Kid Rock, MAGA Man

The singer has been golfing and trolling his way into the president’s inner circle.

By Ashley Carman and Felix Gillette

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kid Rock Maga Man, the singer has been golfing and
trolling his way into the President's Inner Circle by Ashley
Carmen and Felix Gillette, read aloud by Mark Ledhorf. On
a sweltering summer night in South Carolina, sweaty concert goers
milled about in a field awaiting the day's headliner. Just

(00:20):
after nine thirty p m. Screens above the main stage
lit up with a recorded message, This amazing crowd here
to day must be the most patriotic group in rock
music history. President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office,
we love you all, and Kid Rock is as good
as they get. Enjoy the concert. The audience erupted in applause.

(00:42):
A moment later, Kid Rock, in sunglasses, white fedora, black
T shirt and camouflage shorts, walked on stage and started
in on his first song. For the next hour and
a half, the countrified rocker bounced around, singing and dancing
with a manic energy far beyond the recommend dai elaeos
for the knees and vertebrae of a fifty four year
old grandfather. The setlist leaned heavily on Kid Rock's greatest hits,

(01:07):
including a couple of classics from his first big album
in the nineteen nineties. If the musical vibe harked back
to the days of Bill Clinton, the moment itself felt
like a distillation of something very trumpy. This was the
Rock the Country Tour, orchestrated by Kid Rock and unofficially
promoted by the President to the duo's overlapping fan bases.

(01:28):
The result was a lively mashup of identity politics and
beer battered revelry that billed itself as a gathering for
the true heart of America, where hard working, god fearing
patriots unite under the open sky. This event, in a
mucolic patch not far from the town of Anderson and
its prominent Confederate War monument, marked the final stop of

(01:50):
the tour. Over the course of two days, sun baked
fans tossed beach balls and posed for photos in front
of twenty foot tall cowboy boots. Women in cutoff ganes
and tank tops mingled with men in red, white and
blue overall shorts. At one point, everyone removed their headwear,
gazed at a giant American flag dangling from a crane,

(02:11):
and recited the Pledge of Allegiance off to one side.
People lined up to take turns bucking on a mechanical bowl.
Between sets, a DJ fired up the audience give it
up for number forty seven. Nearly a year into Trump's
second term, the American music industry remains something of an
emotionally triggering, unsafe space for his diehard supporters. Recent headlines

(02:34):
have been particularly unwelcoming. In early October, well known Kamala Harris,
a vetter Taylor Swift, released an album that quickly broke
sales records. A few days later, the NFL announced that
Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, a major critic of Trump
and US immigration and customs enforcement, would headline the next
Super Bowl halftime show. Conservatives raged on social media. Why

(02:57):
was the NFL picking an artist who sing in Spanish
instead of, say, tapping a famous performer from the heartland
of America? In short, why not Kid Rock? To be clear,
Kid Rocks fans are nowhere as numerous as Bad Bunnies.
This year. As of October ninth, Kid Rock has generated
four hundred and nine million audio and video streams across

(03:18):
all platforms. According to Luminate, a data company focused on
the entertainment industry, over the same period, Bad Bunny had
four point seven billion. But if Kid Rock is no
longer a billboard topper, he does embody a certain type
of artist who no longer seeks a middle of the
road audience to find success. Over the past decade, various

(03:39):
entrepreneurs and Trump himself have capitalized on the political polarization
of American consumers by rolling out conservative branded products aimed
at the president's supporters. There are not only cable TV channels,
social media networks, and podcasts catering to the maga demographic,
but also cryptocurrencies, sneakers, mobile phones, bottled water, coffe, kitchen appliances, and,

(04:02):
thanks to Kid Rock, summer music festivals for those who
don't want their concert going experience tarnished by anti Trump
outbursts from the likes of Bruce Springsteen or Green Day Pearl,
Jam Eminem, etc. Kid Rock has created a haven positioning
himself as kingmaker. He's breathed new life into his music
career at a time when many nineteen nineties rap rock

(04:24):
acts have long since shoveled off into cultural obsolescence. Over
the summer, dozens of acts performed at the various Rock
the Country stops including Gavin Adcock, Kentucky Headhunters, Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Little Texas, Nickelback, Travis Tritt, and Kid Rock's favorite hunting buddy,
Hank Williams Junior. At one point during the South Carolina stop,

(04:46):
Aaron Lewis, the heavily tattooed lead singer of the alt
metal group Stained, took the microphone. There were two things
he said that liberals will never take away from Americans,
our God and our guns. Addressing the out of an
estimated twenty thousand, he said, look around you. We need
to stand up for our children and grandchildren who are

(05:07):
going to inherit this country, even by the Rococo standards
of American second acts. Kid Rock's path to musical adoration
among Christian conservative audiences has been a strange trip. Nearly
thirty years ago, Bob Ritchie, who declined to be interviewed
for this article, first strutted into the national spotlight as
Kid Rock. A cocky singer rapper with a love of

