Let’s Not Dixie Chick Shania Twain Over Her Trump Comments
Why exactly was a UK-based publication asking a Canadian pop country star with permanent citizenship in Switzerland about the American President? It was in hopes she would be naive enough to answer in a way that would result in a scandalous uproar, and that’s exactly what has happened.
Simon Hattenstone writing for The Guardian published an in-depth, quality, and quite candid interview with Shania on Sunday (4-23), where she bared her soul about being crushed when her personal assistant and best friend ran off with her husband and producer Mutt Lange, and about being sexually abused as a child by her stepfather. There’s a lot of ‘F’ words, and even a few ‘C’ words peppered throughout the interview, and it shows the pop star in a plain-spoken light we rarely see.
There was plenty to take away from the Shania interview as insight into her 15-year disappearance in music, and her perseverance through personal struggle. But that’s not what grabbed everyone’s attention and had the entertainment press scrambling to compose click bait headlines and roil the internet, it was her passing comments at the end of the interview about Donald Trump that have many calling for Shania’s eradication from entertainment.
“I would have voted for him because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest,” Shania said about Trump. “Do you want straight or polite? Not that you shouldn’t be able to have both. If I were voting, I just don’t want bullshit. I would have voted for a feeling that it was transparent. And politics has a reputation of not being that, right?”
And now for being honest and transparent herself, Shania has been forced to publicly apologize and is the centerpiece of the internet’s ire at the moment. And for some, apology or no, it’s time for Shania’s entire career and public life to be ended. This is the same irrational torch and pitchfork flash mob mentality we saw bring down The Dixie Chicks, only coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum. And once again it’s words that are overriding the actions of the individuals involved.
It’s the LGBTQ community that is mostly looking to decapitate Shania, even though for years she has been supportive of the gay community, has been seen as a “gay icon” for her flashy stage persona, and she was even a guest judge recently on RuPaul’s Drag Race competition. Now a lifetime of not just tolerance, but support for the gay community is being overlooked because Twitter and the internet needs its cause célèbre of the day, and someone to demonize in a political proxy war since Trump still hasn’t been ousted from office.
It was completely unfair to The Dixie Chicks, and it’s completely unfair to Shania to let irrational political vitriol cloud judgement about the personal character of an entertainer. If you were against the unfair smearing of The Dixie Chicks, it is a double standard to join the fracas now calling for Shania Twain’s head. The political makeup of any artist should be irrelevant to their career unless it’s a subject they personally choose to broach. Attacking and demonizing someone for their political stances is an element of McCarthyism.
Sure, if it comes out that an artist abuses women, or is part of some certified neo-Nazi hate group, then they deserve whatever public rebuke and punishment is coming to them. But roughly half of the United States approves of Donald Trump at the moment, for better or worse. Does that mean that half of the country should be banned from holding professional jobs, working with children, or be rendered ineligible to entertain us? Are some of those Trump supporters homophobic racists? Of course they are. But some of them are not. Shania’s comments illustrate this when taking into account her support and interaction with the LGBTQ community.
In fact it’s Shania’s closeness with the gay community that is making her such a target. If Jason Aldean says something similar about Trump, it is a footnote. The irony is thick that on the same day Shania is facing a major test of her public image, Kanye West, who is actually an American, didn’t just say he respected Trump’s honesty, he said, “I do love Donald Trump” with no qualifiers. In this instance, it’s just being cast off as Kanye being Kanye.
Shania Twain let her guard down in what appeared to be a very personal and unburdening interview. She didn’t sway the interview towards talk of politics, it was swayed there by the interviewer, which has been a common practice in the UK. It was the UK press that first started the uproar over Natalie Maines’ comments about George W. Bush in 2003. It was another UK press outlet, The Independent, that ambushed Carrie Underwood about the gay marriage issue in 2012.
Though interviewer Simon Hattenstone and The Guardian conducted a quality interview with Shania Twain, they took advantage of her honesty, and created excellent example of why music and politics rarely mix well, and artists should only enter the political fray when they choose to, and have weighed the potential ramifications.
If Shania Twain’s professional career is ended, it should be because time has passed her music by, not because she got blindsided in an interview about a subject she has no business discussing in a public manner unless it’s of her choosing. Burning her records in the streets and boycotting her music as numerous fans and media outlets have suggested would be yet another black eye on the music industry where irrational political hatred won out over a level-headed understanding that we all have different political views, and it’s our actions that should speak louder than our words.
April 23, 2018 @ 6:27 pm
Folks, due to the political nature of this subject, comments will be HEAVILY moderated. Any comments disrespecting others, or political tangents that do not have to do with this very specific issue will be either edited or deleted.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:50 pm
You always try to come off as neutral but the political undertones in your writing are plain as day.
April 23, 2018 @ 11:36 pm
In a way that’s just journalism no? Despite that, someone can do their upmost to maintain neutrality when writing an article but people will always come from both sides saying that it is biased.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:35 am
Not the way he does it. He’ll make it seem he’s being fair to both sides but there’s always a few barbs at the side he doesn’t like.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:41 am
Always looking for you to show up with your holier-than-thou, “Trigger doesnt write the way i think he should!!!”, crybaby nonsense.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:51 pm
“Always”? I think I’ve criticized him maybe 3 times in over a year.
Let’s have a look see…
As many folks agree with me as with him. What a shock. 18 all.
February 14, 2021 @ 6:40 am
If “let’s not bully and harass” is a “political undertone” that you object to, then something’s wrong with your politics.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:50 pm
Very well written article, Trigger. And I agree with everything you said here. I will NOT be reading the comments section of this post.
April 30, 2018 @ 7:43 am
Trigger, this morning I saw an article saying that Shania will be hosting a television show named “Real Country” (see https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/shania-twain-jake-owen-to-host-reality-show-real-country-w519669). Have you heard this? LMAO.
April 30, 2018 @ 9:19 am
I’m sure this will be addressed soon.
April 23, 2018 @ 6:39 pm
Love Trumps hate amirite
April 23, 2018 @ 6:54 pm
it’s unfortunate that her ridiculously overblown career , her “bad- pop- with -a -fiddle ” music and her whoa-is-me personal stuff are the reasons that ANY of what she says actually presumes to matter.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:00 pm
Just stick to generating bad music Shania. That’s your legacy.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:00 pm
Completely agree. It’s all part of this disturbing trend of vilifying someone who happens to disagree with you. It’s worse than the Dixie Chicks because she didn’t denigrate anyone and it was part of a larger interview anyway. She cant even vote here. It drives me crazy that press is taken up by trivia like this when we have real problems in this country and in the world. I also don’t know when people are going to learn that this kind of thought policing has the opposite effect of what it’s intended to do.
I don’t care for Shania’s music and I didn’t vote for our current President, but she has had a hard few years and this kind of behavior is nauseating and frankly disturbing. I agree, leave the woman alone.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:04 pm
Twain must be either very naive, very uninformed or very unintelligent to say such things to a journalist. She does, of course, have the right to say what she thinks. But she obviously is confused about who Trump really is. I don’t think anyone who’s intelligent needs me to tell them who he is and what he stands for. Kyle, you are, in my opinion, being disingenuous here. Twain is a long-time veteran of the music business. Surely you aren’t serious when you say that she was “swayed” into endorsing Trump. How do you know she was swayed? Have you read the complete transcript of the interview, or talked to the writer, or to Twain, to see how this occurred? If you haven’t, you cannot maintain that she was “swayed.” That’s purely your conjecture. Second, it is unreasonable of you to maintain the fiction that politics and music don’t mix. This has never been the case in country music, let alone in other forms of music. From Haggard’s “Okie” to Wynette and Sherrill’s “Stand by Your Man,” country has been engaged in political discussion. Americana artists routinely stand up for liberal causes, while other country artists make a case for their conservative views. Finally, nowhere in the piece is it made clear that the interviewer asked Twain about her politics or her opinion of Trump. For all you and I know, Kyle, she simply volunteered the information. If you think that an interviewer, given that sort of statement, would choose not to print it, you are very naive, and you are also not thinking like a journalist. In short, you are misrepresenting this affair and making what I would term false equivalence between the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain’s statements. To make country music apolitical is to live in a never-never land. Although you seem to be leery of political statements, I will point to your last sentence, which says actions speak louder than words. True. In the case of Trump, it is his actions, along with his words, that trouble many of us, and I believe rightly so. If Twain chooses to endorse those actions, she should be held accountable for her beliefs. She’s an adult–a rather troubled and ill-informed adult, but an adult nonetheless.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:24 pm
I think Twain has lost a step, or I would say a few steps, in her career. This applies to her music and lyrics and to other aspects of her work as a celebrity. She just doesn’t seem to be nearly as sharp when it comes to marketing and public relations as she was 20 years ago. I don’t know if this is because she has become out of touch with America after spending too much time living in castles in Europe, or if it is because she is less motivated than before. I cannot imagine that a media savvy celebrity like Taylor Swift would make such an obvious public relations mistake like this.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:36 pm
“Surely you aren’t serious when you say that she was “swayed” into endorsing Trump.”
