REPUBLICAN VOTERS NEVER THINK THAT A REPUBLICAN IS "THE MAN"

You probably know about this:

Lara Trump has lashed out at Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong over a recent performance in which he changed the lyrics of one of his songs to criticise the Maga movement.

The former television producer and amateur singer, who is married to Eric Trump – third child of the former president – said the US rocker “couldn’t help himself” and “had to get woke”. During the band’s televised performance on Ryan Seacrest’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, Armstrong altered the words of the band’s famous tune American Idiot, singing: “I’m not a part of the Maga agenda.”

Here's the full clip:

Recording artist Lara Trump says Green Day are not true punk rockers, they are just corporate establishment shills like Neil Young. pic.twitter.com/BiBwo7AwIS

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 3, 2024

She said:

... he was singing the song "American Idiot," couldn’t help himself, had to get woke, had to get anti-Trump. He changed the lyrics from 'I’m not a part of the redneck agenda' to 'I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.' This is not punk rock. These people are so controlled by the mainstream, they are so controlled by the corporate political agenda, and this just is another example of -- do you guys remember when, I think it was Neil Young, "keep on rockin' in the free world," remember when Neil Young, it was like two years ago, got all upset because Joe Rogan, who was hosted on Spotify as one of his platforms, was talking about the COVID vaccine, and he gave his opinion of things, and gave his thoughts on things, and Neil Young decided, "I am so against his freedom of speech, I'm gonna pull my music from Spotify"? It is so funny to me, though, Libby [addressing Libby Emmons, one of her guests], because these are the people who are supposed to be anti-Establishment. These are the people who are supposed to be, like, the rockers that we look to to, like, fight back against The Man. They're in lockstep with The Man. It is amazing to see.

Let's ignore the fact that Green Day has been political for decades -- anti-religious right, pro-LGBTQ, pro-reproductive rights (Armstrong half-seriously renounced his American citizenship after the Dobbs decision was announced), and generally pissed off at ordinary life in America. What you should notice here is how Lara Trump talks about opposition to the right-wing ideology, because it's how Republican voters have seen politics for decades.

In her view, denouncing Trump isn't merely bad -- it's Establishmentarian. It's part of "the corporate political agenda." Her father-in-law was the president of the United States, and may be president again. Even if he's not as rich as he claims, Forbes says he's a billionaire, and he certainly lives higher on the hog than the vast majority of Americans. Republicans see your next-door neighbor who has a middle-class job and a "Hate Has No Home Here" sign on her lawn as part of the elite, along with Green Day and Neil Young (who, to be fair, are well off now, though they're not billionaires). Donald Trump? He's a freedom-loving rebel fighting The Man from a secret location in the underground.

This isn't just the MAGA worldview. Whenever you're told that Fox News is designed to counteract "the mainstream media," remember that Fox has been the most-watched cable news channel in America for years, and is run by a billionaire -- it is the mainstream media.

Ronald Reagan used to talk the way Lara Trump talks. Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush used to talk the way Lara Trump talks. The message from Republicans, at all times, is: Liberals control everything. This is true even when Republicans control the House, the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court. Vote GOP and we'll Fight The Power.

This message is very appealing to voters. It's a message Democrats could try to send, given the fact that even when we're in charge we don't seem to have the power to tighten federal gun laws, reestablish reproductive rights, effectively tax rich people, provide truly universal health care coverage, combat institutional racism, rein in abusive cops, or move the country to a post-fossil fuel energy future. Bernie Sanders won a lot of votes saying, in effect, that he was fighting The Man, but most mainstream Democrats don't want to say it. Why not? It works for Republicans.

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UPDATE: Go here to watch Fox's Tammy Bruce complain that Green Day is "raging for the machine," an echo of a January 1 tweet from that notorious battler against Establishment power Elon Musk (net worth: $220 billion, most of it from government handouts).