As Bob Dylan once famously sang, “The times, they are a’changin,'” a fact made crystal clear by how differently celebrities and entertainers are treating President Donald Trump already at the start of his second term in the White House. A sign of this cultural transformation is country star Carrie Underwood, who might not be Beyonce levels of popular, but has a large fanbase nonetheless, performing at Trump’s inauguration and defending her choice to do so when facing criticism.
In fact, according to Breitbart, performers like rap artist Nelly, along with The Village People, were very public about their participation in these historic events and being associated with the president’s administration. Looking back eight years ago, the difference in attitude is like night and day. The president struggled to find stars who would be part of his swearing-in and the celebratory events that would follow it. There were many protest marches around the country the day he was sworn in at that time, which was way different than Barack Obama’s ceremonies that featured performances by Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, and James Taylor. Gee, which one of these doesn’t belong here?
There were always some celebrity Trump supporters, like Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, Jon Voight, Rosanne Barr, Mike Tyson, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Rodman, to name a few. But Trump’s victory this time around was decisive and while Hollywood may always skew largely liberal, the slate of names participating in his inauguration weekend events has improved. Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Village People and Lee Greenwood all performed at a MAGA style rally Sunday. Those performing at inaugural balls include the rapper Nelly, country music band Rascal Flatts, country singer Jason Aldean and singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw.
“The people who are coming out and participating directly are still a small subset of the entire universe of what we call celebrity,” Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University went on to say. “But we’re seeing a lot more celebrities who are coming out and supporting Trump. There may not be that distinct division that we saw before.”
Even some who have publicly criticized Trump in the past seem to have changed course. One of the highest-profile examples is the rapper Snoop Dogg, who in a 2017 music video pretended to shoot a Trump lookalike, and then this weekend performed at a pre-Inaugural event called The Crypto Ball. When a social media user posted a video of his performance, his name quickly became a trending topic on social media with a fair amount of disbelief and outrage.
Why the outrage? Because Snoop is a black man showing his support for a white president, a man that the media has spent thousands upon thousands of minutes of airtime portraying as an evil racist, a neo-Nazi, and any other evil thing you can think of. Many of these critics are brain dead. Not an original thought exists in the empty valley of their skulls. Add to that they lack any sort of discernment whatsoever and you get the perfect soulless automaton that makes liberal politicians drool.
There may still be a tinge of stigma, however. Thompson pointed to the statement from The Village People, in which they offered a justification for their involvement, which he likened to an apologia. Also, Thompson said, “the idea of being featured in a big national civic ritual perhaps can transcend political identity.” The participation of people like Underwood is not going to change anyone’s mind about Trump, Thompson said. It could, however, change minds about the artist. On social media, some declared they were going to delete Underwood’s songs from their playlists.
Trump has also had a sort of an awakening when it comes to Hollywood. In previous years, he slammed the entertainment industry for its liberalism and “otherness,” as it openly shunned him every opportunity it was given. But that has changed. He sees Hollywood as a new project that is worthy of salvation. In fact, he’s enlisted legendary actor and director Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight to be “ambassadors” to go into the lion’s den and complete this mission.
Why the change of heart?
Andrew Breitbart used to say often that politics flows downstream from culture. If you want a conservative country and you want it to stay that way, you need to take over the cultural institutions and use them as means to get your message out to the masses. Films, television, novels, comics, music, etc., are all valuable mediums for spreading messages, a truth the Democrats knew well. They used these tools to share their values and it was successful for a long, long time. However, things are shifting as people are realizing that liberalism, when it is applied, does not work.
"*" indicates required fields
Trump’s success in the last election is due to this realization. He knows that. Therefore, he wants to help redeem the industry. It’s a smart and necessary strategy.