Why is a pop country star who lives in Switzerland and is originally from Canada being asked about the American Presidential situation? It has absolutely no relevancy to her music, or her personal life. The only reason you even ask the question is to try to get a juicy answer that you can then use to promote your article because of the “trigger” nature of Trump, regardless of what that answer is. If you read the entirety of the Guardian interview, the interviewer himself talks candidly about how unguarded Shania Twain seems, using the F word and C word. As a journalist, you KNOW if any public figure says something positive about Trump, it’s going to cause a public uproar. It was a very well-written and conducted interview, but there is no possible way the interviewer was not setting up Shania with his Trump question.
Also, I read no Trump endorsement. This is another problem with the irrational, reactionary, and emotional political climate we live in. If you say something positive about Trump—in this case that he’s honest and “no bullshit” (whether you believe it or not)—then all of a sudden you’re signing off on all his words, all his actions, and anything he’s ever done. Shania actually went out of her way in her original comments to say he was “offensive” and to distance from that. It’s similar to when I said that Mike Huckabee was qualified to serve on a nonprofit board dealing with music funding, and all of a sudden blue checkmarked journalists are posting pictures of Mike Huckabee and the public servant in Kentucky who refused to offer gay marriage licenses in the same tweet as my name, as if I somehow was signing off on every single thing Mike Huckabee has ever done.
” Although you seem to be leery of political statements, I will point to your last sentence, which says actions speak louder than words. True. In the case of Trump, it is his actions, along with his words, that trouble many of us, and I believe rightly so. If Twain chooses to endorse those actions, she should be held accountable for her beliefs.”
But Shania never endorsed Trumps actions, or words. You are holding Shania Twain accountable for the actions and words of another human being, while Shania’s own actions are to support gay rights publicly, to act as a judge on a nationally-broadcast drag queen competition surrounded by gay men, and to be tolerant of all people. Those actions speak to me much louder than some words in an interview.
Shania Twain was definitely naive here, and I am not going to defend her words. But if you’re going to destroy her career for being homophobic, you’re just flat out wrong. And if it can happen to her over this, it can happen to someone who espouses liberal ideologies.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:51 am
It’s not clear that the writer asked her about Trump at all. It’s very possible that she brought Trump into the conversation when talking about wanting honesty.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:39 pm
But what she said is pretty irrefutably correct.
It’s widely believed the key to Trump’s win is that he connected with “middle America” that was frustrated with the slick, shady, quintessential Washington politicians — of which Hillary Clinton is the embodiment.
Yes, there are racists, sexists and bigots who endorsed Trump, but the support for Hillary was not resounding – even in states and demographics she should have rocked.
Granted, you can make the case that it’s terrible to VOTE for someone simply because they’re “honest” – especially if their “honesty” is offensive. But the core of her point was really just saying she’d rather vote for the devil she knows rather than the one she doesn’t. And that’s not a radical idea.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:47 pm
I find it interesting nobody ever brings up the fact that groups such as the Communist Party of America supported Hillary Clinton.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:38 am
And the KKK supports Trump. Choose your poison.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:45 am
I know. And I know because people are bringing that up daily and always in everyone’s face about it. Those same people ignore the similar fringe support their own party gets from whacky groups. I’ve always been critical of both parties, but it doesn’t take a genius too see whose favor news and media is slanted towards.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:54 am
Well which ones are you looking at NBC or Fox and Breitbart?
April 24, 2018 @ 9:12 am
C’mon TxMusic, get the blinders off.
NBC and CNN cater to liberal nutjobs while Fox and Breitbart cater to conservative nutjobs.
Liberal nutjobs and conservative nutjobs have more in common than they think.
They’re just too busy screaming at each other to realize their commonalities.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:37 am
That’s exactly my point. If you’re liberal you will find news media that supports your viewpoint. If you’re conservative you will find media that supports your viewpoint.
There isn’t some vast conspiracy where ALL media is liberal leaning which seemed to me Ulysses was hinting at.
August 27, 2021 @ 10:01 am
I don’t think we’ve seen this level of lying from cnn and msnbc. I’m pretty sure their liberal viewpoints are presented as opinion only
April 24, 2018 @ 8:54 pm
I can’t reply to TxMusic for some reason, but my point is that most of the major networks are left-leaning. I don’t acknowledge Breitbart and have no respect for them.
May 5, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
There are racists, sexist and bigots that endorsed Hillary Clinton too I’m sure. Bill Clinton said of Obama “a few years ago this guy would be serving our coffee.” Didn’t go over well.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:11 pm
Either stick to your answer or say what Denzel Washington said when asked who he supported in the last election “None of your business!”
April 23, 2018 @ 7:14 pm
Are we pretending that Trump fans dont do this exact same thing? I seem to recall many calling for Carrie Underwoods head after the CMAs because she’d made a joke.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:42 pm
Who cares if “Trump fans…do this exact same thing”?
That wasn’t an excuse for Al Franken to grope women, and it’s not an excuse to be an asshole, either.
Whatboutism is the last refuge of the ineloquent.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:27 pm
Never said it was an excuse. I’m just tired of all of it. I’m tired of both sides poking the fire then playing victim. Also, unless you’ve been in a coma for 3 years, you know that backlash from one side or the other will follow any comment on Trump. Shania isn’t some nieve newbie who’s never done an interview before.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:33 am
“Whataboutism is the last refuge of the ineluqouent”.
Certainly.
Well, that, and resorting to calling your opponents racist for daring to disagree with you.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:57 am
I agree.
Calling someone a racist should be reserved for when they say and do racist shit.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:13 pm
It’s not right when ANYONE tries to destroy an artist’s career for their political beliefs. It wasn’t right with the Dixie Chicks, and it isn’t right with Shania Twain right now. Of course Trump fans have done the same thing, and they will do it again. But that doesn’t somehow absolve the destruction of Shania Twain, it just extends the cycle of each side trying to even scores as opposed to seeing the bigger picture and stopping the cycle of character destruction which only gets in the way of understanding and dialogue.
The blacklash against Carrie Underwood for the CMA joke was very mild.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:34 pm
Maybe by the media but there was plenty on social media, where most of the Shania outrage was as well until it got picked up by the press. Also I think one needs to tread lightly when demonizing the gay community, saying they want to “decapitate” her. They have very strong feelings about this administration because they are not being supported by it. Shania knows that, everyone knows that. You cant support for a President that wants to take away gay rights then expect the gay community to buy your album.
May 5, 2018 @ 8:20 pm
How exactly are gays not being supported by this administration?
May 31, 2018 @ 7:46 am
Haha
April 23, 2018 @ 8:35 pm
I don’t know which side Carrie is on, and I think it is a good thing that she has kept politics out of her music. From what I have seen she is uncontroversial and is well liked by both Democrats and Republicans in country’s fan base. And for all the mistakes I think she made in her choices of singles to release, I do think she made the right decision to mainly focus on country audiences, instead of going full on pop crossover. If she had left country for pop I think the progressive left would have destroyed her career over the religious lyrics of many of her songs. Based on how much of a hard time the feminists have been giving Taylor Swift, who actually seems to be quite progressive, I don’t think a full on pop career would have worked out for Carrie. I think Miranda also made the right decision to stick with country, if she had gone the pop route the progressive left would have totally skewered her for her pro gun lyrics.
