Kamala Harris spent the bulk of her (very short) presidential campaign raking in support from some of the biggest names out there. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has Kid Rock.
The likes of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington, Oprah, and Michael Keaton rushed to offer Harris their support during her campaign, but Trump never really managed to stir up a bigger name than Kid Rock. Maybe Hulk Hogan counts, depending on your circle. Regardless, Rock soon became one of the faces of the Trump campaign as he shot up boxes of Bud Light and leaned on poisonous language to align himself with Trump’s destructive ideals.
Now that the election’s over, however, Rock is singing a different tune. Gone are the days of threatening to body slam Democrats, of tossing out the f-slur, or of flaunting the Confederate flag. He’s traded his typical toxicity for a new measured persona. The problem? The look doesn’t suit Rock — or even Bob Ritchie — one bit. It’s too late for us to see the man as anything other than blatantly immature after years of seeing nothing but that, and one Instagram video isn’t going to change that.
Rock posted a video to his social media a few days after the election, showcasing his two “election reactions” right alongside each other. The first was delivered by Kid Rock the stage persona — and was just as childish as you expect — but it was the second that caused a stir. That part was delivered by Bob Ritchie (the singer’s real name) and saw the vocal MAGA supporter urge his fellows to “be the bigger man” and “unite all reasonable people of this great nation.”
Unfortunately, Rock is preaching to an uninterested choir. It’s certainly not true of all of them, but a bulk of Trump supporters have shown themselves to be selfish, hateful, and belligerent time after time. They’re not interested in unity, they’re interested in seeing Trump’s lies — all of them, from a better economy to the loss of our rights — come to fruition.
And, on the other side, where you’d typically see people willing to find a middle ground, you’ll now find few friends. People on the left are just as disinterested in unity as those on the right. We’re finished being nice, we’re finished going high while they go low, and we’re out for blood. We don’t want you to “be the bigger man,” we want you to get exactly what you voted for. We want you to pay for your vote over the next four years, and we won’t feel a lick of sympathy when you do.
Rock’s message comes at exactly the wrong time, and it’s directed at exactly the wrong people. These are the people who tried to overthrow the government. These are the people who spread rampant lies about Kamala Harris “sleeping her way to the top,” and gleefully throwing “your body, my choice” around like toxic teens. They are not the party of unity, and no amount of encouragement from a forgotten one-hit wonder is going to change that.
It’s a nice sentiment, in plenty of ways, but honestly, it’s utterly vacant in its delivery. It’s just Rock trying to playact like MAGA could ever, in a million years, rise above and be the better group. That is a fantasy, pure and simple, and no amount of empty olive branches is going to change it.