John Lydon from the SEX PISTOLS and PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. has confirmed that he will vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The British-born vocalist, who is better known as Johnny Rotten, told BBC‘s “Newsday” program he is “definitely” voting Republican in next month’s contest between Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
“Yes, of course, I’m voting for Trump,” he said. “I don’t want a politician running this world anymore.
“He’s an individual thinker, I’ll give him that for a start,” Lydon said about America’s 45th president earlier in the conversation. “He’s not the most lovable fellow on God’s earth, but I cannot see the opposition as offering me anything by way of a solution.
“Joe Biden is, in all practicality, senile, and delinquently senile. My wife has Alzheimer’s — I know the symptoms.”
When the “Newsday” host told Lydon that there is no evidence that Biden is senile, Lydon countered with: “Oh, really? Have you seen him talk lately? I can only go on my vast experience, seeing as my wife is suffering from Alzheimer’s.”
Lydon, who became a U.S. citizen in 2013, also addressed the crushing economic damage that has resulted not just from COVID-19 itself but also from the lockdowns that have largely halted business activity around the globe.
“I don’t think lockdown is doing any good for anybody,” he said. “Wrecking an economy is not the smartest move to cure any illness or virus or disease. We’re all capable of wearing masks. We’re all smart enough not to want to give each other filthy, horrible viruses. Give people the chance to work. Don’t just close everything down. This is not Stalin at work here. But, I swear, the governments are beginning to feel that way. We have to hold ourselves responsible at some point in order for our society to exist at all.
“Already there were rumors flying around that there was an even stronger strain of this COVID, or whatever you want to call it, coming down the pipeline. So we might as well just close everything down and collapse.”
Asked how the coronavirus-related shutdowns have affected the music industry, Lydon responded: “What bothers me quite a lot, and I don’t mean to sound selfish with this, ’cause it directly affects everybody equally, is that I can’t function. Live performance was the essence of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD., and to be denied that, well, that’s crippling us, and no doubt, at some point, if that continues, it will kill us off. It will kill off everything. It will kill off all industries. If we can’t work, well, us working class are gonna get up and do something about that at some point. It seems to me that what the Democrats here in America are promising will be tax hikes beyond belief, more lockdowns, more confusion, more bureaucracy and less answers.”
He said: “I have seen what Democrats have done to California. They have destroyed this place.”
Lydon‘s remark about supporting Trump is in sharp contrast to his previous opposition to the billionaire real estate mogul. Back in 2015, Lydon urged Americans not to cast their ballots for Trump. At the time, he closed PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.‘s performance on “Late Night With Stephen Colbert” with the following words of advice for would-be voters ahead of the 2016 election: “Don’t you dare vote Donald Trump.”
Photo courtesy of SiriusXM