It is politically riskier for a country female to fully cross over to pop now than it was in the 1990s. Granted that Shania would have faced less of a backlash if she still looked like she did in the video for “Any Man of Mine”. But the culture wars have become so heated and contentious now that I don’t think even the hot body of a young Shania Twain can smooth things over any more.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:58 pm
Kyle, you are once again being incredibly disingenuous. If Twain chooses to endorse what is undeniably a very repressive, anti-American, dangerous regime–Trump’s regime–then she has gotten into bed with very bad forces. She may or may not realize it, but she’s on the side of murder, plutocracy, dishonesty, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, anti-humanism. She’s on the side of a kind of American fascism. The job of an enlightened populace is to make such distinctions, not to “engage in dialogue.” There is no conceivable “dialogue” to be had here. Trump is playing a zero-sum game with American values. And the thing is, she’s not enough of an artist for me to give her a pass; many artists endorse anti-democratic values, from Ezra Pound to T. S. Eliot, both of whom admired authoritarian ways of thinking and didn’t believe in democratic values. But Shania is just a country-pop singer. If her career takes a hit, she deserves it. Why would I endorse someone who is obviously burdened by the kind of bad thinking she seems to be unable to transcend? You seem to want to play a game here–invoking “dialogue” and “tolerance.” But if Trump has his way, you’d see just how far he’d go to defend YOU. I suggest you not write this kind of thing, because it just makes you look bad. And not very smart.
April 23, 2018 @ 11:49 pm
Edd,
The idea that Shania Twain is actively and consciously taking the side of “murder, plutocracy, dishonesty, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, and anti-humanism” is sheer madness. It’s taking an extreme viewpoint in order to portray intellectual and moral superiority, which you also just did by saying that I’m coming across as not very smart. Not even the most vehement Twitter trolls are saying that Shania is endorsing murder. It’s a nonsensical and irrational thought born on the emotional, reactionary response of political bile boiling up at the sheer mention of Trump and clouding judgement. Shania wears fucking leopard print on stage, is worth $350 million, and lives in Switzerland. It’s a very good bet she is brilliantly uninformed on American politics or the specifics of Trump’s dealings and policies beyond what’s printed in People Magazine. Go after Trump and his direct surrogates. Destroying a pop star in a cultural proxy war will be no victory for the anti Trump forces.
This is a very, very simple principle I’m pushing in this article and you’ve strayed from: Let’s not destroy music artist’s careers over simple political statements. It was unfair to the Dixie Chicks, and it would be unfair to Shania Twain. And by the way, I also gave the same cautionary tale when Carrie Underwood came out for gay marriage, and when Sturgill Simpson slammed Trump in from of the CMA Awards.
If artists want to make political stances, so be it. But for the press to foist political rancor upon artists for clicks is unfair, unnecessary, and unproductive. Our back and forth comments are living proof of that. It just creates bullshit.
April 24, 2018 @ 6:00 am
I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to drop the “f bomb”.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:42 am
Edd is dead serious. He’s not doing a parody.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:03 pm
what I find astonishing here is that Kyle is abdicating his true role as a writer. As someone who writes about showbiz, he does OK. Thin-skinned and prone to stating the obvious in ways that are just obvious, and also one of the most tone-deaf writers I’ve ever read. (Kyle: do yourself a favor. Get a competent line editor to go over your stuff. That would at least help you with the technical issues you have as a writer. I count a bunch of technical, word-usage, grammatical errors in everything you do. Spend the money. It’ll help you.) What a true writer does, and what Kyle cannot do, because he’s so invested in this crusade against modern country and what he thinks are its attendant *social* ills, is to stand up for values. To be a true critic, not an apologist for this or that order. True writers, which I think Kyle could be if he only let down his defenses and quit injecting himself into every piece he writes, embody values. Obviously, Shania is a minor artist partly because she doesn’t believe in anything. Were she to be engaged with the world, she’d see that her position on “honesty” and “transparency” is problematic. These are big concepts for such a limited mind. But Kyle is supposed to be smarter than that, and also, more humane, more informed and broader in his sympathies, yet he persists in casting this in terms of…showbiz. Shania’s sacred career. And he invites the kind of reverse-prejuidice that says, stupidly, that “if liberals can make fun of Trump, conservatives can make fun of liberals. In this sense, Kyle is making peace with the repressive forces in America, not standing up for the non-repressive values he should be endorsing. He’s not doing his job. This is why I don’t take what he writes seriously, as a fellow writer, but yet I do think he could be better–he does cover the scene effectively in some ways. He just loses his way when the discussion turns serious. This is a website crippled by its ideology in ways that are patently obvious to many of us, yet Kyle, with a little more attention to the basics (like editing the thing with more care), could be a valuable voice in country-music writing.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:04 pm
Some people see their job as a writer is to remove themselves and their inherent biases from a story and give the facts, like a woman who just was a judge on a drag queen competition is probably not afraid of gay people. I’m crusading here? Seems to me I’m the one professing the rational, objective viewpoint. Personally, I think Shania might have been the worst artist in the history of country music for turning the music into commercial pop shit. But I don’t want to see anyone run down simply because their not media savvy, and militarized political do-gooders need someone to assassinate on a daily basis to help alleviate their white guilt instilled by the indoctrination of academia.
And come on, don’t you think if I had the money to hire a line editor, that wouldn’t have been done years ago? I MAKE NO MONEY.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:23 pm
To be a “true writer” would he too also have to give up his carriage return key?
April 30, 2018 @ 2:28 pm
“Edd is dead serious.”
Edd is also a coward otherwise he would identify himself. The “fellow writer” in hiding.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:15 pm
Loretta Lynn voted for Trump, are we going to vilify her now? Really, this is all so exhausting and frankly, ridiculous.
April 23, 2018 @ 7:49 pm
I do not care who Shania would have voted for if she could have voted in 2016, or who she voted for in Canada. I would evaluate musicians based on their music, and not their political opinions, unless the music itself was intended as a political crusade.
At the same time I think Shania is facing more of a political backlash in part because of choices she made many years ago to change her music to appeal to pop and international audiences who tend to have progressive political views and who are often intolerant of dissenting opinions. If a more traditional mainstream country artist, such as Reba McEntire or George Strait, had expressed a similar opinion I think it would have been a non issue.
April 24, 2018 @ 4:15 am
I completely agree.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:46 pm
If a public figure chooses to endorse, say, a much worse regime than Trump’s–let’s say that a very conservative country singer admires an authoritarian, repressive state, like, just to make it juicy, North Korea–then what is the correct response to such a statement? Are we supposed to say, well, that’s just someone’s opinion? Or is it not the responsibility of all human beings to think clearly and to endorse and support humane, enlightened views, especially when the opposite of those views actually harms and kills innocent human beings? Don’t you think Shania Twain is grossly misinformed about Trump’s goals? He aims to SUBVERT democracy. His attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is like Trump devoted to, once again, SUBVERTING the very notion of justice we as Americans believe in. Or suppose Shania had said, hey, the Nazis, they had some good ideas, or, you know, Stalin wasn’t bad. Wouldn’t that raise some issues with you? This, Adrian, isn’t a matter of “dissenting opinions.” It’s a matter of being on the wrong or right side of “liberal” (in the true sense–if you live in America and benefit from its ideology, you benefit from classical liberalism whether or not you know what it means or whether or not you think Trump and his minions are doing the Lord’s work) thinking, the kind of thinking that enables us to have this discussion in the first place. So I’d recommend that you think hard, and this includes “Trigger,” about what you’re really saying here and what side you’re really on. Shania was incredibly stupid to say that to an interviewer. She’s even more stupid to think it.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:54 pm
Liberalism provides no benefit to society. In fact, it destroys it.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:06 pm
Read up on Liberalism, you probably embrace more than a few of it’s values (liberty, equality, democracy, secularism, freedom of speech, press, religion, markets, etc.)
April 24, 2018 @ 3:39 pm
You must not be paying attention, Clyde. Liberals insist you agree with them, or everything else goes out the window. There is nothing attractive about voting yourself access to somebody else’s labor and property if you have any sense of personal responsibility.
April 26, 2018 @ 1:39 pm
If you read the definitions of Classic liberalism and Manchester liberalism you fill a number of threads that conservatives would think are conservative ideals. And why was the globalisation called neoliberalism?
