'Rich Men North of Richmond' Singer tired of GOP weaponizing his song

[Dennis 8,391]

The writer and the singer of the No.1 song on the Billboard charts right now is upset that right-wing politicians are weaponizing his song.
 

"I do hate to see that song being weaponized. I see the Right trying to characterize me as one of their own and I see the Left trying to discredit me - I guess in retaliation."

He went on to say, "The one thing that bothers me is seeing people wrap politics up into this. It's aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I'm one of them. It's aggravating seeing certain musicians and politicians acting like we're buddies and acting like we're fighting the same struggle here - like we're trying to present the same message."

Anthony went on to say "it was funny seeing my song at the (Republican) presidential debate. Cause it's like - I wrote that song about those people. It was funny seeing the response to it. That song has nothing to do with Joe Biden, you know? That song was written about the people on that stage and a lot more too. Not just them, but definitely them."

https://www.meidastouch.com/news/rich-men-north-of-richmond-singer-to-gop-stop-using-me-for-politics 
 

 

[bionic 43,827]

i haven't listeneed to the song but eveerything i've heard about it has been that its pro-conservative??? what is this fake news i've been exposted to

[River 106,418]

This whole story just reminds me of Lurleen  from the Simpsons

[Natalia Kills 377]

To be fair, unless the lyrics are very satirical, I can see why the GOP would like this song. It's leaning into their side of the culture wars right now for sure:

"But God if you're five foot three
And you're three hundred pounds
Taxes ought not to pay
For your bags of fudge rounds"

^Comes up a fair bit in the song the idea that obese people are exploiting welfare. 

"Young men are putting themselves
Six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does
Is keep on kicking them down"

^Kind of leaning into men being held behind/blamed. 

"Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord, knows they all
Just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think
Wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know
But I know that you do"

^Sort of antivaxx vibes, freedom of speech, which is more anti-establishment.

"'Cause your dollar ain't s**t
And it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men
North of Richmond"

^Low taxation, disappointment with Washington DC (which was similar to Trump's "DC = swamp")

[weed 71,436]

I find it very weird he's saying that.. when there's been stories of the entire success of the song being sponsored by right wingers.. a psyop or whatever they called it lol

GLAD he's saying it! Drag them! but idk if I believe him

[Dennis 8,391]

18 minutes ago, Natalia Kills said:

To be fair, unless the lyrics are very satirical, I can see why the GOP would like this song. It's leaning into their side of the culture wars right now for sure:

"But God if you're five foot three
And you're three hundred pounds
Taxes ought not to pay
For your bags of fudge rounds"

^Comes up a fair bit in the song the idea that obese people are exploiting welfare. 

"Young men are putting themselves
Six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does
Is keep on kicking them down"

^Kind of leaning into men being held behind/blamed. 

"Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord, knows they all
Just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think
Wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know
But I know that you do"

^Sort of antivaxx vibes, freedom of speech, which is more anti-establishment.

"'Cause your dollar ain't s**t
And it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men
North of Richmond"

^Low taxation, disappointment with Washington DC (which was similar to Trump's "DC = swamp")

Well his song sounds "populist" to a certain extent. But you shouldn't assume that any populist is a Trump supporter. Trump is someone who exploits populism. He's a fake populist. Bernie for example is a version of populism, but more genuine populism.

[Emvee 7,778]

He must not be very ideological, but more so a conspiracy theorist. The Jewish conspiracy theory videos make sense now. There are A LOT of Trump voters who like him for his anti-establishment rhetoric without realizing they are supporting the same system by supporting him. 
 

At the same time there are a ton of news articles that reinforce their belief that Trump targets child abusers and traffickers. It’s part of the emotional appeal that reeled in a lot of people during the pandemic and Q anon. 

[Natalia Kills 377]

2 hours ago, Dennis said:

Well his song sounds "populist" to a certain extent. But you shouldn't assume that any populist is a Trump supporter. Trump is someone who exploits populism. He's a fake populist. Bernie for example is a version of populism, but more genuine populism.

I think the lyrics allude more to Trump's politics or at least some level of conservatism. But as I said, this guy might be satirical or less politically aware and venting through lyrics against the establishment – which is essentially populism. 

I can agree on Bernie being this guy's ideology if it's not Trump. It's a similar format more or less. It's a lot of us vs them, where the populist tries to gain ground by conceptualizing an "enemy", exploiting a trait the "enemy" and using that as bait to base your political platform on. It's lot of smoke and mirrors with drastic changes that aren't often sound. 

