On the heels of hitting the stage for a pre-game performance at Super Bowl LX earlier this month, Brandi Carlile is delivering a message to the people who voted for Trump.
After her Saturday performance at the Target Center in Minneapolis in support of Minnesota’s The Advocates for Human Rights, which has aimed to support families affected by ICE’s arrests, the musician declared to Rolling Stone that Trump supporters have been “scammed.”
“You got fucking scammed. We’re living in a scammy time,” she told the outlet backstage right after her performance. “That’s what people do. You can’t even pick up your phone without getting scammed. Doesn’t mean you have to double down.”
Carlile made the remarks after telling Rolling Stone a story about the time she was bamboozled into purchasing an expensive vacuum cleaner by a door-to-door salesman. The songwriter said she took the bait because he treated her like “someone that was important” during a financially challenging time in her life.
“It doesn’t mean you have to pay for the fucking vacuum cleaner,” she said of voters who were misled by Trump. “And I just think there are a whole lot of people out there right now feeling duped and feeling ashamed and embarrassed. What they need to feel is angry. They need to get mad and change their minds.”
Urging people to “get past the embarrassment” and the “shame” of getting “duped by a con artist,” she called on them to “get mad enough to change your mind.”
Declaring “it’s very clear that this administration is not interested in legal immigration,” Carlile then accused the Trump administration of being “interested in violent theater.”
“Violent theater and dominance over other people,” she added. “I don’t believe most people signed up for that. Even people who voted for Trump, who I’m angry with, I don’t think they voted for this, and I do think that they can still change their minds.”
The “Crowded Table” singer’s comments came after Minnesota became the center of a political crisis in recent months. Earlier this year, the Trump administration launched a major immigration enforcement surge in the area by deploying thousands of federal agents.
The controversial move led to widespread chaotic arrests, protests, and multiple fatal shootings of U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents.
Last week, White House border czar Tom Homan announced that the Trump administration’s ICE immigration surge in Minneapolis is “over” and that there would be a drawdown of agents in the area.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey fought back against Homan’s claims.
“It certainly hasn’t stopped,” Frey said in a Thursday interview. “I fully understand why people are very much on edge.”
