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Toby Keith Was Synonymous With Jingoistic Songs. His Own Politics Were Much More Complex

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9 months ago

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Back in 2002, Toby Keith appeared on the very first episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling to perform his song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” — only to be interrupted midway through by the dastardly wrestler Jeff Jarrett. There is maybe no better metaphor for the kitschy nationalist spectacle of the era. A few years before, a heel in wrestling might have incited boos and jeers from the crowd by burning an American flag. But in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, you make them hate you by interrupting a Toby Keith concert.

Keith further solidified his reputation — an outspoken patriot to some, an obnoxious blowhard to others — by way of a public dispute with Natalie Maines of the then- Dixie Chicks. Keith seemed to enjoy talking smack as much as defending America, almost like a wrestler in a feud. At several concerts in 2003, he projected a doctored photo of Maines alongside Saddam Hussein, as if she were Sgt. Slaughter. Later on, he’d say he went too far.

But short of anyone who has actually held political office, few public figures have made a business out of their patriotism like Keith. The Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter, who died Monday at 62, was one of the foremost faces of country music’s commercial boom in the 1990s, but with the dawning of the new millennium, he became the symbol of a very different movement, as a hardline supporter of all things America in the “Freedom Fries” fervor of the post-9/11 era. Almost every major country artist took up flag-waving in the early 2000s, but Keith made it his brand, as songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” and “American Soldier” served as de facto national anthems for hawkish voters who believed in supporting the troops above all else.

You don’t have to look very far to find antecedents in country music to Keith’s jingoism, like Merle Haggard’s “The Fightin’ Side of Me,” but there’s an anger and aggression to a song like “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” that took it to a new level. Keith’s resounding call to stick a boot in the ass of America’s perceived enemies became a rallying cry to those looking for villains to blame. To those rightfully unsettled by Keith’s thirst for blood, that song — and Toby Keith himself — became a symbol of all that’s wrong with Nashville, an easy shorthand for the most reactionary and regressive tendencies of country music.

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But the reality of Keith’s politics was a little more complicated, and not as easy to place inside the neat and tidy box of a three-minute radio single. Though Keith always carried himself with a brash swagger, his pivot to fearmongering was somewhat startling for an artist whose prior work had not only been fairly apolitical, but even sensitive and tender. Early albums like Blue Moon and Dream Walkin’ are filled with heartbroken belting and tearful power ballads that practically beg for placement on the soundtrack of a Jerry Bruckheimer production. As much as Keith could exude arrogance, his pre-9/11 songwriting could also be self-effacing, casting him as an unreliable narrator who falls prey to his own pride and overconfidence. Even though the protagonist of “How Do You Like Me Now?!” has achieved superstardom, he still hasn’t gotten over a girl who was mean to him in high school.

That kind of petty vindictiveness also defined Keith’s political statements. As the subtitle “The Angry American” indicates, the song was not written from a carefully considered political viewpoint, but from a wounded place of unfiltered emotion. That’s not to justify any view expressed in the song, but more to suggest that it was never intended to be taken as a coherent position. On some level, the song was Keith’s response not only to 9/11, but to a more directly personal tragedy: the death of his own father, whose reaction to the terrorist attacks Keith imagines. Beneath the surface-level nationalism, there’s the despairing nihilism of a grieving child who lashes out in anger at a world they blame for the loss of a parent. The song’s misplaced rage embodies the prototypically masculine arrogance that often defined Keith, as he takes out his own emotional trauma on others rather than processing it himself.

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Keith always stood firmly behind his most reactionary songs, and he certainly never balked at Republican candidates using his music at their rallies, but he often seemed frustrated with the perception of himself as a conservative. It might have been an effort to play both sides, but he was always quick to remind interviewers that he had actually been a longtime Democrat, prior to registering as an Independent in 2008, and even spoke positively of Barack Obama. “I’d never been a Republican, and my family were Democrats, but because I made the war cry,” he said, alluding to “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” in a 2018 interview with Dan Rather, “I got the checkmark.”

