or "significantly likely" to vote for a candidate endorsed by Tay.

But the data also showed 17% said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate if they were backed by Swift.

The survey was taken earlier this month, and questioned 1,500 eligible voters.

45% of those questioned said they were fans of the singer. The poll also showed, unsurprisingly,  a Taylor endorsement would appeal significantly to young voters.

With all she's accomplished, the Time Person of the Year has more reach than ever before.

It should be noted, T-Swift has mostly steered clear of Politics throughout her career ... so it's still unknown if the singer will announce her vote this year.

However, she did endorse former Democratic Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in a 2018 Senate race ... and publicly voiced her support for now-President Joe Biden in 2020.

Farrah Abraham's not happy about a proposed bill in Florida that would ban kids from social media, saying the legislation targets victims instead of addressing the real issue.

Here's the deal ... a new bill passed through the Florida House of Representatives Wednesday that will cut off anyone under the age of 16 from getting a social media account with the hope that it will protect kids' mental health.

We talked to Farrah on Friday, and she thinks the total opposite is true -- that social media's great for kids, and limiting their access could limit their creativity ... not to mention affecting their branding and potential income.

She's also worried blocking kids from social media will put a dent in their mental strength and training ... arguing that putting children in a bubble ain't doing them any favors.

If lawmakers want to moderate social media, FA says they should focus on predators who make social media unsafe. Her point is ... kids, like her daughter Sophia, shouldn't be kicked off a platform when the "criminals" preying on children are allowed to run rampant.

For instance, she says her 14-year-old -- who has more than 800k followers -- gets DM'd by grown men on social media, and on Cameo they ask her for feet pics.

She suggests instructional online modules should be created to educate more kids on Internet dangers.

FWIW, Farrah says she's taken online safety courses which have really helped her, and she's passed those lessons on to Sophia.

After we spoke to her, Farrah posted a video reiterating several of the points we covered about making social media safer for kids.

Bill Maher is throwing in the towel on American democracy -- or so it seems -- and he makes a case.

The 'Real Time' host served up a scary parallel between the U S of A and Brazil, both of which had insurrections over their respective presidential elections -- the U.S. on January 6, 2021, and Brazil on January 8, 2023.

In both cases, as Bill says, the presidents who disputed the election were thrice-married, right-wing populists. But that's where the comparison ends.

In Brazil's case, almost everyone rose up against the rioters and the president, who's been banished from the country and is now living in Florida. In the case of America, the former president now living in Florida will be the Republican nominee by an insanely large margin.

Bill then dove into how we really have never been truly democratic ... California has the same representation in the Senate -- which, by the way, can convict a president for misdeeds -- as sparsely populated Wyoming. We have this fakakta electoral college which has no correlation to the popular vote.

Then Bill gets even more real with the confession, maybe we lost our taste for democracy because "we're just a s**ttier people than we used to be."

Rick Harrison got a call from 2 of Donald Trump's sons after his own son, Adam Harrison, died from a fentanyl overdose.

A rep for the "Pawn Stars" patriarch tells TMZ ... Donald Jr. and Eric Trump reached out to Rick after learning of Adam's death. We're told the Trumps spoke to Rick on the phone to offer their condolences.

The Trump and Harrison families have a long relationship. Rick's been a vocal supporter of the former president for years -- at one point referring to himself as a "Trump guy."

When DT was in the White House, he and Rick met in September 2018 ... snapping a photo together with Rick's youngest son, Jake.

Even before the phone call, Don. Jr commented on Rick's tribute post to Adam, "I'm so sorry man."

TMZ broke the story ... Adam died last week from a drug overdose.

Rick told us fentanyl killed his 39-year-old son and added, "The fentanyl crisis in this country must be taken more seriously. It seems it is just flowing over the borders and nothing is being done about it. We must do better."

Tucker Carlson's said he wouldn't be interested in running for office -- including as Donald Trump's Vice Prez -- but the thing is, we're hearing he could be persuaded to change that stance.

Here's the deal ... with Republican primary season underway, and Trump leading the ever-shrinking pack ... there's been a lot of speculation over who's going to be his #2.

