In the wake of Taylor Swift’s powerful endorsement of Kamala Harris for President, another legendary singer has stepped into the political arena.
The 78-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Fame icon Linda Ronstadt, who lost her ethereal singing voice to the ravages of progressive supranuclear palsy in 2012, has refused to be silenced. She recreated Swift’s viral endorsement post, holding her cat in a photo that speaks volumes about her stance on the current political climate. Many, including Ronstadt, would prefer to skip past this episode in American history, but with the former president scheduled to visit the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson on September 12, the Grammy-winning First Lady of Rock felt compelled to speak out. “Since the building has my name on it, I need to say something,” she wrote.
And say something she did. Ronstadt minced no words in her condemnation of Trump, calling out his “toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance.”
It’s no secret that Trump has a history of making disparaging remarks about immigrants, even going so far as to suggest that they are eating their dogs, cats, and other pets. Such accusations are particularly galling to Ronstadt, the proud granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant. Through her soul-stirring mariachi albums, which have become some of the bestselling non-English records in the U.S., she has celebrated her rich heritage with a passion that puts Trump’s xenophobic fear-mongering to shame.
In her statement, Ronstadt pointed out one of the most egregious policies of the Trump era: the barbaric family separation policy that ripped migrant children from their parents’ arms at the southern border. This monstrous practice, which Physicians for Human Rights condemned as torture, left thousands of innocent children orphaned. Ronstadt also took a swipe at JD Vance, Trump’s smirking sidekick, for his misogynistic denigration of “childless cat ladies.” As a single mother who raised two adopted children with love and devotion, Ronstadt put Vance in his place with a scathing retort: “Call me what you want, but this cat lady will be voting proudly in November for Harris and Tim Walz.”
If there’s one thing we know about cat ladies, it’s that they’re not to be trifled with. They’re strong, they’re independent, and they don’t take crap from anyone – especially not from a couple of bloviating man-babies like Trump and Vance. Ultimately, Ronstadt’s message is a rallying cry for all who believe in the promise of America as a land of opportunity, diversity, and justice.