Contemporary conservative politics might have taken on an anti-government edge, but Keith belonged to an older school of conservative thought, one that put a fundamental respect for the office of the President ahead of party affiliation. When questioned about his decision to perform at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, he bluntly replied that when “the president of the frickin’ United States asks you to do something and you can go, you should go instead of being a jack-off.” At the end of the day, Keith’s political persuasion mostly depended on whoever was paying the bills, like so many performers: In 2017, he would become one of the first Western musicians to publicly perform in Saudi Arabia, at a gender-segregated concert in Riyadh.

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If anything, like his heroes Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, Keith landed somewhere toward the libertarian end of the spectrum, prioritizing individual freedoms above all else. And like those icons, he often maintained an adversarial relationship with Nashville, retreating back to his native Oklahoma like a fortress of solitude as Willie would go to Austin or Merle to Lake Shasta.

But unlike his idols, the vitriol and anger that Keith was identified with — rightly or not —often overshadowed his body of work. For all his attempts to fight against the boxes other people put him in, Keith ended up boxing himself in better than anyone. Like the spotlight-hungry pop star of “How Do You Like Me Now?!” Keith was a showman playing a part. He relished a role he was cast in so long as it brought attention, whether it meant playing the avenging hero or the contemptuous heel.

 

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Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in ‘Baywatch’ for Halloween video asking viewers to vote

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2 days ago

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November 5, 2024

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NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.

In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”

At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.

“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.

She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.

“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.

“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.

“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”

The Harris campaign has taken on Beyonce’s track “Freedom,” a cut from her landmark 2016 album “Lemonade,” as its anthem.

Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.

Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Justin Trudeau’s Announcing Cuts to Immigration Could Facilitate a Trump Win

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2 days ago

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November 5, 2024

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Outside of sports and a “Cold front coming down from Canada,” American news media only report on Canadian events that they believe are, or will be, influential to the US. Therefore, when Justin Trudeau’s announcement, having finally read the room, that Canada will be reducing the number of permanent residents admitted by more than 20 percent and temporary residents like skilled workers and college students will be cut by more than half made news south of the border, I knew the American media felt Trudeau’s about-face on immigration was newsworthy because many Americans would relate to Trudeau realizing Canada was accepting more immigrants than it could manage and are hoping their next POTUS will follow Trudeau’s playbook.

Canada, with lots of space and lacking convenient geographical ways for illegal immigrants to enter the country, though still many do, has a global reputation for being incredibly accepting of immigrants. On the surface, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver appear to be multicultural havens. However, as the saying goes, “Too much of a good thing is never good,” resulting in a sharp rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, which you can almost taste in the air. A growing number of Canadians, regardless of their political affiliation, are blaming recent immigrants for causing the housing affordability crises, inflation, rise in crime and unemployment/stagnant wages.

Throughout history, populations have engulfed themselves in a tribal frenzy, a psychological state where people identify strongly with their own group, often leading to a ‘us versus them’ mentality. This has led to quick shifts from complacency to panic and finger-pointing at groups outside their tribe, a phenomenon that is not unique to any particular culture or time period.

My take on why the American news media found Trudeau’s blatantly obvious attempt to save his political career, balancing appeasement between the pitchfork crowd, who want a halt to immigration until Canada gets its house in order, and immigrant voters, who traditionally vote Liberal, newsworthy; the American news media, as do I, believe immigration fatigue is why Kamala Harris is going to lose on November 5th.

Because they frequently get the outcome wrong, I don’t take polls seriously. According to polls in 2014, Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals were in a dead heat in Ontario, yet Wynne won with more than twice as many seats. In the 2018 Quebec election, most polls had the Coalition Avenir Québec with a 1-to-5-point lead over the governing Liberals. The result: The Coalition Avenir Québec enjoyed a landslide victory, winning 74 of 125 seats. Then there’s how the 2016 US election polls showing Donald Trump didn’t have a chance of winning against Hillary Clinton were ridiculously way off, highlighting the importance of the election day poll and, applicable in this election as it was in 2016, not to discount ‘shy Trump supporters;’ voters who support Trump but are hesitant to express their views publicly due to social or political pressure.