While Tucker's name has been tossed around, he's always rebuffed the idea.

As recently as a month ago, in fact, he told Megyn Kelly politics aren't for him ... not as a career, anyway.

Now, sources with direct knowledge tell us Tucker hasn't explicitly changed that tune around those in his inner circle -- but we're also told there is a feeling from several in his orbit that he could actually be convinced to dive in with Trump, if push came to shove.

Here's what we're hearing from people in his world -- TC, of late, has been expressing to some in his orbit that Trump selecting a Republican along the lines of Nikki Haley (who's the only real challenger at this point), Tim Scott or even Mike Pompeo would be a "disaster" for the country.

We're told if Tucker feels Trump's making a bad choice for the country, he might be willing to throw his hat in the ring as another -- and, in his eyes, better -- option for Trump.

Our sources say people in Trump's world have been kicking around Tucker's name internally -- and we're even told there are a few Trump surrogates quietly pushing for him behind the scenes. In fact, our sources say Donald himself has spoken glowingly about TC.

Plus, take into consideration that Don Jr. himself has also name-dropped Tucker in the VP conversation -- so yes, there's definitely a little momentum. Although we're told Tucker himself has not expressed direct interest in the appointment. At least not yet, anyway.

So, where does that leave us? Well, on its face ... it sounds like many people would love to see Tucker run as Trump's Veep, and it also appears there are people in Tucker's world who actually think he might take the leap as time goes on.

Tucker has been very outspoken on a lot of issues heading into the 2024 election -- but, to be fair, that is what he does for a living.

The question now is ... is he willing to do anything more than simply talk about the issues Time will tell!

Pro-Palestine protesters shut down a street near the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday afternoon ... and a couple famous faces joined their numbers.

About 100 protesters reportedly showed up on Park City's Main Street for a protest organized by "Let Gaza Live" ... with police in the small Utah town shutting down the block to traffic.

Among those protesting ... former 'Scream' star Melissa Barrera -- who was fired for her comments on the war between Israel and Hamas -- and model/actor Indya Moore.

MB kept a low profile with her hood on and sunglasses covering her eyes while IM was more front and center ... at one point using a megaphone at the rally.

BTW, Barrera's been talking a lot about her firing recently ... telling the Associated Press Friday night that getting laid off from the popular franchise was a "big awakening" for her adding she's "grateful" for everything that's happened.

The protest was pretty peaceful all morning ... with videos populating social media of passionate protesters -- though their chants stirred up some controversy.

Some of the protesters used the phrase "From the river to the sea" which is a point of contention between Israel supporters and Palestine supporters ... they're also going right after President Biden calling him "Genocide Joe" and repurposing an old condemnation of Lyndon B. Johnson -- asking him how many kids he's "killed today."

Protesters in support of Israel were also on the streets in Park City ... seemingly mounting a counter-protest and chanting "Bring them home" in reference to hostages taken by Hamas during the tragic October 7 attack.

It should be noted that the protest was not affiliated with Sundance, instead just running near it ... a move other political protesters have used in the past to capitalize on media attention. Thousands of protesters gathered back in 2017 to protest then-newly inaugurated President Trump.

Ron DeSantis is officially out of the presidential race ... and he's not exactly going out on a limb with his endorsement.

The Florida governor posted a four-minute vid to X telling his supporters he's suspending his campaign -- this, just two days before the New Hampshire primary -- and ultimately he's putting his support behind former President Donald Trump.

RD started his clip by repeating many conservative stances on issues -- more border security, social decay in cities, indoctrination of children by woke ideology ... basically the boilerplate message.

DeSantis said his team prayed after the loss in Iowa -- where Trump crushed him at the voting booths, with more than double Ron's vote count -- and his team ultimately realized there's nothing that'll swing the race in their favor.

As for the endorsement ... the 45-year-old acknowledged he's disagreed with DT on policy in the past, but he's putting that aside for the good of the party -- basically saying four more years of Joe Biden in the White House isn't acceptable.

Hitching your wagon to the frontrunner ain't anything new in politics -- it's all part of the game. And RD's stayed away from roasting Trump during the run-up to the primaries ... unlike Nikki Haley, the last major opposition to the Donald.

