Issue #97: Donald Trump, Warren Zeiders, Aaron Watson and the country music values farce

File under: things I wish I didn’t have to be writing about.

I don’t like to think too much about Warren Zeiders if I don’t have to. Up until last week, he struck me as someone that sounds pretty much like most manufactured Music Row stuff, with an extra dash of flair (hat, long hair) and an attempt at some sort of more outlaw-ish persona but virtue of husky voice and mentioning things like drugs and relapse, but more as gimmicks instead of thoughtful commentary. He apparently became famous on TikTok where he has three million followers, and, from what I can tell, he posts photos of his abs, cluelessly queer-coded dancing videos and clips of him scream-singing dramatically with a hoodie over his head. None of this has resonated with me, and, believe me, I have given it a try. You know here at Don’t Rock the Inbox we try to give almost everything a fighting chance. This one didn’t stick. Mostly I just don’t like being yelled at when I’m trying to listen to music.

Donald Trump, apparently, feels differently. Yesterday, on TruthSocial, he posted this: “Warren Zeiders is FANTASTIC. Go to his concerts, and ENJOY!” Thus compelling us all to have to think about Warren Zeiders more than we ever wanted to. I am sure Zeiders’ politics skew right, based on his penchant to go on Fox News, and Trump posting about country music doesn’t really phase me – nothing is normal, etc – and we all know about his alliance with the Aldeans. So sure, Trump posting about a country artist who goes on Fox News makes perfect sense, these are his bros, he was probably golfing with Kid Rock, hit ball send tweet.

Nothing happens in a vacuum though, and it’s what happened before all this that matters. At a show in Florida recently, Zeiders apparently got mad at a fan for putting his middle finger up, yelling “fuck you man” and “get the fuck out pussy” from the stage along with a score of other fun expletives. Swearing on stage doesn’t bother me, but Trump offering his cosign to this guy right after….well, I have questions. What the Trump administration is currently selling is their view of whitewashed American values, wives who pump out lots of kids and what they view as “wholesome [Christian fundamentalist] content”. How is zeroing in on the guy who screamed “get the fuck out pussy” from the stage emblematic of that? Ban Pinkalicious but support the guy cursing on stage? Country radio claimed to not play “Biscuits” much because Kacey Musgraves said “pissing.” Hmm. Doesn’t compute.

[And yes, I realized this is all somewhat rhetorical with Trump, a man who was elected twice after bragging about grabbing women by the pussy.]

But I’m not alone in feeling this way. Amidst all this chaos is Aaron Watson, who apparently is also pumping out TikTok content these days (playing accordion with Grupo Siggno, listening to Dr Dre in his car), and last week had a little talk with his followers about Zeiders, who he referred to as “Wilbur Zayderhoffer” to protect the identities of the accused.

“I don’t even know how I talk about this,” Watson said in the video posted last week, before the Trump tweet/truth/whatever. “It’s so inappropriate. It’s Rated-R, but it needs to be discussed. This week in country music and artist from the stage told the fan, and I quote, God it’s awful, I quote, he said microphone, ‘Suck my bleep mother f’r.’ And then he said, ‘Nobody flips me off,’ and he called the guy the p-word…but Wilbur what you did on the stage, in front of God and everybody, unprofessional. That fan down there in the crowd, he flipped you off. He basically whipped out a spoon, and Wilbur you are up there on the stage in the spotlight, and you whipped out a machete. You brought a machete to a spoon fight on one of your fans.”

I don’t know Aaron Watson’s politics and I’m not sure he leads with them – but the man has a point. If you’re talking country music – the wholesome family-first way Trump and the Aldeans and whoever claim to want to restore it to, to save it from Beyonce or whatever – you’re not talking about cursing out your fans from the stage just because they flicked you off. So not like you needed me to tell you this, but, once again, it’s about hypocrisy.

Now I’m just waiting for the next country artist to go on Fox News and curse from the stage because their single is tanking and they need a little TruthSocial boost…in 3…2…1…

-Marissa