April 26, 2018 @ 1:41 pm
and I just realised I have fat fingers and cant type…..there’s a couple of words missing…..prize for guessing what they are
April 23, 2018 @ 9:45 pm
Give it a rest Edd. You’re just making yourself look dumb.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:11 pm
What side I’m on? I did everything I could to make sure this guy wasn’t elected. It didn’t work. Enough with your phony outrage.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:42 am
Edd is Hurt.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:32 am
She’s stupid to think something?
Damn son, you just double down on being an ass.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:44 am
To think that Trump is “honest?” Yes, that is a monumentally, breathtakingly stupid notion.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:50 am
Have any recent presidents really been “honest”. Obama, Bush and Clinton lied about plenty of things. In fact, Obama and his ilk passed healthcare on the back of promises and guarantees that never even remotely came to fruition. One of the chief architects of it said we have to “pass it to find out what’s in it”. They’re all farking liars.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:37 am
Right. And everyone who commits a crime is a criminal. Not all crimes are the same, though.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:39 am
America doesn’t have a “regime”.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:56 pm
Edd, you got too much of that book learnin. You need to get out into the world where things ain’t so black and white.
April 25, 2018 @ 6:34 am
Be careful now, Edd Hurt. Injecting the concept of classic liberalism changes everything! I doubt many understand the meaning of that term anymore since “liberalism” and “progressivism” have been conjoined in the public mind. Personally, i find “progressivism” as repugnant as the ills you identified in the Trump viewpoint. On the other hand, if everyone understood and got behind the concept of classic liberalism we’d have a better country and a lot less fighting!
April 23, 2018 @ 7:35 pm
Well, not even the most optimistic polls have ever said “50% of the United States approves of Donald Trump” (that number peaked at 45%, and has held steady at just under 40% for the past year or so)…but you’re spot on, with regards to this bullshit.
As long as you’re not being overtly racist (like Bocephus) or actively shitty to other people, I could give a damn who you vote for.
I line up with Steve Earle on a lot of things, politically. He’s also (and I say this with love) an asshole.
I apparently don’t line up with Shania, politically…but she’s done nothing to suggest she’s anything other than a perfectly nice person, and that matters a hell of a lot more.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:59 pm
Donald Trump won a clear majority of electoral votes, states, and congressional districts. The Constitution deems that the President is elected based on winning a majority of electoral votes, not based on polls. I think polls are often used by the media on both sides, especially the left, as propaganda.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:12 pm
He lost by 3 million votes.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:40 pm
The Constitution doesn’t say anything about the national popular vote in Presidential elections. And Presidential candidates campaign for battleground states, not for the popular vote in one party states like California. According to the criteria set by the Constitution it is very clear that Trump won the election. Get over it.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:43 pm
I am over it. I’m adding to you statement that polls aren’t accurate. They actually were accurate nationally. Bless you heart.
April 23, 2018 @ 11:51 pm
Folks, let’s please try to stay on topic. We’re not going to solve the ills of the American election system here.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:56 am
Of course he did, largely thanks to the urban communist factions of California and New York.
But he won the electoral college, which is how we elect the President.
The national map of all the counties makes it look pretty bad for Hillary.
I’m more of a Libertarian than anything and never really cared for Trump, but he won by the process laid out in the Constitution. And the E.C. going anywhere any time soon, so folks really need to move on, as you say you have.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:40 am
Hm?
I never said his election was anything other than legitimate.
It’s also objectively true that he’s never been particularly close to having the support of 50% of American citizens, by any standard.
Those statements do not conflict in any way, shape or form.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:48 am
Steve Earle changed my views on many issues including the death penalty.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:04 am
I like Steve but his reason for changing from pro gun to anti gun was so incredibly stupid.
During his drug days, he left his gun out in the open with children in his house and his son took it and wouldn’t tell him where it was. That’s not responsible gun ownership and also a huge failure in the personal responsibility category.
So anyway, he’s anti gun because he’s irresponsible and can’t handle what comes with gun ownership so he in turn thinks everyone’s just as irresponsible as him and should be subject to heavy restrictions on what guns they can own.
Then again, he’s a self-admitted Communist (all the drugs I’m sure contributed to that set of beliefs) so I usually ignore what he says and just try to enjoy his music.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:53 am
The issue, of course, (and one of the points Earle makes in that interview) is that an absolutist interpretation of the Second Amendment demands that there be nothing stopping someone who isn’t responsible or competent enough to pass a driving test from purchasing a semiautomatic rifle that fires high-velocity rounds from an extra-capacity magazine.
I don’t have a problem with guns. A gun is a tool, like a car.
And, like a car, it’s a powerful, dangerous tool that should require a license to own and to operate, rather than being freely available to any dumbass who clears an age threshold.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:04 pm
I took hunter safety and was taught the responsible use of a gun from an early age. I don’t need a damn license to own a rifle or a shotgun,
And what is your definition of an “extra capacity mag”? More than 10 rounds like most seem to think? That effectively restricts the majority of handguns as many standard mags are 10-13 rounds.
And a 30.06 can be just as deadly if not more than an AR-15.
The notion that an AR is an assault military weapon is laughable. I’ve been around them for many years and trust me when I say you’d be dead in short order if you took an AR-15 into combat.
This is all really moot though. People are never going to agree to any kind of widespread licensing and/or registration programs.
New York and New Jersey tried these kinds of bans and registration requirements. The compliance rate was about 5 percent.
Good luck.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:43 pm
Guys this is getting off topic. Let’s please keep the discussion on this Shania situation. Thanks!
April 24, 2018 @ 9:55 am
Oh, he’s a very smart, very thoughtful guy whom I really like.
He’s also a bit of a dick, haha!
April 23, 2018 @ 7:56 pm
Damnit I am so f’ing sick and tired……..of my mobile browser crashing.
April 23, 2018 @ 8:18 pm
Trump has the right to share his views just anyone else.
I am not a Trump fan or a Clinton fan but this has to stop. The new form of censorship (you cannot be patriotic, follow a religion or traditional values and you have to accept gay mariage and all the socialist agenda). That sounds like censorship to me. Freedom of expression only if you dont upset my views. ….Very unfortunate time!..
April 23, 2018 @ 8:22 pm
Look, even though I lean pretty heavy to the left, I’ve supported artists of all political stripes, and I’ve heard just as many (if not more) batshit theories about politics from the left as I have the right. And hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hefty chunk of more traditional-leaning artists I like voted straight ticket GOP – I’m Canadian, I can only watch in bemusement as the consequences unfold.
But that’s what’s so damn baffling about this situation: you know who else is Canadian? Shania Twain! So why on earth a U.K.-based publication was asking what a Canadian pop country star would have voted in an American election is the sort of hypothetical that’s both senseless and past its expiration date. And furtherrmore, since when did any of her material even pick up any trace of political subtext or commentary, so why the Guardian thought this direction was necessary for the interview is mystifying. It’s sadly a fair bit more of a story when Kanye West comes out in favour of Trump-leaning individuals because it at least contradicts messages he’s placed in his music – with Shania, whoever greenlit that question at the Guardian should have to explain himself.
But whatever, Shania would have voted that way provided she was an American two years ago. Big deal, and even if it was true it’s probably going to cost her some of her LGBT fanbase who is incensed she’s supporting an administration dedicated to rolling back their rights. Either way, I doubt one way or another it would have salvaged how badly that 2017 album was produced, so let’s just move on.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:26 pm
She doesn’t even look like herself. Obviously had a lot of work done. Trying to look 18. Meh.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:42 pm
I thought she had aged very well and looked surprisingly good well into her early 40s. But time takes its toll on everyone. From the pictures I have seen I think her face and her figure started to go as she approached 50.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:00 am
Sigh.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:32 pm
Just another egotistical a*+hole who thinks because they can carry a tune… sort of… we give a rats a-+ about their opinions.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:24 pm
Did she express that at all? It appears like the interviewer led her into that discussion, and she tried her best to stay out of it.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:32 pm
As someone who lines up with Jason Isbell and Steve Earle (politically at least), I continue to be dismayed that forces on the American Left seemingly refuse to acknowledge that the whole reason people like Shania would have supported Trump, was because the candidate that the DNC put forward was completely incapable of connecting with a large swath of America that (policy wise) probably would have benefited more from their policies than the ones put forth by the Trump administration.