Speaking of NH, it's not surprising she's not getting Ron's support ... not only did she finish third in Iowa and fall way behind Trump in the polls, but they faced off at the last Republican debate -- and it got a little nasty.

Ron said Nikki's only in it for what her financial backers want ... Nikki straight up called Ron a liar -- yeah, it got pretty intense.

Bill Maher is back for a new season, and he came out swinging against both the left and right extremes, saying both sides are so crazy they meet the standard for involuntary commitment.

The "Real Time" host bore down on both extremes Friday night, proclaiming 2024 as the year of sanity. He says enough of the extremes getting all the attention. And then, he gave them some attention, but clearly not the kind they want.

Bill went in hard on the right, noting the leading Republican candidate is kind of dictator. On the left, he noted 3 university presidents could not bring themselves to squarely condemn calls for the genocide of Jews. As BM says, "Can't anyone say f**k no?!?"

He scoffs at folks who are supporting Hamas, especially those Hamas would kill because of their views, race, sexual orientation, etc. Bill says people who are supporting causes that would ultimately kill them meet the standard for involuntary commitment ... i.e. a danger to themselves.

And speaking of extremes ... a Lululemon employee was fired for getting a shoplifter arrested, and Trump wants to shoot shoplifters. As Bill says, why can't we just find a middle ground?

A photo of Donald Trump's hand sparked a ton of speculation about his health on the internet ... but now, TMZ has some clarity -- at least from Trump World's POV.

Here's the deal ... DT was leaving the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial on Wednesday in NYC when he raised a hand to wave to his loyal followers who were stationed outside the courthouse ... and something bright red caught the attention of photogs.

It's hard to make out exactly what it is -- but some thought it looked like blisters or sores of some sort ... and of course, the internet went crazy with theories when they saw it, with many attempting to diagnose the former Prez with just about every ailment under the sun.

Interestingly, he surfaced from court later the same day on Wednesday ... and the so-called red hand was a little more normal-looking that time around. It was very, very weird.

Anyway, we talked to some folks and sources tied to the Trump campaign are telling us a different story than what people think they saw in the OG pic. We're told the only thing that was afflicting Trump that day was a simple paper cut, and he accidentally spread the blood around his hand. Yep, that's what the Trump camp is saying here ... just a little nick.

While that might sound hard to believe, it might actually be the truth -- again, DT came out with his hand seemingly cleared up and free of any abrasions ... so maybe it was just blood.

BTW, he was out again in public Thursday ... and there was no sign of any redness on his right hand from what we could see. As we reported, he attended his mother-in-law's funeral with Melania and his son Barron Thursday morning.

We're in the home stretch of the Republican campaign now ... every little detail's gonna drive the public freakin' crazy -- especially for a guy who loves talking about his hands like ex-POTUS.

Donald Trump's taking a break from his legal issues to support Melania as she lays her mother to rest in Florida.

The former prez stood somber Friday morning next to his wife and their son Barron -- the whole family was dressed in Black as they attended the funeral for Amalija Knavs in Palm Beach.

Melania's dad Viktor remained glued to her side as they followed the casket out of the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, ready to lay Amalija in her final resting place.

As we previously reported ... the former First Lady announced her mother passed away last Tuesday It's not clear exactly how she died, but Trump told a crowd on New Year's Eve his mother-in-law had recently fallen "very ill."

Trump also called the night Amalija passed a very sad one for the family, while adding she "has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!”

The leading Republican presidential candidate is clearly prioritizing his family's mourning -- he's off the campaign trail after dominating the Iowa Caucus, and also skipped the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in NYC to be at the funeral.

One other takeaway from Thursday's service ... Barron's really grown up in recent years and is the spitting image of his father, when he was young. Check out the pics, especially the one where he's extending a hand to support Dad.

Nikki Haley said America has never been a racist country -- but Whoopi Goldberg would beg to differ ... and she's ready to list the ugly receipts that prove the exact opposite.

The talk show host tackled this topic on "The View" Wednesday -- this a day after the Republican presidential candidate went on FOX News to rebuke the notion that America is a racist nation ... but in the same breath, denied the U.S. has ever that problem.

