Robert de Niro, Tom Hanks, John Voight, Kanye West… As the presidential election approaches, which artists are taking a stand for the outgoing president and his competitor.
Joe Biden or Donald Trump? Tension is rising even in film studios and record companies less than six months before the November 5 election. As in 2020, each camp has its troops and like four years ago, the outgoing Democratic candidate is lining up the strongest rallies while the Republican one is struggling to convince the artists.
As Donald Trump’s criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels affair is about to conclude, some stars do not hesitate to step up to offer their support to Joe Biden. Starting with the actor Robert de Niro who participated in a press conference, at the initiative of the Democratic Party, a stone’s throw from the New York court. The star called the former president “clown” which could become atyrant” if he was re-elected. “I love this city, I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump not only wants to destroy this city, but the country, and ultimately he could destroy the world., he asserted. Despite the insults from the billionaire’s supporters, Robert de Niro insisted: “With Trump, we have a second chance, and no one is laughing anymore. We have a unique opportunity to stop him by voting against him, once and for all.”
Robert de Niro is not the only American celebrity to show a preference for Joe Biden. The “Dad of Hollywood,” Tom Hanks, is notoriously one of them. In 2022, the headliner of Forrest Gump had put his voice at the service of the Biden administration as the narrator of a White House advertisement. “America is the home of the brave, which is why we continue to get back up no matter how many times we are knocked down.”, he explained. Tom Hanks denies the main criticisms that the “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) camp accuses the current president: “Nationwide, more jobs were created in 2021 than in any of the past 80 years. We are stronger than a year ago.” A celebration which tends towards the apology of an administration whose “Bidenomics” are regularly decried by the “pro-Trump”.
Among the “pro-Biden”, we also include the actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, the singer Lady Gaga, the pop star Beyoncé, the presenter Ellen DeGeneres and even the “Boss”, Bruce Springsteen, notorious support of the American left.
Dangerous connection
Artists committed to Donald Trump are more discreet and often less famous. The most famous exception remains the rapper Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021. We still need to understand how conflicted their relationship is. It’s hard to say if the two men are still close. After leading his own campaign in 2020, then calling to vote for Trump before falling out with him, Kanye West would have gotten closer again in 2022 during a series of telephone conversations, at a time when the singer was going through a zone of turbulence due to his anti-Semitic statements.
According to a correspondent from Politico, Donald Trump reportedly dined with the rapper as well as Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes in November 2022 at his Mar-a-Lago property. In a video posted on social media, the 46-year-old singer said he planned to run in the 2024 election with Trump as vice president. A tirade which had the gift of annoying his interlocutor: Trump would have reacted in him “calling out” on it and telling him he would lose. In an interview given following this meeting, the hip-hop star called the ex-president “liar”. Nonetheless, in 2023, Ye said on Tim Pool’s Timcast show that he would continue to support the former president, despite Trump being “known for his lies.
The rap singer Sexyy Red also committed herself in her own way to Donald Trump, multiplying messages of support in her own way to convince American voters, particularly blacks. “At first people didn’t give a damn about him, she explained this fall. They thought he was racist and saying stupid things about women. But he started taking black people out of jail and throwing money at them.. Hey baby, we love Trump. We need him back in power.”
The father of actress Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight also supports Trump in 2016 and 2020. And hopes for his re-election in 2024. Believing that Joe Biden’s government has divided the country and plunged citizens into a “civil war”, the Oscar-winning actor explained in February that he wanted the return of Trump, “the only man who can save this nation, the one who was ridiculed and destroyed, like Jesus.”
Driven by the same cause, Dennis Quaid – the brother of the actor Randy Quaid -, the comedian James Woods, the country singer Jason Aldean, or the big screen star Jim Caviezel – who played Jesus in The passion of Christ by Mel Gibson – affirmed their loyalty to Donald Trump.
In this still changing countryside landscape, many artists have not expressed themselves. Joe Biden is suffering the wear and tear of the outgoing president and his policy towards the Middle East and his management of the crisis in Israel divide even Hollywood, a traditional bastion of the Democrats. Artists are also very reluctant to speak out for Donald Trump, who has been claiming since 2020 that his re-election was stolen and who has just been criminally convicted in the Stormy Daniels affair.
There remains the case of Taylor Swift, number 1 star of the music scene who attracts millions of fans in the United States alone. The singer did not take up the cause for Joe Biden this year (which she did in 2020) but has already made it clear on several occasions how much she despises the ideas conveyed by Donald Trump. Her involvement in the campaign is so feared by the candidate nominated by the Republicans that he himself urged the singer not to support Joe Biden, while the Maga networks are teeming with conspiratorial rumors concerning Taylor Swift.
