Many people have been comparing Donald Trump’s support of white supremacist leaders and fascist rhetoric to dictators of years past. Specifically, Hitler. From the early days of his campaign on, Trump has been spouting racist insults and claiming how he would deport or lock up minorities as soon as he took office. After being elected, those speeches and promises haven’t stopped. Which includes a return of Japanese Interment Camp talk and a promise to deport millions of people who he deems not American enough to stay in the country.
These political statements, and his actions, have led singer and activist John Legend to call out these comments as “Hitler-like”. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Legend said,
“Trump is saying Hitler-level things in public…and I feel like it’s dangerous for us to be complacent.”
Legend is an ardent activist and outspoken political observer in public and on Twitter, so it should come as no shock that he made this claim in a songwriter roundtable that also included Alicia Keys and Tori Amos.
Legend also pointed out that some of music’s power is “that we are able to transcend those boundaries.” It will be a long four years if Trump’s political goals don’t make a 180, so the more high-profile people in the world of art, music, and acting speak out now and in the future the better off and more aware the country will be about issues facing marginalized and unfortunate people. Legend has never shied from speaking truth about causes that matter, so it only makes sense that he will continue to speak out about Trump as needed.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