Shania doesn’t deserve to be vilified about this, but I suspect that a lot of this dates back to the Dixie Chicks and how for so long Country artists were seemingly able to openly proclaim support for the Iraq War or support for socially conservative policies with little pushback. The same couldn’t always be said about artists on the opposite side of the political/social spectrum. Now some segments of the media is all too happy to be able to do the same exact thing they decried the Fox News/Limbaugh viewers/listeners of the world for doing a decade ago. It would be ironic, if it weren’t so sad.
April 26, 2018 @ 12:44 pm
I always feel that you guys assume ignorance on the side of Republican middle American voters. “Benefitted”, for example, is a subjective term. The middle Americans I grow up with embrace their struggles, and they are conservative, because they feel they’ve earned every ounce of what they have. They aren’t comfortable with living on someone else’s dime, and that’s including single-payer healthcare or Medicaid, or a welfare. You say “benefit” merely implying that financial difficulty is automatically a terrible thing. Struggle brings people together, and working hard and scraping by helps one to appreciate what he/she has. Continuing to feel like Trump supporters are stupid, because they’re voting Republican when they’d get “more help” from Democrats is completely misunderstanding these people.
To stay on topic, it’s borderline criminal that a person can be vilified for simply liking the president.
April 23, 2018 @ 9:42 pm
This whole thing is so goddamn stupid. Who gives a shit who she would have voted for or not voted for. And all this feigned holier than thou outrage directed at anyone who dared to buck the almighty Hillary Clinton and the ever increasingly leftward trend of the Democratic Party is getting pretty damn old right about now. You can support and vote or not vote for whoever the hell you want.
April 23, 2018 @ 10:14 pm
Yes.
April 23, 2018 @ 11:28 pm
50% is a very generous estimate of Trump’s approval rating, most websites will tell you around 50% disapprove and around 40% approve… other than that I thought your article didn’t seem biased. I remember reading an article way back when you lamented the country music community’s excommunication of the Dixie chicks, and I thought you approached this situation with the same mentality. Just get your stats right.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:37 am
Full disclosure time: I voted for Trump in 2016, no buyers’ remorse yet (though the Syria strikes REALLY pissed me off) and truthfully I agreed with many of his campaign policy proposals. I voted for him under my own conscience, not because some celebrity I admire endorsed him. As Americans, we seem to give way too much of a shit about what celebrities think on important issues. Some celebrities are socially conscious. Some aren’t. Shania Twain doesn’t strike me as someone who is super politically-inclined. So who really cares what her opinion is? Her statement certainly wasn’t “Yeah, build the damn wall! MAGA!!” So why are people so upset? She sure as hell didn’t outright endorse him and didn’t go into an in depth review of his policies and actions as president. It was about as politically neutral as you can get while discussing Trump in 2018. The fact that she was forced into apologizing just for speaking her mind is sickening. What she said, to me, is no more controversial than Tim McGraw openly endorsing March For Our Lives, which is entirely dedicated to stripping away gun rights from law-abiding Americans (Yes, trolls, that is what it is) and clearly creates a divide between conservative country fans and the liberal ones. Think for yourselves, people.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:34 am
I’m glad to hear a Trump support not happy about the Syrian strikes. I didn’t vote for Trump, but liked of isolationist approach to foreign policies like getting us the hell out of NATO.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:58 am
About 4 months ago, I wrote a post on my blog, titled “Please don’t Dixie Chick Brothers Osborne”. It was after comments of Brothers Osborne about Trump. Again, we have people who want to ban an artis, now Shania Twain, for her opinions. This is just senseless. No matter what they sabout Trump, positive or negative, or whatever other political comment, artists should never be “Dixiechicked”, as it happened with Texan famous band in 2003. Please let us listen to our
music and let political agendas at the doorway of concert halls. I completely agree with this article.
httpss://countrymusicfrance.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/please-dont-dixiechick-brothers-osborne/
April 24, 2018 @ 4:10 am
In order for this to be xomparable to the Dixie Chicks, Shania would need to be relevanr at the moment and she’s not.
Also, as someone who falls more into the Blue side than Red these days, I will say it aggravates me that there are those who wait till someone says something they dont ahree with and just make an attempt to vilify them to the extreme. People need to realize theres goinf to be those that respectfully disagree with you for their own reasons, share a beer be respectful to them and realize that there probably areas you do agree on. Like the wise wordsmith of our generation, Luke Bryan, said, “most people are good”
April 24, 2018 @ 5:05 am
BURN HER AT THE STAKE MAKE HER PAY FOR HER WORDCRIME!!
Really though, if someone wants to make a boneheaded comment, let them. If it’s a political song, I understand the logic of boycotting it, but a person’s private political beliefs should come second to their musical abilities.
Hank Williams Jr. is an ardent wingnut. But how can you not love his music, as it stays true to the country style.
Steve Earle is probably a communist. Doesn’t mean we can’t listen to “Copperhead Road” anymore, does it? We still listen to his music, because it is good.
If you ostracize a musician based on their political views, no matter how asinine, you will never hear half the good music in the world.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:41 am
Nope! Fu** Steve Earle and anything he puts out.
Disappointed to see so many libtards on this site but what i expect from people that jizz to Sturgill/Isbell.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:45 am
Why the assumption that I’m a liberal? Your vitriol caused you to overlook the point I made. Judge the politicians for their politics, and judge the musicians for their music. I never listened to Shania Twain or the Dixie Chicks, as their music is terrible. I didn’t like Sturgill’s third album. I don’t like Ted Nugent’s music. The point is is that the music is all that matters. Don’t let the politics cloud your judgement.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:03 am
In what world is the Chicks’ music “terrible,” haha?
Listen to Home!
April 24, 2018 @ 12:07 pm
finally a chance to explain why The D.C. stunk!
(cracks knuckles)
OK. They’re clean, together, and organized, and home was all of those things musically. and that was about it.
The manic energy that makes me want to stomp isn’t there.
It’s not a super creative album and little of it is original. Many of these songs could have been done better by lists upon lists of better artists.
they aren’t “that good” of a band. Better than Taylor Swift or John Conlee, maybe.
But compared to Lynn Morris Band, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Dolly, Patsy, or Nickel Creek, they don’t measure up technically.
They sound like a bored bar band that plays together a lot and doesn’t make mistakes but has to do the same songs over and over again every night.
and frankly I’d rather hear Grandpa Jones, who very clearly commits all his energy into every song, or Nickel Creek with their amazing technical abilities or Roger Miller for his music that is different and original than an overhyped bar band who does middle-of-the-road music for slow elevator rides.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:53 am
Is Communism really any worse than what we have … a Republic (not a Democracy like many people mistakenly call it).
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands..”
April 24, 2018 @ 8:15 am
Yeah, it really is. Go move to Cuba, China or North Korea if you want to compare it to what we have. I don’t think you’d like it.
Despite it’s oppressive and tyrannical history, Communism advocates always argue that “it just hasn’t been done the right way yet”. That’s because there is no right way. It looks great on paper but crumbles immediately in the real world. It crumbles because of human nature. Until we are all thoughtless robots without emotions and opinions it is never going to succeed in the real world.
April 24, 2018 @ 1:06 pm
You left out Venezuela.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:09 pm
Well I guess they’re technically socialist but they’re really just a flat out tyrannical dictatorship who starved their own people and strips all their rights.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:05 am
It’s significantly worse than a Republic.
Just like Democracy is.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:11 pm
Very true Lester. True Democracy would be quite dangerous as it opens the door to the tyranny of the majority issue. We also wouldn’t have any checks and balances. Everything would be a referendum.
Our system isn’t perfect. But it’s pretty damn good historically.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:08 am
I’m more bothered by the phony corporate speak apology that was clearly written by a communications professional than her opinion on voting for Trump. I say that as someone who does not like Trump and did not vote for him. All of this phony outrage is exhausting.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:45 am
The “journalist(?)” needed attention. What better way than asking somebody famous about their political beliefs. How else could the “journalist(?)” get his shots in on people who don’t align with his bias? The “journalist”(?) is obviously envious, or angry, with someone or something, shown through his disrespect for the one he interviewed. He obviously paid someone to tell him he’s special and doesn’t have to respect others and he probably has a sheepskin hanging on a wall somewhere telling all who enter his narrow minded little world he is special.
