Posted on 08/19/2017 3:03:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Steve Earle speaks out about President Trump in a no-holds-barred new interview, calling him a “fascist” and saying he doubts he will finish his first term.
“I don’t see how he does it,” the outspoken singer-songwriter tells Rolling Stone Country. “Although it’s hard to predict what this guy’s gonna do. We’ve never had an orangutan in the White House before. There’s a lot of ‘What does this button do?’ going on. It’s scary. He really is a fascist. Whether he intended to be or not, he’s a real live fascist.”
Trump has been one of the most controversial presidents in modern American history since taking office in January of 2017, repeatedly clashing with the media, the court system and even Republican lawmakers over a wide range of issues that includes a proposed Muslim travel ban, building a wall between the United States and Mexico, a transgender ban in the military that he abruptly announced via Twitter and more. His approval ratings stand at historical lows after a week that included what many have characterized as a tepid response to neo-Nazis and white supremacists rallying in Charlottesville, Va., where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a man ran his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Trump received widespread condemnation after a press conference in which he appeared to assign equal blame to the white supremacists and the counter-protesters, including pushback from fellow Republicans. He also drew a parallel between removing Confederate monuments and taking down statues to honor George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
But the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter says the real danger is that Republicans “are OK with him being there. While we’re paying attention to all the stupid s–t he’s doing, they’re methodically seeing to their agenda and they’re getting a lot of s–t done under the radar.” He points to stacking the Supreme Court and overturning Roe v. Wade as two items on the Republican agenda.
“They don’t really care about Roe v. Wade, they care about getting elected,” Earle asserts, adding, “the Republican Party is about the wealthiest people paying as few taxes as possible and letting go of as little of their wealth as possible and making an environment for them to be able to make more. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re almost unapologetic about it.”
Earle believes Trump’s election speaks to a more fundamental problem in “the way we value talent and undervalue education … I hope it becomes obvious to people that reality television has a cost. You have to think that Fox News and reality television is real for Donald Trump to be possible. Neither thing is true.”
And while he thinks it’s unlikely Trump will remain in office, Earles doesn’t feel Vice President Pence is that much better an alternative.
“I think it’s going to be the same one way or the other, with either one of those guys in office,” he muses. “Trump’s scary because he has the button. My guess is that there’s been something built around him to get between him and the button. There was when Nixon was in office. They gave him fake codes. He was starting to lose it and walk around talking to pictures and drinking. That’s all he did the last two years he was in office. He walked around, talked to the portraits and had a glass of f–king whiskey in his hand all the time.”
Earle recently released a new album titled So You Wannabe an Outlaw.
Earle’s sister, Stacey, is also a musician and songwriter.
I’ve seen Stacey and her husband Mark Stuart perform together several times, often at venues where there were no more than a couple dozen people, and have all of her albums. She’s very talented and sweet. I’m sure she’s a lib, but she doesn’t get into politics in her music or her shows.
I did that married twice to the same woman thing, hoping it would be good for the kids. Sigh.
What’s a Stevie Earle?
I believe that my husband has been to at least one Steve Earle concert. Earle is talented, but he should stick to playing guitar.
I had to do the same thing with my Stephen King book collection. Most were first editions in great shape. They went to my local thrift shop. F*ck him.
Who is he?, one of the most overrated “underground/red dirt” musicians to ever pen a song.
You at least tried for the good of the kids.
I’d bet a lot you weren’t on cocaine or heroine though. :-)
Never heard of him.
He had the hit Copperhead Road as well as a couple others. The country music industry wont let him into the grand ole oprey because he is a GD drug addicted nut job...or at least they wouldnt as far as I know.
Rock a Billy music.
Do these people even know how ignorant they sound? Throwing the term ‘Fascist’ around without even knowing what it means. They go storming through the streets waving baseball bats, wearing black and covering their faces with masks, waving red flags of violence.
They encounter someone who’s saying something they don’t agree with and they beat them with a club and scream out labelling their victims as ‘fascists’.
The world’s truly inverted.
No, I’ve never done drugs. LOL
He has no idea, being a high school dropout.
Damn it Steve, I told you to stay in the van !
An interesting interview with Steve Earle. Takes the word “pathetic” to a new level.
He fails to acknowledge the problem which is him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-10JuxewedU
This is how dam stupid this effer is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-10JuxewedU
A kid in the house with mental problems and he didnt take care of his firearm? And that is supposed to change a persons views on guns for everyone?
I always find it interesting how many people I’ve never heard of want to shove themselves in front of a camera or get an interview so they can make a headline with their venomous statements about Trump.
He mostly plays dives. Honky-tonks won’t have because he preaches communism. Every now and then he’ll have something on PBS. Very little talent.
I looked him up and still never heard of him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.