America is heading to the polls today to decide if Donald Trump stays or goes as US President. With Trump vying against former Vice President Joe Biden, the election is being called one of the most important in the US' recent history, and as the polls narrow, nothing's looking certain. In this most "unprecedented" of years, anything could happen.
It was on this day in 1992 that Rage Against The Machine released their debut, self-titled album. One of the most revolutionary albums in the history of music, it narrowed its eyes on the corrupt corners of US society, with police brutality, racism, capitalism and censorship all coming under fire. Twenty-eight years on, it might not surprise you to learn that as far as Trump's politics go, the band's members aren't exactly fans.
Here, we go back four years to when, in the wake of Donald Trump's election as US President, a slightly shell-shocked Tim Commerford joined us to explain why the appointment was one of the worst things to happen in America's modern history.
I’m still digesting it. I’m still gripped on the television screen, and I haven’t even put it all into perspective yet. I’m as shocked as most people in this country are. I’ve been talking to my sons today, and it’s scary times – it’s mind-boggling how many people voted for him, and just how fucked up the whole system is. It’s messed up and it’s sad.
I hear so many people right now, like ‘Oh, you know, he’s going to change the country’, and blah blah blah, and all this bullshit. But the fact of the matter is the reason people voted for him is the 18% decrease in taxes. That’s it, that’s what it’s all about – it’s all about money. People want more money, and that’s the reason why things like this happen. That’s why it went down this way, and that’s why we have a very scary situation here. I was saying this when they were running – and I’ve heard other people say it too – that he’s like Adolf Hitler. He is Adolf Hitler. He’s fucking Adolf Hitler. And He. Is. Scary. All of us should be really scared, and all of us should be prepared for the worst.
Another facet of his election is racism. We had an African American President, and there’s a lot of racist folks in America who were pissed about that. So, they went out and voted for the white guy. They’re not going to vote for the woman, and they don’t care about Latinos; they’re racist. So, we have a money-driven, racist, white, fucking world that we live in, that puts money-driven, white, racist Presidents in office. That’s the way it is. It’s racism – it’s white people. I believe that white people were the reason why Trump was elected President, because white people didn’t want an African American, or a woman. It was white people who put him in office.
I fear for immigrants. I fear for Muslims. I fear for my children. The scary thing is, when you have children you tell them ‘Hey, look, don’t be a bully. Don’t say fucked up things about women, don’t be a racist, don’t do these things’. And here we have a person who’s doing these things that our children get to see. And you just hope ‘Oh, he’s going to get rejected at the polls’, and that’s going to drive that point home to my children that you just can’t be like that – but then that guy gets elected. And it makes it super hard to explain that to your children, and then your children go on, and become adults, and they have a different philosophy engrained in them. So that’s really my biggest fear – what this is going to do to the mentality of future adults.
But I fear on every level. It’s healthcare, it’s what’s going to happen with the 20 million people who do have healthcare – Obamacare wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but at least the thought was there. And… We’re gonna build a wall?! Are you kidding me? Is this really going to happen? Are we going to go over there and start building a wall? I just can’t imagine it. And we’re going to start deporting Muslims, and… It’s scary times. Really, I’m scared on every level.