[Economy 47,602]

3 hours ago, weed said:

I find it very weird he's saying that.. when there's been stories of the entire success of the song being sponsored by right wingers.. a psyop or whatever they called it lol

GLAD he's saying it! Drag them! but idk if I believe him

Well... thats literally what hes saying tho. That the conservatives are making him one of them. So of course the success would be coming from right wing. Hes not denying that

[Economy 47,602]

1 hour ago, Natalia Kills said:

I think the lyrics allude more to Trump's politics or at least some level of conservatism. But as I said, this guy might be satirical or less politically aware and venting through lyrics against the establishment – which is essentially populism. 

I can agree on Bernie being this guy's ideology if it's not Trump. It's a similar format more or less. It's a lot of us vs them, where the populist tries to gain ground by conceptualizing an "enemy", exploiting a trait the "enemy" and using that as bait to base your political platform on. It's lot of smoke and mirrors with drastic changes that aren't often sound. 

I cant read his mind or really know what he thinks. But i wanna point out in the real world theres a lot more people like this than social media would have u think

 

On social media everything is left vs right (and in some casis centrisim) and so many ppl are very pro 1 political parties ideals and 100% automatically against anything from the opposing party. And the most strong opinioned articles or youtube videos (from either side) gets the most suggested on algorithms cuz they get the most discussion and views and further widen that gap

 

Meanwhile theres a good chunck of independant population that does not always automatically always fully allign with any leader or political ideology and has mostly generalized frustrations against societies problems and politicians failures to fix them. Comments that may be perceived as a jab or support for political side when you view it from a certain lens, may at times not actually be meant that way at all. They are just talking issues in a very generalized way.

 

Not saying thats him necessairily tho. Just saying theres ppl like that. Not everyone is a hardcore Republican, Democrat, farther left than Democract (Bernie Sanders like Progressive), or libertarian... Some ppl have a bit more political fluidity the same way not every sexuality is always completely either heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

[weed 71,436]

48 minutes ago, Economy said:

Well... thats literally what hes saying tho. That the conservatives are making him one of them. So of course the success would be coming from right wing. Hes not denying that

Not that they picked it up & loved it after it came out, that the whole song was made and promoted because of them. 

[Economy 47,602]

5 minutes ago, weed said:

Not that they picked it up & loved it after it came out, that the whole song was made and promoted because of them. 

U mean that he planned to have them promote it?

[Natalia Kills 377]

17 minutes ago, Economy said:

I cant read his mind or really know what he thinks. But i wanna point out in the real world theres a lot more people like this than social media would have u think

 

On social media everything is left vs right (and in some casis centrisim) and so many ppl are very pro 1 political parties ideal and 100% automatically against anything from the opposing party. And the most strong opinioned articles or youtube videos (from eother side) gets the most suggested on algorithms cuz they get the most discussion and views and further widen that gap

 

Meanwhile theres a good chunck of independant population that does not always automatically always fully allign with any leader or political ideology and has mostly generalized frustrations against societies problems and politicians failures to fix. Comments that may be perceived as a jab or support for political side when you view it from a certain lens, may at times not actually be meant that way at all. They are just talking issues in a very generalized way.

 

Not saying thats him necessairily tho. Just saying theres ppl like that. Not everyone is a hardcore Republican, Democrat, farther left than Democract (Bernie Sanders like Progressive), or libertarian... Some ppl have a bit more political fluidity the same way not every sexuality is always completely either heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

I understand that and you're right that no one will every be fully aligned to someone's views, it's all relative, after all. I would describe myself as politically fluid, even. 

The point I was trying to make is that it makes sense why the GOP have made this song their mantra and pushed it. It aligns closely with the angle they're targeting the public with, particularly in the populist sect rather than the old school republicans.

The problem he's got is that social media is how his music is reaching people. So I'm surprised that he's not thought this through and that he's disappointed that his song that aligns closely with GOP voters is being popular among GOP voters. He must either be very politically apathetic (which is fine) or something doesn't add up.

[weed 71,436]

1 minute ago, Economy said:

U mean that he planned to have them promote it?

I can't find the exact tweets I saw lmao I just remember them showing quotes from powerful alt right people/podcasters talking about "it was a huge plan, this specific person did this and another did that" so.. I guess ignore me 

[Economy 47,602]

36 minutes ago, weed said:

I can't find the exact tweets I saw lmao I just remember them showing quotes from powerful alt right people/podcasters talking about "it was a huge plan, this specific person did this and another did that" so.. I guess ignore me 

I guess the part im trying to figure out is if the singer was on this supposed plan or not. Or if the right wingers took matters into their own hands

 

Cuz if its the latter, that still doesnt contradict what he said