NEAR TRUTHS: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

We got our asses handed to us in the 2024 presidential election. Our candidate earned 10m fewer votes than Biden did in 2020 and we lost the popular vote for the first time in 20 years. We now face (at least) four more years of Trump running amok, and the GOP has won control of both houses—in all, a disastrous outcome for human civilization. We loved our candidate, but it’s apparent she never quite looked like a strong enough contender in the eyes of the electorate—or perhaps ingrained misogyny remains (for now, at least) an insurmountable force.

In any event, American politics has been about personality since at least the 1960 debate, from which JFK emerged looking like a star and Nixon like a crook. Tricky Dick subsequently pioneered the “silent majority” hate-mongering that set the tone for an ever-worsening GOP playbook. Reagan brought Hollywood into the mix with his polish and charisma while cozying up to trickle-down-economics charlatans, religious conservatives and domino-theory enthusiasts. The apotheosis of this personality cult has enabled a monied reality-show grifter to rule as clickbait king.

What now, we shudder to ask? How will a new status quo affect the music business? Culturally, are we about to enter an era of pro­test, as we did in the ’60s? Is revolution in the air, or just toxic fumes?

We can expect a fully transactional presidency in the klepto­cratic mold fashioned by Trump’s pal Putin, and that the Presi­dent’s family and cronies and various ring-kissing oligarchs will raid the treasury and all “official” opportunities for their own enrichment. What do Trump, Elon Musk and newly installed apparatchik Marco Rubio have planned for TikTok, given their anti-China agenda? Is some kind of plan being hatched for a MAGA-supporting U.S. media entity to wet its beak as a condition of TikTok’s continued domestic operation? Is Don Jr. being, um, lined up for a role? Speaking of “little Marco,” is there any level of hypocrisy too great for the American public to swallow? On second thought, don’t answer that.

We also note the not-so-coincidental rise in antisemitic violence surrounding Trump’s electoral win, as white supremacists and theocrats prepare to inflict their agendas and Jews worldwide are made the scapegoats for Netanyahu’s Trump-backed insanity (and the death of the Savior, controlling the weather, space lasers, etc.).

This publication has always had a liberal-to-progressive outlook and will continue to voice those views at full volume, at least until the Proud Boys and the Anti-Woke Federal Task Force encircle our offices.