I’m not a Shania fan, though I used to think she was pretty hot looking- I have a great disdain for ANYBODY who believes themselves morally superior to anyone and uses others to gain a notoriety-which is all this “journalist”(?) was doing which is why I didn’t read the story when I saw it elsewhere.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:45 am
To quote Dub Miller’s Fightin’ Texas Aggie song:
“Well he picks up a “Battalion”
Just to see what’s going on
But all he finds to read about
Is what we’re doin’ wrong
“This school’s too damn conservative!”
I guess they want us to be
Like all the hippies down in Austin
Wearin’ orange and sippin’ tea.”
April 27, 2018 @ 8:00 am
“He’s a fightin’ Texas Aggie and he just don’t give a damn…”
Damn, but THAT takes a boy back.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:50 am
I really can’t understand why people care so much about what celebrities say about anything. Are their lives really so boring? Perhaps they need a hobby.
And why does somebody have to be destroyed simply because they disagree with your politics? I’d like to hear a semi-rational explanation for that.
In the very least, they should be self-aware enough to not imitate Trump in the way he uses social media!
April 24, 2018 @ 6:00 am
From the article, I was surprised by the amount of trauma in her life. Childhood sexual abuse leaves permanent scars and rearranges all kinds of things psychologically. Her nanny’s betrayal, her husband’s betrayal … everyone close to her that she trusted has turned on her. Think about the damage that causes and how it will make someone driven, assertive, self-enclosed. She’s not my problem, but I ended up having sympathy for her. I hope her marriage with Freddy works out; he has certainly taken on a handful, on top of his own pain.
It’s both interesting and sad that the Guardian writer was most interested in her profanity, both words of which are related to sexual acts. Notice too that the journalist says Eilleen/Shania would’ve “plumped” for Trump — another sexual innuendo. It seems to me that the journalist may have, and is hiding, sexual issues of his own.
So my takeaway is twofold: one, I sympathize with Shania Twain. And two, I just bought her cd on Amazon and hope that small gesture registers with those oblivious to her craving honesty because their jackbooted politics demands uniformity of view, public submission, and scalps.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:15 am
Self-enclosed is a very good description of her, even since her early days. She and Mutt Lange kept her in the spotlight but somehow out of the mainstream at the same time. Everything was very deliberate. She was never part off Nashville or L.A. I think he was very much a brilliant puppet master. She was a huge star but also kind of isolated and sheltered.
April 24, 2018 @ 6:22 pm
But her new album is horrible (mainly production). This site addresses this very well.
May 3, 2018 @ 6:50 pm
She is a First Nations – they have it rough in Canada.It is never covered in the media though. It destroys the narrative of Canada being an amazing egalitarian country. Politicians pretend to care but only for votes.
April 24, 2018 @ 6:43 am
Meanwhile… In Canada (I’m from Canada), we have a PM who takes great selfies and he is really friendly. Unfortunately, he is also incapable of leading the country and we are forced to sell our oil at discount (because we don’t have enough pipeline to reach the coast). Not to mention that we have to import oil on the East Coast because the environmentalist are against a pipeline (but they are not against oil tankers from Africa..).
That’s the kind of democracy that we are in. Thankfully, 200 years ago people were wiser and got things done. Imagine nowadays to build a railway across the country. It would take us forever and it would be blocked by so many interest groups. Who needs roads and railways when people are glued to their smartphones anyways? lol
April 24, 2018 @ 8:27 am
They should be able to figure out we need roads and railways to transport their smartphones and computers and the parts that make them.
It seems oftentimes people are protesting things that they are reaping the benefits of. It’s called willful ignorance and it permeates the Western world today.
If you haven’t stopped driving your car or using your smartphone, you’re not committed to the cause you claim to be wild about.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:19 pm
people are not just more aware of the issues than they were 200 years ago but have rights that are actually acknowledged and respected . THAT’s why it may take ‘forever ‘ to build a railway today . No one respected local concerns OR environmental concerns back then.
all that aside , why , with all that we know about climate change and environmental issues , are we not investing the billions we’re putting into pipelines for fossil fuel (which is killing the earth) into smarter , cleaner ,more efficient and earth/health friendly energy sources ? why is the fight for fossil fuel even an issue in these times ?
April 24, 2018 @ 9:14 pm
Just spitballing but I think we need to work on making clean energy more attractive economically. Then even strict Conservatives won’t be able to ignore it.
April 24, 2018 @ 6:58 am
I’ve always suspected that Kanye was involved in a long game performance art thing, possibly bordering on some authentic mental illness. That non-sequitur aside, I agree completely with the premise of the column, and it’s a shame that even a column like this can’t survive without devolving into a game of political feces tossing in the comments.
I don’t like Shania Twain’s music, but if I did, I don’t think these comments would stop me from listening to it. I’ll def keep listening to Kanye. Also I have it on very flimsy authority that Zeph Ohora is an Alex Jones style conspiracy theorist. And I’m certainly not gonna quit listening to his music!
April 24, 2018 @ 7:02 am
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price, and I’ll keep paying
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell, and I don’t have time
To go ’round and ’round and ’round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
I know you said
Why can’t you just get over it?
It turned my whole world around
And I kinda like it
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets, and I don’t mind saying
It’s a sad, sad story
When a mother will teach her daughter
That she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Saying that I better
Shut up and sing
Or my life will be over?
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell, and I don’t have time
To go ’round and ’round and ’round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell, and I don’t have time
To go ’round and ’round and ’round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should, what it is you think I should
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
April 24, 2018 @ 7:06 am
Can you imagine the accolades is Twain came out against Trump? I see no reason why an entertainer cannot voice support for Trump like many did Obama. But for some reason, when support for Trump is voiced, it creates backlash. But when support is voiced for a liberal, all is good. Oh what hypocritical times we live in!
April 24, 2018 @ 7:19 am
I’m really upset… that there’s an article about both the D.C. AND Shania Twain, and I can’t get involved because it’s not a chance to gripe about their music.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:22 am
The more I think about this, the more I realized that her apology is as a result of the backlash and not because she feels sorry for her comment. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Where was her PR team, why didn’t they proofread the interview before it was published? Why is she having all these “promos” now and not when her album was released almost 7 months ago? She doesn’t need this to sell tickets (her name alone does that, not new music).
These artists sometimes make it hard to root for them.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:47 am
Back in the 60s, many country music stars jumped in bed with George Wallace when he ran for president and he was pretty terrible too. Entertainers are just as prone to bad opinions as all of our drunk uncles. Gotta be willing to separate the art from the artist sometimes. I don’t like Shania’s art either but whatever.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:47 am
I’d have more respect for her if she didn’t apologize (like Roseanne). I don’t agree with many of Hank Jr. or Charlie Daniels’ political views, but I still support them. And they don’t waiver.
I always say you never get fired for the reason they put on your file. If you are a great employee, your employer will put up with tardiness, stealing pens, uniform violations…. It’s when your employer wants to get rid of you, the write-ups start piling up. I think if Twain was still relevant, people wouldn’t be making her a political sacrifice. Look how many people stood by Michael Jackson. MNF took back Hank Jr.!
The Dixie Chicks … they were still relevant and good, but Toby Keith’s persona was bigger. Also Maines comments on foreign soil didn’t help out either.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:48 am
That’s really the only thing I had against Maines, saying it overseas. Guessing the comment wouldn’t have happened in a red state here. Of course, that’s just my opinion, she may very well have said the same thing in Texas, but I highly doubt it. Still love the Chick’s music.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:51 am
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of consequence. If Shania was Loretta or Travis Tritt her fans would probably love her even more for supporting Trump. Unfortunately for her, a lot of her fans are not Trump voters and don’t want to support anybody who is.
Shania wasn’t coerced into praising Trump or saying she would vote for him. It wasn’t a trick question. She could’ve declined to answer simple as that. If she came out against Trump she would’ve been torn to pieces by the right and they would be boycotting her instead of defending her. The fake outrage is just that fake.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:10 am
I think entertainers tend to face a backlash when their words or actions conflict with their public persona or with the expectations that the public has of them. I think people expected Shania to be more progressive in her views because she is an international pop crossover star, she is a Canadian, she has a strong LGBT following, and her songs had soft core feminist lyrics. Whereas much of the public believes that classic country fans, and by extension most classic country artists, are very conservative.
