She doesn’t need her boyfriend’s brawn.

Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Alain Jocard / Getty; Gareth Cattermole / Getty; Stacy Revere / Getty.

It was highly anticipated and tautly executed: “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.” She signed off with a dig at Donald Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance: “With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”

Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris on Tuesday night was not a surprise; the pop star has for years backed Democratic candidates and used social media to encourage her followers to vote. Also perhaps unsurprising was that Elon Musk, supporter and platformer of Trump, took to X shortly after Swift’s announcement to post a juvenile response. “Fine Taylor … you win,” he wrote. “I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”

The statement could be parsed in multiple ways. Musk, a known fertility obsessive, might have been joking about gifting Swift a child (perhaps by lending her one of his own 12?). Or he might have been implying a more sexualized threat: I will make you pregnant. Either way, it was a bid to assert dominance over a woman whom it’s not hard to believe that Musk might see as encroaching on his turf—a billionaire in her own right, entering the political sphere, rallying an enormous (and devoted) fan base against his preferred candidate. Musk’s move was also a familiar one: the kind of sexist attack long used by men trying to put women in their place.