So in 1988 a band called in Living Colour created, what in my mind, has become the political anthem for this era dominated by the most ignorant person ever to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in United States history, deceitful Donny Trump. What ensues is a breakdown of the lyrics of this intense song, and how they eerily mirror the current situation.
Here are the lyrics of this song that reached No. 13 on Billboards Hot 100 at the time of release:
Look in my eyes
What do you see?
The Cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
MY NOTES: Donald Trump is a master at one thing and one thing only, tapping in to people's anger and fears and exploiting that for his own gain. Like any good conman, he scares you, makes you angry and tells you who is to blame for it, but offers no real solutions. And of course, enriches himself in the process. This is not about, and never has been about, you. IT IS ONLY ABOUT HIM.
Like Mussolini and Kennedy
I'm the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of Personality
Neon lights, a Nobel Prize
When a mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set me free
MY NOTES: People often question Mussolini and Kennedy being referenced in the same line. You shouldn't be surprised. Mussolini started out a hero in Italy and ended up being beaten to death by the same supporters who loved him years before. He, like Kennedy, captured the imagination and the love of the public. The cult of personality is not about good vs. bad, it's about how a leader can become a cult-like figure who can do no wrong. It's more than 50 years since Kennedy was President and people still reference Camelot.
The second stanza here might be the more interesting of the two. "You don't have to follow me, only you can set me free." Donald Trump is a con man, but it is the blind faith of the public, like Germans had in Hitler, that allowed a monster to be unleashed on the world. I am not comparing Trump to Hitler. I am saying that the rise is similar. Disaffected people, who are angry and scared, needed someone to turn, and enter a charismatic liar to fill the void. But if you ever convinced yourself that it could not happen in this country, you are deluding yourself.
I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face on your TV
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
I exploit you, still you love me
I tell you, one and one make three
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
MY NOTES: "I sell the things you need to be". Deceitful Donny told you whatever you needed to hear during the election to rise to power, and he did it with a smile and with jokes - in the process disarming people - which allowed him to make any claim he wants and yet intelligent people don't question it.
In the second stanza this proves true. Don the Con has exploited the country and is currently enriching himself at Trump hotels and properties on the tax-payer dime and his supporters, who claim to hate corrupt politicians, celebrate him for it. "I tell you, one and one makes three" is a softball. By the Washington Post's latest count, Trump has lied more times in three years, over 15,000 times, than some people lie in a lifetime, and he does it without batting an eye. The DSM-5 has a diagnosis for this, he's a sociopath.
Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi
I'm the cult of personality
The cult of personality
The cult of personality
Neon lights, a Nobel prize
When a leader speaks, that leader dies
You won't have to follow me
Only you can set you free
MY NOTES: I could go on and on here as well about Stalin and Gandhi, but I will not. I will simply state about these two stanzas that only you can set you free. Like Jim Jones or David Koresh, Donald Trump is nothing but a two-bit hack confidence man who just hasn't set out the poison for us to drink yet. It's scary when you hear Trump supporters refer to him as the savior, which I have heard people in my own orbit tell me to my face. Only you, by no longer believing in his lies, can set you and the rest of us free of this "American nightmare."
You gave me fortune, you gave me fame
You gave me power in your God's name
I'm every person you need to be
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
MY NOTES: Everything Donald Trump has in terms of riches, power and fame is because we have allowed him to have it. By all accounts, he has broken the law his entire life to get to where he is, and no one has ever held him accountable. He has defrauded banks, skirted tax laws, and dealt with the shadiest of characters to get to where he is, and we have not only allowed it, but in the case of his supporters, celebrate it.
And unbelievably, it is the Christian Right in this country that has enabled this moral delinquent to rise the highest office in the WORLD on the back of a God he doesn't even believe in. That's correct. The same Pat Robertson crowd that said Bill Clinton was immoral for having an improper relationship with an intern in the White House, supports a man who has cheated on wives with Playmates and Pornstars and has been accused of multiple sexual assaults. HYPOCRITES!
I'm the cult of, I'm the cult of
I'm the cult of, I'm the cult of
I'm the cult of, I'm the cult of
I'm the cult of, I'm the cult of personality
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