M.I.A. endorses Donald Trump in US election
As the political campaigning for the US election continues, artists are taking their sides. M.I.A. has endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump and supported the surprising switch of allegiance of RFK JR that occurred last week.
Last week, independent candidate Robert Francis Kennedy Jr – the son of the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy – revealed that he had dropped out of the race as he joined Trump at a rally in Arizona, endorsing his campaign.
This was a shock announcement, as Kennedy is a member of the Democratic dynasty. However, he maintained that principles had led him to leave the party and “throw my support to President Trump”. He also announced in a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 23rd that he is seeking to remove his name from the ballot in ten of the battleground states.
Trump promised before RFK Jr joined him on stage that if he is to be elected, he would release all remaining documents concerning the 1963 assassination of JFK, one of the darkest and most perplexing moments in American history.
RFK Jr’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, decried his support of Trump. She said his decision is a “betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story”.
While many have lambasted RFK Jr for the decision, English rapper and musician M.I.A. has endorsed both him and Trump in the 2024 election. On August 23rd, the ‘Paper Planes’ artist shared a live-streamed video of RFK Jr delivering a speech supporting Trump on X.
She captioned the post: “Trump is going to ride America through the most challenging four years coming pulling out weed, and RFK will inherit America when God is ready to replant and rebuild it righteously.”
M.I.A. has long been an activist for political causes, speaking out on issues including the 2011 London riots and the controversial WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Despite previously committing her support to left-wing politics, which saw her endorse former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 and 2019 UK general elections, it seems that recently her anti-establishment outlook has shifted towards the right.
Not only has she now backed Trump’s campaign and a future one from RFK Jr, but in June, the rapper launched her clothing brand, Ohmni. Her range of garments includes a tin foil hat, which people can buy to supposedly block out 5G waves from entering the body.
Significantly, M.I.A. unveiled the line during an appearance on Alex Jones’ conspiracy-based, right-wing show, Infowars. In October 2022, she was dropped from the GQ Awards after tweeting in support of the presenter after he was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting when he was found guilty of spreading falsehoods about the crime.
The United States 2024 elections are scheduled to be held on Tuesday, November 5th.
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