(05:29):
middle finger salutes. He joyfully spun out sybaritic rhymes about
chasing babes and getting wasted. He was like some sort
of mythical party creature part man part beer funnel. MTV
played his music videos relentlessly. Kid Rock's nineteen ninety eight
album Devil Without a Cause sold more than fourteen million copies,

(05:50):
making him a certifiable American pop star. He bought mansions
in Florida and California, was briefly married to former Playboy
playmate Pamela Anderson, got a year's probation after a scuffle
at a waffle house, and released a string of albums
largely devoted to unfettered hell, raising as a near heavenly mission.
His fans loved it, but every party eventually ends, and

(06:14):
by the mid twenty tens, the Kid Rock Bender was
winding down many parts of the music industry that had
bolstered his ascent in the nineteen nineties. CDs, MTV, the
rock rap genre were fading fast. In twenty fifteen, when
Rolling Stone caught up with him at his estate in Alabama,
he was showing off his extensive gun collection, shooting wild

(06:34):
hogs and bemoaning the performance of his previous album, Yet
Effing Flopped, he said. At the time, the Kid was
well into his mid forties. Kid Rock grew up in
exurban Michigan. His dad, who ran a thriving Lincoln Mercury
Dealership was a staunch Republican. It was the heyday of
Motor City by American, and the adolescent kid Rock caught

(06:57):
the fever. As he accumulated musical accompon puishments, he also
began seeking out political validation. It took a while. At
one point in two thousand and five, Kid Rock was
booked to play at George W. Bush's inaugural celebration at
the behest of the president's daughters, but not everyone in
the Family Values branded GOP felt at ease rubbing elbows

(07:17):
with the Devil May Care musician. His appearance at the
bash never took place. Undeterred, Kid Rock kept politicking. In
twenty twelve, Republican presidential candidate and fellow Michigander Mitt Romney
adopted one of Kid Rock's songs, Born Free, as a
theme song on the campaign trail. The teetotaling do Gooder
and the bacchanalian stage beast became friendly. Trump proved to

(07:42):
be a more natural fit. While large chunks of the
US entertainment industry lined up behind Hillary Clinton, Kid Rock
dove headlong into MAGA, selling Trump branded merch on tour
and performing at is rallies. He embodied Trump's gop which
positioned Democrats as the party of finger wagging, kis Ill Joyce, Scolds,
and Republicans as the champions of freewheeling anything goes individualists.

(08:05):
Before long, Kid Rock had golfed and trolled his way
into the inner circle. Since hooking up with Trump, kid
Rock has released multiple songs decrying woke culture, posed for
photos with the President in the Oval Office, and praised
his policies while attacking liberals during frequent guest spots on
Fox News. In an October interview with the network's Jesse Waters,

(08:27):
Kid Rock was asked about his Halloween costume, putting on
a COVID style mask. He answered Waters with what critics
called an ablest slur. The Special Olympics called on him
to acknowledge the hurt caused. He has yet to do so.
Along the way, kid Rock knowsed ahead of the likes
of Sylvester Stallone, John Voight, Kanye West, and Chuck Norris

(08:48):
as the dis class a celebrity entertainer most closely associated
with Trump's presidency. Tellingly, of all the performers in Trump's orbit,
it's Kid Rock whom California Governor Gavin Nusos has chosen
to poke fun of relentlessly in recent months. Because of
his horrific music, California will indefinitely suspend Kid Rock from

(09:08):
performing in the Golden State. Newsom joked on X You're welcome,
We'll be right back with Kid Rock Maga Man. Welcome
back to Kid Rock, Maga Man. In early summer, with
federal troops patrolling the streets of Los Angeles, J D

(09:29):
Vance arrived in Nashville for the grand opening of Kid
Rock's second restaurant, The Detroit Cowboy. For the occasion, Kid
Rock played host to the Vice President and other luminaries
at the intersection of conservative politics and music, guitarist Ted Nugent,
comedian Theo Vaughn, podcaster Benny Johnson, Fox News host Steve Doocy,

(09:49):
and Redneck Woman singer Gretchen Wilson. According to social media posts,
amid the patriotic rock and roll themed decorp, diners ripped
into teetering seafood towers, steaming piles of lobster, mac and cheese,
and hulking tomahawk stakes. At one point, country crooner Lee
Greenwood sat at a piano and belted out the Trump
World anthem God Blessed the ussay. Throughout his career, Kid

(10:14):
Rock has festooned himself in all things Detroit, from championing
the maiden Detroit apparel brand to hosting the fortieth Birthday
Celebration concert at Ford Field. But as his status in
Trump's cultural cabinet has soared, Mister Motor City has established
a second geographical beachhead several hundred miles closer to the
heart of the GOP's base. On a hill overlooking Nashville,

(10:36):
Kid Rock completed work recently on a massive residence that
looks like the White House. The interior is tricked out
in trump esque's splendor, including a golden elevator and a
golden bathroom complete with a golden toilet. Long the heart
of America's country music scene, Nashville has emerged in recent
years as a powerful vortex of conservative media. The home

(10:57):
of Ben Shapiro's company, The Daily Wire and various Republican podcasters,
including Brett Cooper. It's the perfect place, in other words,
to fuse music with maga politics. From his hillside perch,
Kid Rock acts as a key player in the scene
when the ultimate fighting Championship traveled to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena
in July. The company's chief executive officer, Dana White, also

(11:21):
a close ally of Trump's, spent a Sunday morning with
Kid Rock, hosting a brunch at his restaurant. This was
not unusual these days. Whenever a business or cultural rain
maker comes to town. FBI director Cash Ptel, Arkansas Governor
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, there's a good chance they'll wind up
breaking bread with Kid Rock and touring his nutty house.

