SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan has once again defended Donald Trump, saying that the president’s opponents “perpetuated and instigated a total shutdown of the economy” in the hopes that it would crash and that Trump would be blamed.
Dolmayan made his comments hours after it was announced that Joe Biden has won the United States presidency by surpassing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to defeat Trump.
Earlier today, Dolmayan wrote the following message on Instagram: “If the will of the American people is that Joe Biden is president then so be it but only if he achieved this without fraud or collusion.
“This president has been under attack for nearly five years by all media both social and otherwise along with massive corporations and the lifelong politicians who have been actively attacking him since he decided to run. Why? He dealt with a worldwide pandemic crisis and a total shutdown of the economy perpetuated and instigated by his opponents in the hopes that our economy would crash and that he would be blamed . Massive violent protests ( they will go away if Biden is elected )that were most certainly instigated by his opposition to destabilize our nation and erode trust in our system.
“If Biden wins all of these protests will disappear and there will be a quick end to the pandemic , don’t fall for it.
“You will probably never see another non politician run for this office again ,that is our loss.
“This election is not over nor should it be without complete transparency.”
When one of his Instagram followers asked him to clarify if he was saying that the pandemic was caused by Biden and the Democrats, John responded: “not the pandemic , the riots and overlong shutdowns”.
In recent months, Dolmayan has praised Trump and has accused Democrats of “demonizing” the president and “blaming him for everything under the sun.” The drummer also called Democrats “the true bigots” who “fought to maintain slavery” and were “directly responsible for 70 plus million abortions, a large majority of whom were black.”
In September, Dolmayan defended his reasons for voicing his political views that are ideologically opposed to those of SYSTEM OF A DOWN singer Serj Tankian, telling the “Deviant Gentlemen” podcast: “SYSTEM OF A DOWN has a legacy of being left-leaning, which isn’t always the case. Serj, of course, is responsible for the lyrics, but they didn’t always represent the band in the way that we maybe wanted [them] to. There’s four individuals in the band. I don’t speak for any of the individuals except for myself, and neither does Serj. But because he had that platform of writing lyrics, the perception was out there that that’s how the band felt at all times, where I don’t even think Serj necessarily felt those ways at all times. You’re supposed to have diversity of opinion even within your own mind, and you should judge things based on information that’s presented to you.
“If you’re a SYSTEM fan and you gravitate towards the music, you enjoy the music, but you don’t necessarily agree with the perceived message, well, where do you go?” he continued. “If you think that Serj is the mouthpiece of the band, which he is, as far as vocally, but not necessarily for ideology, then you have nowhere to go. So I wanted to present a different view and to give kids out there who think differently and who are critical thinkers, not necessarily following the norm, that there is a different option, you can think differently, it’s okay to have diversity of opinion, as long as it’s done peaceably.”
Asked if he has been approached by anybody in the music industry and told to tone down his political rhetoric on social media, John said: “No. My manager, he was just, like, ‘Look, maybe you guys are going a little too far’ — for both Serj and I. And we did have a private text conversation between me, [our manager] and Serj. And again, I think Serj views himself in a way where he’s really doing the right thing. And he really does care about people. And he does a lot for individuals and our nation as well. He’s really trying to help people, Serj. I believe he’s a good person, inherently. But again, it’s that moral high ground that they think they’re on — that perceived moral high ground. It kind of blinds them to being open about ideas they might be wrong on.”
Dolmayan supports Trump‘s claim that his administration has done more for the African-American community “than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”
