METALLICA'S JAMES HETFIELD DEFINES "ELITIST" THE SAME WAY TRUMP VOTERS DO

James Hetfield of Metallica is tired of the "elitist" Bay Area:

James Hetfield, the co-founder and lead singer for the successful heavy metal band Metallica, left his home in the San Francisco Bay Area because of an 'elitist' attitude.

In an interview Friday with radio talk show host Joe Rogan, Hetfield says that after decades of living in Northern California, he grew tired of the negative reaction from locals who did not look kindly upon his political views and lifestyle choices....

Hetfield says that in the Bay Area, 'there was an elitist attitude there -- that if you weren't their way politically, their way environmentally, all of that, that you were looked down upon.'

Can you be more specific, James?

'They talk about how diverse they are, and things like that, and it's fine if you're diverse like them. But showing up with a deer on the bumper doesn't fly in Marin County.'

Hetfield is a hunter and a member of the NRA. When Metallica was scheduled to perform at England's Glastonbury Festival in 2014, there were calls to remove the band from the festival's lineup because Hetfield hunts Kodiak bears. (Metallica performed as scheduled.)

So what non-elitist place did Hetfield find more accommodating?

Hetfield instead decided to relocate to 'super quiet' Vail, Colorado, with his wife, Francesca.

Ahh, yes, non-elitist Vail, Colorado, which Barron's magazine described a few years ago as one of the best places to buy a high-end second home:

5. VAIL, COLORADO

For those who want the high life rather than the quiet life: After skiing knee-deep powder on Vail's incomparable back bowls, a woman with a diamond ring the size of Pike's Peak hands her skis to the valet. Prada sunglasses shade her tired eyes from the sun. The skier, the wife of a Mexico City industrialist, enters the Arrabelle Club, an après-ski hangout where gold-medal Olympic skier and cover girl Lindsey Vonn keeps her locker. The Mexican jet-setter is handed a glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut....

Median Price 2010: $1.8 million

Median Price 2011: $1.6 million

Yeah, there's nothing elitist about Vail:

While Aspen is one of the top celebrity hot-spots in the Rockies, its reputation might just be second to Vail, according to professional celebrity trackers. In just the past year, eyewitness sightings have positively identified a large range of celebrities, including George Clinton, Jay-Z, Donald Trump, Katy Perry, and Al Gore -- as well as Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz popping into Los Amigos for some Mexican food...

And when Michelle Obama went to Vail with the kids in 2011, right-wingers were livid. The expense!

But Hetfield is defining "elitist" just the way Trump voters do: Being wealthy or high-status doesn't make you an elitist -- you're an elitist if you have some money (it doesn't even have to be a lot) and you challenge right-wingers' preferences. I know the Bay Area is full of wealthy people, but even a moderately comfortable middle-class person from Oakland who objects to Hetfield's hunting is more of an elitist than a billionaire who'll happily share his venison.

That's why the Trumpers don't mind that Trump's Cabinet is full of plutocrats -- none of these Cabinet appointees are telling the Trump base to get a background check at a gun show or press "1" for English, so they're not elitists. Instead, we're the elitists for objecting to those people.

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(And for the record, I'm not against hunters. Except Ted Nugent -- that guy's a dick.)