Having recently wrapped up his band’s 24th consecutive American summer tour, Dave Matthews tells Rolling Stone Americans should be more accepting of illegal immigrants, while also blasting Republican presidential candidates and praising socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
During a wide-ranging interview about music, his band’s upcoming album and politics, the South African-born singer tells the magazine after watching two Republican debates, the party is “disconnected” and “nonsensical,” and has no answers.
“When I listen to the bold-faced, impossible and nonsensical, disconnected claims at the last debate, I’m like, ‘What the f—k are you all talking about?’ None of you are remotely connected. None of you have an actual plan!” said Mathews. “I can stand up and say, ‘If I was President, I would make everybody’s boobs bigger, and I would make men stronger, and everybody would be happy, and everybody would be fed, and the oceans would be clean, and everyone would have jobs. And that’s what I’ll do if I’m President.’”
Matthews, who twice supported President Barack Obama, adds: “Wait, do you s—t money? What are you f—king talking about? There’s no way you can do anything but damage our children’s future by claiming you can spend more money to make us stronger, make us better, make us happier, make the whole world a better, more peaceful place, and cut taxes and have less government. ‘Cause you’re just talking about something that’s f—king impossible.”
When asked if he is supporting any particular candidate in the upcoming election, the 48-year-old praises Sen. Bernie Sanders:
“When I hear someone speaking in terms of the workers rising up and the working people feeling like they have a voice, when I hear someone like Bernie Sanders talking, I think there’s a hope. And I have no party affiliation. I’m not saying with his half-a-million donators and supporters that have committed 30 bucks on average to his campaign, he can win without a Super PAC. But that’s a guy who is talking about something real and that isn’t insulted by being called a liberal.
“Someone could call me a liberal, and I’d say, ‘Thank you.’ Someone could call me a socialist, and I’d say, “I wish I was a socialist.” I should get a shirt that says, “Tax me! Tax the f—k out of me!” At least we’re hearing more of a voice from him by having him out there and speaking in complete sentences rather than a bunch of slogans that don’t mean anything. So I feel like there’s hope as long as some people are speaking to the real problem in this country.”
Dave Matthews concludes, saying, Americans should not look down the homeless, the mentally ill, or people who are unable to find work, and says there should be more sympathy for “migrant workers” who come in illegally to “work hard for their futures.”
He also calls it “f—king astounding” that “the richest and the most powerful country in the world” can’t offer a safety net for “people who have fallen through the cracks.”
Matthews was appointed as a celebrity ambassador to promote citizenship and naturalization for eligible immigrants to become U.S. citizens a week ago by President Obama.
To read the rest of Dave Matthews’ RS interview, click here.
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