(11:42):
It's about twenty seven thousand square feet and has two bedrooms.
Joe Rogan said on his podcast, the rest of the
house is just party. Lately. While Newsom is busy fake
banning him from California, Kid Rock has been forging inroads
in the rest of the country. Executives who routinely sell
boatloads of tickets to audiences south of the Mason Dixon

(12:04):
line have been eager to partner with them. In May,
Kid Rock hosted his second Rock and Rodeo at at
and T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The extravaganza
features top competitors from the Professional bull Riders or PBR league,
squaring off in events such as steer wrestling and bareback riding,
and of course a performance by Kid Rock. Bob is

(12:27):
one of the most insightful and inventive marketers that I've
ever met, says Sean Gleeson, CEO of PBR. He's got
a very unique eye for what will be entertaining for
the audience. You match that up with the creative talent
on the music side, and you've got a force that
lasts for decades. Kid Rock's prodigious connections are also a
tremendous asset, Gleeson says. This year, Rock and Rodeo received

(12:51):
generous coverage on Fox News and was carried live on
Fox Nation, the network's streaming service. Afterward, Fox Nation reached
a deal with PBR to air its regular Friday night events.
Bob's relationship with Fox News and the Fox Family helped
us get that deal done, Gleason says. In twenty twenty three,
country singer Jason Alden released a video for Try That

(13:14):
in a Small Town, the video's central backdrop for celebrating
AsSalt of the Earth patriotism. The Moury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee,
was the site of an infamous nineteen twenty seven lynching
of a black man, as well as subsequent race riots
in the nineteen forties. Soon progressives were decrying his song
as racist. Al Dean responded on social media that the

(13:36):
accusation was meritless. Conservative pundits knocked the liberal complaints as
yet another instance of cosmopolitan groupthink. Witnessing this, kid Rock
saw a business opportunity. He teamed up with Peachtree Entertainment,
a Nashville based promotion business, to create a new country
music festival. The following year, Rock the Country made its

(13:57):
debut with the initial tagline Evans Small Towns seven massive shows.
At the first stop in Louisiana. Al Dean was a headliner.
I see a huge void for You can call them
right wingers, maga, you can call them whatever you want.
I call them hard working people that love this country,
kid Rock explained in a recent marketing video for the festival.

(14:20):
I think it's the greatest movement ever created. Shane Quick,
an executive at Peachtree, said in the same video, I
feel like a lot of festivals are being built for
one side of this country. We wanted to build a
festival for the other side. Since the festival kicked off
last year. Several conservative big wigs have graced the stage,
from podcaster Tucker Carlson to Larry Rodin, the Republican governor

(14:43):
of South Dakota. On this year's tour, amid a surfeit
of pro Trump signs and apparel, there was a cultural
interloper not always welcome of late, among Red state rollickers
bud Light. A few years ago, Kid Rock Donda Maga
Hat stacked up several cases of bud Life and opened fire.
The resulting beer snuff video, a reflection of the singer's

(15:05):
outrage over the beverage's marketing collaboration with a transgender influencer,
helped fuel a conservative backlash that wound up successfully tanking
bud Light sales and temporarily driving down the share price
of its parent company. During the subsequent PR crisis for
Anheuser Busch InBev, Kid Rock happened to cross paths with
the company's CEO at a UFC match and hit it off. Afterward,

(15:28):
Kid Rock went on Rogan's podcast and urged conservatives to
forgive the Wayward beer brand for what he characterized as
its brief and misguided bout of wokeness. The ceasefire paid
off handsomely. Bud Light was a fixture on the rock
the country's circuit, trying to win back conservatives one frosty
lagger at a time. Naturally, there were freebies too. Throughout

(15:50):
the weekend in South Carolina, any fan who successfully tossed
a lasso around the head of a plastic bull walked
away with bud Light swag. Since bud Light's sales hit
really hard, they've been trying to reconnect with the core customer,
which is that Kid Rock unapologetic, rebel type of personality,
says Anson Ferriks, a former executive for Anheuser Busch Enbev.

(16:12):
The Kid Rock crowd, they drink a lot of beer.
While the Super Bowl halftime show might be beyond Kid
Rock's reach at this point in his career, the singer
is focused on another prized venue. In the October appearance
with Waters on Fox News, amid a broad uproar over
Trump's demolition of the East wing of the White House,
the host asked Kid Rock about rumors that he'd be

(16:34):
the first act to perform inside the planned big, Beautiful Ballroom.
I hope, so, the singer answered, ball till you fall.
That's what I say.