This phenomenon is not limited only to politics. If a country artist who has been releasing country albums suddenly released a pop album, I would expect to see more negative reviews of the new albums from fans who had been expecting a country album.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:12 am
That’s very true. Can’t blame people for having a negative reaction if what they believed about a person turned out to be wrong. Consumers vote with their wallets. It’s up to entertainers to decide who they’re targeting and alter their public personas accordingly.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:18 am
Are you kidding me??? What she was quoted as saying is causing a fuss?? lmao….this is beyond pathetic. Clearly the left wing ram rods have their panties in a wad Only because she DIDNT cuss out Pres Trump. Had she called him every name under the sun the left would be cheering Shania and putting her on a pedestal.
Just another day at the office for the cry baby left wing media and its barking seal audience.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:29 am
Sadly Lance, you are correct.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:40 am
And if she cussed out Trump the right would be calling for a boycott like they did with the Dixie Chicks. That’s the whole point isn’t it? Shania shouldn’t have her career ended over her personal beliefs and neither should it have happened to the Dixie Chicks but it did.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:30 am
the left love to eat their own.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:19 am
C’mon TxMusic, get the blinders off.
NBC and CNN cater to liberal nutjobs while Fox and Breitbart cater to conservative nutjobs.
Liberal nutjobs and conservative nutjobs have more in common than they think.
They’re just too busy screaming at each other to realize their commonalities.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:48 am
A case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Carrie Underwood got crap for declining to talk about an election.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:43 am
I’m amazed that the big story wasn’t about her calling the other woman a effing c. Strange times we live in. I thought her meaning was clear and that her words pretty clearly represented why we’re where we are today. The media always makes these things worse than they need to be, but it’s also much less likely that someone would be Dixie Chicke’d today in country music. The fan base is much more diverse today.
April 24, 2018 @ 11:32 am
Have to say I find that kind of hot coming from her.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:50 am
Shania took the bait and as usual with entertainers, nothing was accomplished except pissing off many of her fans. Entertainers across the entire spectrum should approach politics and religion the way founder/guitarist Neal Schon of the band Journey says, “Politics and religion is off limits. We have fans all around the world from many different backgrounds and belief systems therefore we will not alienate any of them. We’re only about the music and our fans period.”
April 24, 2018 @ 11:53 am
As a Trump-hating right-winger, I don’t have a side in most discussions these days. I’m still baffled by how the Left decided not to take full advantage of the fact that the GOP elected a liberal as POTUS.
If I was on the Left, I’d have been rubbing Trump in the right’s faces, celebrating him, and taunting them.
We shouldn’t Dixie Chick Shania for her politics. We should Dixie Chick Shania for helping to murder Country Music.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:50 pm
Almost as baffling as how the right failed to take full advantage when the Democrats elected Bill Clinton. If they had anyone else other than egomaniac Newt as SOTH, the right could have accomplished a lot with Clinton. Instead they just wanted to impeach him for ejaculating on an interns dress.
April 24, 2018 @ 3:11 pm
I don’t know. Maybe so.
April 24, 2018 @ 4:54 pm
They balanced the budget.
And he lied under oath. That’s what he got impeached for.
There are deals to be had on immigration and opening our borders wide as well as a pork-laden infrastructure bill. But, you know, #resist.
I think Shania should be able to say whatever she wants and what she said is largely a reflection of how he won. The Dixie Chicks violated an unwritten rule that politics end at the water’s edge. They weren’t the first or the last but they did it at a time when nerves were very raw.
It’s getting worse.
April 24, 2018 @ 12:18 pm
This is the country we live in Shania. You disagree with the liberals, you better have an apology.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:39 pm
“I would have voted for him because, even though he was offensive, he seemed honest,” Shania said about Trump. “Do you want straight or polite? Not that you shouldn’t be able to have both. If I were voting, I just don’t want bullshit. I would have voted for a feeling that it was transparent. And politics has a reputation of not being that, right?”
Shania isn’t a US citizen, but I hear this kind of thinking all the time from lazy asses here. This is why we’re stuck with such terrible candidates. If the average American citizen did any real homework, none of these clowns would even make it to the primaries. But most don’t put any effort into the process. Hell, a majority of eligible voters didn’t even show up to vote in 2016.
Freedom of elections is like physical fitness: use it or lose it.
April 24, 2018 @ 2:40 pm
Shania’s net worth is over 300 million, which renders this entire discussion moot.
-FI
April 24, 2018 @ 3:22 pm
I dislike the guy too but this trend toward totally burying the careers of entertainers and or athletes who say or do one stupid harmless thing has gone way, way too far, as has the idiotic notion that every single person has to represent one “side” or the other. It’s turned us into a nation of parrots who have instant snap knee-jerk reactions to literally everything. It’s destroyed honest discourse and debate and quite frankly makes us appear to be a nation of fools.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:17 pm
Amen.
April 25, 2018 @ 12:12 am
We ARE a nation of fools. We’re actually a planet of fools.
April 24, 2018 @ 4:47 pm
About 100 years ago I read a lot of George Orwell, but especially Animal Farm and 1984. Scary how those books are echoing through our country today. Actually for the last decade. Thought police anybody?
April 24, 2018 @ 9:23 pm
George wasn’t stupid.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:01 pm
I didn’t vote for Trump and I won’t be voting for him next time either but these folks who can’t give him credit at ANY turn are absurd. Trump supported gay marriage before almost all elected Democrats… He is embarrassing to watch in my opinion but he’s far from the worst president of my lifetime and I’m not quite 40.
April 24, 2018 @ 5:47 pm
Trigger,
How long am I going to be in moderation? Is there some penance I need to pay?
I’m about ready to just change my IP address.
April 24, 2018 @ 6:30 pm
I don’t know.
April 26, 2018 @ 3:35 pm
Free Honky!
April 24, 2018 @ 6:23 pm
Edd Hurt:
You have written a truly detestable set of comments at Trig’s expense.
I sincerely hope you enjoy Trump until 2024, because it is precisely your grotesque combination of sneering superiority and obliviousness to self-contradiction and error that many Americans, thank God, rightly a) detect beneath the oily grammar and well-creased exterior of Trump’s opposition, and b) reject.
“Values”?
You mean, like Hillary’s mendacity, or cruelty to her service details? And the values of that adorable Dem donor, Harvey Weinstein? And all those involved in that fake dossier used to justify the Russian collusion charade? or maybe the democratic values of Debbie Wasserman Schulz, so dear to that ignorant but at least honest rube, Bernie Sanders? Or the values of Lois Lerner, who politicized the IRS? The list goes on and on.
You are not on the side of “values” or truth, so you are in no position to cast stones or arbitrate.
“In the case of Trump, it is his actions, along with his words, that trouble many of us, and I believe rightly so. If Twain chooses to endorse those actions, she should be held accountable for her beliefs.”
She is a pop star, you ridiculous bint. She has been given no public trust. No accountability is required. Besides, who appointed you the Grand Inquisitor? Che Guevara?
“She may or may not realize it, but she’s on the side of murder, plutocracy, dishonesty, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, anti-humanism. She’s on the side of a kind of American fascism.”
Laughable. You are manifestly on the side of self-deluded intellectuals with martyr complexes who lay out grandiose accusations and then take refuge in weasel words.
“Why would I endorse someone who is obviously burdened by the kind of bad thinking she seems to be unable to transcend?”
Physician, heal thyself.
“Kyle is making peace with the repressive forces in America, not standing up for the non-repressive values he should be endorsing.”
Bullshit. Neither Kyle nor Shania is cool with oppression. Yet you would happily repress them both in the name of “values” and “accountability.”
“Were she to be engaged with the world, she’d see that her position on ‘honesty’ and ‘transparency’ is problematic. These are big concepts for such a limited mind.”
What a piece of work you are.
What is her “position,” Edd? That straight talk and honesty is appealing per se? Out here in the cornfields, we find that one a real head-scratcher, by gum!
Edd, at bottom, you are a common, garden-gnome variety ideologue and thug. You are also a snob who doesn’t really merit the position.
Last, and least forgivable, you don’t even give Kyle the credit for posting your insults to him. He could have hidden them, but he didn’t. He has far more graciousness and common decency than you.
I nominate you the “Piers Morgan of SCM.”
Take your sanctimony and shove it.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:18 pm
One should never apologize for what one says, simply to please those whom one’s comments offend. As long as you’re sincere about what you’re saying, don’t apologize. In my opinion that’s the one thing Shania did wrong here.
