After the 'ME!' hitmaker reminded Donald Trump and his aides of a petition at the end of her 'You Need to Calm Down' video, deputy press secretary Judd Deere rejects the 'poison pills'-filled bill.

• Aug 28, 2019

AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift has proved she's all-powerful yet again after demanding a response from the White House on equality - and getting one.

Accepting her Video of the Year award at the MTV VMAs on Monday night (August 26), the feisty pop star called out U.S. leader Donald Trump and his aides, reminding them that a petition posted at the end of her "You Need to Calm Down" promo backing the proposed Equality Act had picked up 500,000 signatures.

Smug Swift told fans, "At the end of this video, there was a petition and there still is a petition for the Equality Act, which basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law. I want to thank everyone who signed that petition, because it now has half a million signatures, which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House."

She then tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist as she pretended to wait for a response from Trump.

She got feedback on Tuesday from Judd Deere, Trump's White House deputy press secretary, who was asked about Taylor's VMAs comments.

"The Trump administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights," Deere said, according to CNN.

The response is unlikely to dissuade Swift from fighting for the Equality Act, which would create federal protections for LGBTQ Americans against discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. It was passed by the Democratic-controlled House in May, but has not yet been put to a vote by the Republican-controlled Senate.

"Let's show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally," Swift wrote in a note accompanying the petition.