Is Donald Trump Using Music Inappropriately At His Political Rallies?

From the launch of his 2016 presidential campaign to the more recent reelection campaign for 2020, is President Trump using music “inappropriately” at his political rallies?

By: Ringo Bones

The Rolling Stones might be the latest of a growing number of musical artists launching their own cease and desist directives to the Donald Trump presidential campaign after their songs are used inappropriately in his rallies. Their 1969 classic You Don’t Always Get What You Want is probably the proverbial last straw to the normally laid-back Stones. Even though the Stones had been telling Trump to stop using their songs since 2016, the iconic band finally issued a legal action for Trump to stop.

Donald Trump had been exploiting loopholes in the BMI’s Blanket Political Entities License Agreement law in being able to play a number of classic Rolling Stones, Queen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pharrell Williams, Rhianna and Adele just to name a few. But a growing number of artists are complaining and had launched their respective legal cease and desist orders from their lawyers because their songs are used in a Trump rally for very inappropriate lessons.

Earlier this week, the family of the late Tom Petty posted on the band’s official Twitter account saying that the Trump campaign’s use of his song is “in no way authorized,” adding that he: “would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate.” Pharrell Williams’ Oscar nominated “Happy” was played at a Trump rally hours after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue back in October 2018.

This more than just pointing out the preexisting thinking of hard right conservatives not giving a rat’s ass about copyright laws since the launch of Fox News, being tone deaf to the social injustices endured by non white Anglo Saxon Protestant musicians is one thing, but keeping silent while Trump uses their songs inappropriately in the era of the renewed Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was killed in an act of police brutality is just unforgivable. It’s high time to vote Trump out of the White House this November 2020.

Is Robbie Williams a Secret Trump Supporter?

Despite being debunked for four years, does former Take That member Robbie Williams’ belief that the Pizzagate conspiracy is real make him a “secret Trump supporter”?

By: Ringo Bones

In the wake of the reinvigorated Black Lives Matter protest brought about by the application of excessive force during the arrest of George Floyd, admitting publicly that you subscribe to debunked bizarre conspiracy theories put forth by white supremacist could be tantamount to saying publicly that you are an unabashed Holocaust Denier. Sadly, former member of a popular 1990s era boy band Take That, Robbie Williams, just recently did that in a recent interview. And given that his music is largely influenced by African-American musicians during the heyday of Motown, does Robbie even just find this just a little bit “awkward”?

The 46-year-old sat down for an interview with journalist Anna Brees, and in a teaser clip from the second part of the interview, the Rock DJ singer appears to question the validity of a conspiracy theory alleging that several high-ranking members of the U.S. Democratic Party and U.S. restaurants were involved in an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring. That theory was widely debunked during the 2016 US Presidential Election following an investigation by the New York Times and the fact-checking website Snopes. Although various American far-right and white supremacists groups still believe to this very day that the Pizzagate Conspiracy is real and proof that – according to them – the US Democratic Party are composed of sex deviants, while denying President Donald Trump’s previous association with convicted billionaire-paedophile - the late Jeffrey Epstein.

As well as the Pizzagate Conspiracy Theory being debunked by a number of investigative journalists, no alleged victims came forward and no physical evidence supporting the theory was ever found. Sadly, it caused the defeat of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential Election that resulted in subjecting America into over three years of social trauma that culminated in the COVID 19 response mismanagement and the systemic racism of US law enforcement that resulted in the resurgent Black Lives Matter protests. Let’s just hope this is nothing more than Robbie Williams’ sad attempt to be famous again to the 18 to 24 crowd who are now heavily into Billie Eilish and peacefully marching in Black Lives Matter protests.

Donald Trump: The US Republican Party’s “Manchurian Candidate”?

Though he’s not as glamorous as either Frank Sinatra or Denzel Washington, is the media-glitzy American billionaire Donald Trump a true-blue “Manchurian Candidate”? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Political pundits in recent years had labeled former US President Ronald Reagan as a “closeted liberal” while President Barack Obama has been recently labeled as a “closeted Ronald Reagan like conservative”, the recent search for a GOP frontrunner for the 2016 US Presidential Elections had both political pundits and the general public alike wondering as of late whether media-glitzy billionaire Donald Trump could be a true-blue Manchurian Candidate”. But is there any proof that Trump could be one or is it just the “moneyed narcissism” talking? 

The term “Manchurian Candidate” stems from the 1959 novel by Richard Condon referring to a US presidential political candidate or person that has unknowingly been convinced to act toward some interest. At the prevailing political climate when the book was released, the global spread of communism was the perceived existential threat of the American way of life thus the first Manchurian Candidate movie released in 1962 starring Frank Sinatra revolved around the “Truman Doctrine”; While the 2004 remake that starred Denzel Washington revolved around the post 9/11 Islamist terror ("Dubya" Bush Doctrine?) as the existential threat to the American way of life. 

But based on what I’ve seen and heard so far in the CNN coverage on Donald Trump’s “plans” if elected as the president of the United States – Trump eerily reminds me of myself back when I was 11-years-old (back in 1983) if asked by news reporters on how to solve the threat posed by the then Soviet Union to the free world in which I would answer by “invoking Sly Stallone and Chuck Norris or even Snake Plissken to kick some ass and take down names”. Sadly, Donald Trump is much older than me.

When asked on how to solve the Islamic State / ISIS problem in a recent CNN interview, Donald Trump responded with bombing the Hell out of their crude oil revenue via round-the-clock airstrikes. Given the recent fiscal expenditures of the military adventurism of former US President George “Dubya” Bush on the search of nonexistent WMDs in Iraq, I’m beginning to wonder if Donald Trump even knows how much in US dollars worth of aviation-grade kerosene his private jet burns in an hour spent airborne. Is Donald Trump a “Manchurian Candidate”? More like an “immature candidate”.