April 24, 2018 @ 9:34 pm
I think one of Shania’s weaknesses is that she tries to be everything to everyone. This apology in which she attempts to placate her critics is a good example of this. Another example is her 2002 album “Up!” where she sold three separate CDs for country, pop, and international versions of the same songs. I don’t think she has a very strong artistic identity. Having come from a poor background her motivation may have been more extrinsic (i.e. for the money) than intrinsic (i.e. for the music). Her productivity went way down after she got rich.
April 24, 2018 @ 7:35 pm
Please don’t put us homophobes in the same category as racists.
April 24, 2018 @ 8:56 pm
As a member of the GBTQ I can only shake my head and assume the outrage is just people wanting to exact revenge again for slights that they feel accurred to the community at some point in general or themselves and attacking her makes them feel like they have power and control when their own life is fresh out of it.
I find often times those in the GBTQ most vocal these days know the least about its history outside a little cherry picking. And I am sure many will use this not only to beat up Shania but country music in general.
Furthermore she said she “would” have voted for Trump. Maybe she changed seeing how some things played out.
Frankly she has committed bigger offenses calling some of her music country.
April 25, 2018 @ 3:40 pm
This reminds me somewhat of what happened to former disco queen Donna Summer in the early ’80s, after she became a born-again Christian. Like Shania, Donna had a large fanbase of gay men. In 1983 it was reported that Donna had started proselytizing and making anti-gay comments during one of her concerts. It’s never been proven what actually happened and Donna denied saying any such thing, but she did lose a huge chunk of her fan base as a result. Even after the disco era ended she’d still been having hits on a regular basis up through 1983 (which was the year of “She Works Hard for the Money,” one of her signature songs), but afterward she would struggle mightily on the charts except for one last top 10 single in 1989. Many of Donna’s former fans never forgave her and continued to hold a grudge until the day she died. I don’t personally believe in not listening to an artist’s music because of a difference of political opinion, and I still enjoy Donna Summer’s music regardless of her politics or personal beliefs; on the other hand, I can hardly blame Shania’s large LGBTQ fan base for feeling betrayed.
One big difference is that, as at least one previous poster has commented, Shania no longer has much of a career to speak of. Her last album may have debuted at #1, but dropped like a rock and produced no significant hits at either country or adult contemporary formats. And let’s be honest, given that she’s pushing 50 (if not already 50) and that she’s a woman (which works against her at country radio these days regardless of age), prospects for having another major hit single or album already were not good, even without taking her Trump remarks into account. She will continue to be as irrelevant as she has been for the past 15 years. She’s not at the top of her commercial success like the Dixie Chicks were in 2003, or even at the stage where she’s past her peak but still in the game like Donna Summer was in 1983.
Now as for me, as I previously stated, though I am also a member of the LGBTQ community, I don’t believe in blacklisting a particular artist or entertainer from my eyesight or eardrums because of a difference of political opinion. I loathe Donald Trump, but I’m not boycotting the new “Roseanne” series just because Roseanne Barr supports Trump; rather, I am watching and enjoying it, because I still regard Roseanne as a talented and funny entertainer, regardless of what I think of her politics. The one exception I make is for an artist who ventures into committing violence or advocating violence against others, such as 50 Cent tweeting that all gay men ought to commit suicide. Shania has not crossed that line for me. I have never been a major fan of Shania Twain, but I have enjoyed some of her music, and I still respect her artistry.
Though I consider myself fairly liberal, I did not vote for Hillary Clinton. I didn’t vote for Trump either – I wouldn’t vote for him for garbage collector – but I also found Clinton untrustworthy, chiefly because of what she did to Bernie Sanders. Trump was indeed honest about who he is – even if who he is is, in my opinion, a despicable racist, homophobe, sexist and sexual predator – while Clinton was considerably less than straightforward about just about everything; yet I can understand that some found Trump’s honesty refreshing and voted for him for the same reasons Shania says she would have voted for him. I have friends who voted for Trump and I respect their choice and continue to associate with them; though our opinions may be different I prefer to focus on the things we have in common rather than on what divides us (which, in most cases, is, ironically enough, music).
April 25, 2018 @ 4:33 pm
I know Donna Summer was hit hard in the 80s but in the mid to late 90s she came back string in the gay club with many songs on the dance charts. Con Te Partio I remember being played everywhere, Love is Healer… but I think she acquired new fans who new nothing of that 80s scandal they just new her as a gay icon.
In the area I live in the left is eating itself alive and this story here is an example and also very ironic since it seems the left is the most against victim-blaming ect. And Shania being a survivor like me I would think would be immune to any vitriol form the left based on that alone. But the extremes never dwell in any place of gray areas or nuance.
April 25, 2018 @ 4:36 pm
Oh and I was just thinking they’ve gone after Shania Twain but have not TOUCHED Cyndi Lauper who was a contestant on his show as was Joan Rivers another Gay Icon. I don’t min people cherry picking it’s when the cherry pick and then complain about somebody they didn’t pick. If can’t be nuanced and have a thoughtful conversation the either be all in or out or shut up is how I feel. People who think or live in extremes just annoy the hell out of me.
April 24, 2018 @ 10:03 pm
You know what we really need right now is Chris Cocker to do a leave Shania alone video!
April 25, 2018 @ 12:30 am
Shania is pop and always has been. What we really need right now is a video from Johnny Cash, merle haggard or buck Owens.
April 25, 2018 @ 12:31 am
Trig, “Guys this is getting off topic. Let’s please keep the discussion on this Shania situation. Thanks!”
I take it you skipped the class “Cat Herding 101”.
Good article.
April 26, 2018 @ 2:43 am
https://youtu.be/vTwJzTsb2QQ
April 25, 2018 @ 12:41 am
No… Shania twain has always been a bullshit pop country act propped up by dirty assholes who wanted to get in her pants. Let’s get real. There is nothing country about this birch. End of story. She’s a Vegas lounge act.
April 25, 2018 @ 9:48 am
I think of Shania every time I hear the first line of Alan Jackson’s “Gone Country”: “She’s been playing in a room on the strip for ten years in Vegas”. The first verse of the song seemed to describe someone like Shania, even back in the 1990s long before her Las Vegas residency. Anyway I thought she had spent almost 10 years struggling to make it as a small time pop singer, and performed as one of the showgirls at a resort in Canada, before she got a record contract which turned out to be from a country label. So she went through the motions of being a country singer for two albums, then went back to recording pop music which was what she wanted to do in the first place. Gone country, but not for long.
April 25, 2018 @ 7:21 am
Would be a pretty sad day when i would listen to the “elite’s” views on politics.
April 25, 2018 @ 2:27 pm
shania twain is literally hitler. im shaking right now.
April 26, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
I feel like someone should point out that Trump is the first President to enter the office in support of gay marriage. I think his ruling on trans folks in the military was premature, but that’s about the worst I can say about it.
April 28, 2018 @ 1:56 pm
I’m a uber-liberal feminist who did the Women’s March the past two years, but I’m more disturbed by the level of viciousness in Shania’s comments about her friend who is now married to Mutt. Something is deeply wrong with someone who harbors that level of vitriol over something that happened a decade ago. It’s alarming that Shania thinks it’s appropriate to divulge having violent fantasies about her in public. I feel sorry for all of the children involved in this Trading Spouses fiasco. After the one torturous listen I gave her newest album, I was convinced she was still in love with Mutt. But, this changes my mind. Her enormous ego about being the Sexiest Woman Ever! was wounded when he cheated and she has no cohesive identity beyond it. Get some therapy, Shania. Learn to forgive. And never become an American citizen with voting rights.
As an aside, the Trump quotes play like pandering to the Country base. But Shania’s too dumb to realize that the country base forgot about her a long time ago. The only people that I know who are still Shania fans are gay men. She’s not doing herself any favors with that demographic here.
August 15, 2022 @ 8:41 pm
The people burning shanias cds over one opinion that she didn’t volunteer probably didn’t like her anyway and were looking for an opportunity to pounce. Or they outgrew her and now they don’t need to be embarrassed anymore
August 17, 2022 @ 1:23 am
I admit I’ve dumped on Alabama after all the hokey records I’m embarrassed I bought back in the day. I guess I outgrew them