My distrust in polls aside, polls indicate Harris is leading by a few points. One would think that Trump’s many over-the-top shenanigans, which would be entertaining were he not the POTUS or again seeking the Oval Office, would have him far down in the polls. Trump is toe-to-toe with Harris in the polls because his approach to the economy—middle-class Americans are nostalgic for the relatively strong economic performance during Trump’s first three years in office—and immigration, which Americans are hyper-focused on right now, appeals to many Americans. In his quest to win votes, Trump is doing what anyone seeking political office needs to do: telling the people what they want to hear, strategically using populism—populism that serves your best interests is good populism—to evoke emotional responses. Harris isn’t doing herself any favours, nor moving voters, by going the “But, but… the orange man is bad!” route, while Trump cultivates support from “weird” marginal voting groups.

To Harris’s credit, things could have fallen apart when Biden abruptly stepped aside. Instead, Harris quickly clinched the nomination and had a strong first few weeks, erasing the deficit Biden had given her. The Democratic convention was a success, as was her acceptance speech. Her performance at the September 10th debate with Donald Trump was first-rate.

Harris’ Achilles heel is she’s now making promises she could have made and implemented while VP, making immigration and the economy Harris’ liabilities, especially since she’s been sitting next to Biden, watching the US turn into the circus it has become. These liabilities, basically her only liabilities, negate her stance on abortion, democracy, healthcare, a long-winning issue for Democrats, and Trump’s character. All Harris has offered voters is “feel-good vibes” over substance. In contrast, Trump offers the tangible political tornado (read: steamroll the problems Americans are facing) many Americans seek. With Trump, there’s no doubt that change, admittedly in a messy fashion, will happen. If enough Americans believe the changes he’ll implement will benefit them and their country…

The case against Harris on immigration, at a time when there’s a huge global backlash to immigration, even as the American news media are pointing out, in famously immigrant-friendly Canada, is relatively straightforward: During the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, illegal Southern border crossings increased significantly.

The words illegal immigration, to put it mildly, irks most Americans. On the legal immigration front, according to Forbes, most billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants. Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, to name three, have immigrants as CEOs. Immigrants, with tech skills and an entrepreneurial thirst, have kept America leading the world. I like to think that Americans and Canadians understand the best immigration policy is to strategically let enough of these immigrants in who’ll increase GDP and tax base and not rely on social programs. In other words, Americans and Canadians, and arguably citizens of European countries, expect their governments to be more strategic about immigration.

The days of the words on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty pedestal’s lower level, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” are no longer tolerated. Americans only want immigrants who’ll benefit America.

Does Trump demagogue the immigration issue with xenophobic and racist tropes, many of which are outright lies, such as claiming Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets? Absolutely. However, such unhinged talk signals to Americans who are worried about the steady influx of illegal immigrants into their country that Trump can handle immigration so that it’s beneficial to the country as opposed to being an issue of economic stress.

In many ways, if polls are to be believed, Harris is paying the price for Biden and her lax policies early in their term. Yes, stimulus spending quickly rebuilt the job market, but at the cost of higher inflation. Loosen border policies at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was increasing was a gross miscalculation, much like Trudeau’s immigration quota increase, and Biden indulging himself in running for re-election should never have happened.

If Trump wins, Democrats will proclaim that everyone is sexist, racist and misogynous, not to mention a likely White Supremacist, and for good measure, they’ll beat the “voter suppression” button. If Harris wins, Trump supporters will repeat voter fraud—since July, Elon Musk has tweeted on Twitter at least 22 times about voters being “imported” from abroad—being widespread.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow, Americans need to cool down; and give the divisive rhetoric a long overdue break. The right to an opinion belongs to everyone. Someone whose opinion differs from yours is not by default sexist, racist, a fascist or anything else; they simply disagree with you. Americans adopting the respectful mindset to agree to disagree would be the best thing they could do for the United States of America.

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Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

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RFK Jr. says Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water. ‘It’s possible,’ Trump says

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3 days ago

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November 4, 2024

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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.

Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”

The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”

Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”

The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.

In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.

But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.

“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.

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