Roger Waters on Donald Trump: ‘The Epitome of Anything That Might Be Considered Bad’
Donald Trump can't catch a break with classic-rock artists. Over the past few weeks, the presidential hopeful has been slammed by R.E.M., Vivian Campbell and Neil Young. And now Roger Waters has joined the growing list of musicians offended by the multimillionaire's run for the Oval Office. (Well, he sill has Dee Snider's friendship.)
The former Pink Floyd member recently told Rolling Stone that he thinks Trump is "the epitome of anything that might be considered bad" and "entrepreneurship gone wrong."
"I have [laughed], except it's not funny that he's as popular as he is," said Waters. "His ideas [are] not outlandish at all. It's American exceptionalism gone crazy and delivered under the umbrella of absolute ignorance. He is pig-ignorant and he always was and he always will be. He lives in the illusion that he's admirable in some way. And obviously for somebody like me, he stands for everything that is not admirable in American society."
Waters is no stranger to voicing his opinion on global political issues over the years, particularly his longtime support of the Palestine people. But the British-born artist has rarely lashed out against an American figure with the force he's hurled at Trump. "The mainstream media in this country tend only to report a very limited section of ideas and views," he said. "So it's perfectly understandable why people would believe Donald Trump's nonsense, because it's important to the one percent to propagate and disseminate these theories and these system beliefs in order to retain control. It's organized theft on a giant level, a huge scale, and is extremely efficient and well-organized."
He's also not a fan of Trump's campaign slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again," which he calls "silly and disgusting." "If the Founding Fathers hadn't been so up their own asses," he added, "they might have come up with a system that fell somewhere between republican democracy that was going to work and that had proper checks and balances to prevent it disintegrating into what it has become, which is a country for sale to the highest bidder with the Supreme Court at the top of it, who's appointed by the highest bidder eventually." Ouch.
Waters is getting ready for the big-screen premiere of Roger Waters The Wall, a one-night event that documents his 2010-13 The Wall Live tour with behind-the-scenes footage and a Q&A session with Floyd drummer Nick Mason. After that, Waters has his eyes on a new album, tour and memoir.
Pink Floyd Albums Ranked Worst to Best
You Think You Know Pink Floyd?