Of course, that's a ridiculous statement ... and just factually wrong. Not only did we have slaves in this country for a good long while -- but America was a segregated nation through much of the 20th century as well. Basic history ... but NH seems to be trying to blur it.

Welp, Whoopi wasn't having any of Haley's obfuscation ... and she unloaded on her in no uncertain terms in an impassioned speech as she was intro'ing this topic at the table.

Check out what she has to say for yourself -- she says all the lynching of Black people over the years wasn't carried out by them ... but by racist Americans, and you can tell she's outraged by Haley's attempt to downplay this country's past.

The reason this latest slip-up from her stands out is the fact that just recently suggested the Civil War was not really about slavery -- something she tried to clarify after the fact ... but raised a lot of eyebrows when she said it.

Things didn't get better when she further tried distancing herself from those remarks at a Republican town hall ... using the old "I have Black friends" line to defend herself.

Somebody swatted the White House this week, if you can believe that -- and, apparently, the prankster actually got first responders to rush over to POTUS' crib.

According to the Associated Press, a fake 911 call was placed Monday morning in the D.C. area just after 7 AM ... and the person who phoned in filed a BS report of a fire breaking out at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., while going on to claim someone was trapped inside.

President Joe Biden and his family were not at the WH this morning, BTW ... they were over at Camp David, and not long after -- he touched down in Philly for an MLK event later today.

It's unclear if JB was immediately aware of the swatting attempt -- but in any case, it sounds like it worked ... 'cause AP reports that the local fire department rushed over to the White House, where they met with Secret Staffers to figure out what the hell was going on.

Of course, none of it was true ... something official realized quite quickly. AP says that when the authorities tried calling the number that first called in -- the person on the other end denied placing any such call ... so the whole thing was just an elaborate practical joke.

Martin Luther King Jr. was planning a trip to the Soviet Union after surviving an assassination attempt, and his letter explaining his reasons for the visit is up for grabs.

The famed civil rights leader was only 2 months removed from being stabbed at a book signing in Harlem when he wrote to the National Council of Churches, explaining his motivations behind a visit to the USSR.

MLK's 1958 letter outlines 6 reasons for the stopover, on his way back from India, including a desire to investigate why Soviet citizens were still religious despite state-sponsored atheism.

Dr. King also told the National Council of Churches he wanted to meet with Baptists in the communist nation to figure out how Soviet policies affected minorities.

One really eye-opening part of the letter is the price ... MLK estimated the trip would cost a whopping $35 per day for his hotels, trains, planes, interpreters, cars and chauffeurs. Yeah, different time -- today that would be about $370 per day.

The rare piece of MLK history is going up for sale through Moments In Time for $54,000 ... after being stored for years by a private collector.

Donald Trump just got a cosign on his upstanding character -- but he received it from none other than a notorious mobster in Sammy the Bull ... and yet, he's still pretty thankful.

The ex-Prez sent a shoutout to the former Gambino crime family underboss on Truth Social -- reacting to a clip of an interview Sammy recently did on VladTV where he discussed once trying to "get to" DT back in the day ... when he was just a big-time developer in NYC.

As Sammy explains, he was able to press a lot of real estate dudes in the game during that time and have his way with them ... but, apparently, Donny himself wasn't having it.

STB goes so far as to say that despite repeated attempts to get into business with Trump -- and getting rebuffed at each stop -- he decided Don was "legitimate" and moved on. It's certainly an interesting anecdote, but Trump loved the "praise" ... and made it known online.

Trump wrote in response, "Thank you to Sammy the Bull. I hope Judges Engoron & Kaplan see this. We need fairness, strength and honesty in our New York Courts. We don’t have it now!" The robes he's referring to here are the ones overseeing a couple of his cases at the moment, BTW ... he seems to think they need to take a cue from Sam on morality.

1. Of course, the backdrop to this is Trump being in court on a number of different fronts as we head toward the '24 election. He's being prosecuted criminally, and being sued civilly too.

NY's Attorney General, Letitia James, for example claims DT is totally corrupt and a very shady business guy ... something she and her team have been trying to prove in court.