On 4:44, Jay-Z asks the question, “what’s better than one billionaire?” The answer, in a song about the empire he and his wife created, is “two.” Quite reversely, if you asked me, “what’s better than one celebrity turned politician?,” I would answer “none.” Sure, we’ve had celebrity actors sit in high seats before; Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Governor of California, and Ronald Reagan was our 40th President, but neither have been as “game-changing” as our current President, Donald Trump. A businessman from New York and personality figure from TV’s The Apprentice, Trump gaining the Presidency meant for some people that, essentially, if he could do it then maybe so can I.
It’s the exact thought that went through the mind of rap-rocker Kid Rock this week, as he timidly announced his run for Senate. Rock has very publicly been a supporter of Trump, and Romney before him, even joining the latter on their stump tour around the country. While the Detroit-rocker leans right when it comes to backing Political candidates however, a Kid Rock senate seat could possibly be under way. So, where does the rocker stand on important issues that he could potentially be voting on?
As a Senator for Michigan, Kid Rock would have the Flint water crisis and Detroit bankruptcy right on the top of his to-do list. Flint has already been accepted for millions of dollars in repairs to fix over 180,000 homes by 2020, but Rock will have to come up with some more funds to prevent and restore the damaged infrastructure. With money problems of their own, the city of Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy in 2013, received donations from Kid Rock himself totaling upwards of $1,250,000, but Kid Rock can’t fund the city of Detroit forever. His plan so far?
I’m not just wealthy, I’m loaded. I can say that because I’m not embarrassed – I’ve made a fuck-ton of money, but I’ve never made a dishonest dollar. I try to do right by the people around me. — in a 2015 interview with The Guardian
As a known Trump supporter, Kid Rock has taken a similar philosophy—that the fact that he’s wealthy somehow also means that he’ll be able to manage the finances of an entire state properly. As he said of Trump for Rolling Stone, “let the motherfucking business guy run it like a fucking business. And his campaign has been entertaining as shit.”
In that same 2015 interview for The Guardian, Kid Rock was ready to throw out the rest of his takes on the important issues including freedom of speech, gay marriage, and abortion, all of which are just laced with chauvinism and homophobia. “As an ordained minister,” he says, “I don’t look forward to marrying gay people, but I’m not opposed to it.” He’s also “no fan of abortion,” but “it’s not up to a man to tell a woman what to do.”
It’s a passive way of speaking that says “I’m not okay with it” but “it’s not up to me anyway.” It’s a better viewpoint than most right-wing politicians, but “it’s not up to me” doesn’t work as an excuse when you’re actually the person in charge, which Rock would be if voted into the Senate. Right now he’s just “Bawitdaba” singer Kid Rock, but as Senator of Michigan, he might not think “it’s not up to a man to tell a woman what to do” when he’s the one deciding what’s right or wrong in abortion legislation.
“I am definitely a Republican on fiscal issues and the military,” he says, “but I lean to the middle on social issues… Rap-rock was what people wanted at the time, and they still love those songs at shows. But it turned into a lot of bullshit and it turned out to be pretty gay … If someone says you can’t say ‘gay’ like that you tell them to go fuck themselves. You’re not going to get anything politically correct out of me.”
And that’s all coming from a guy who told People back in 2008 that “people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight, should keep their mouth shut on politics.” Now he’s throwing out thoughts such as legalizing heroin and the right to buy even more guns. This is where the fear of Senator Kid Rock sets in. Donald Trump won when we all thought he couldn’t, and oddly enough, so can Kid Rock. What’s worse than one Donald Trump? Two.