Eminem and President Trump are, in some ways, one in the same. As my colleague David Uberti noted in August, both Trump and Eminem are “imperfect messengers” whose disdain for the established status quo fostered, perhaps unintentionally in Eminem’s case, unbridled white resentment.
Uberti also pointed out that Eminem’s popularity was the highest in three of the states that narrowly voted for Trump in 2016 (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan). A Detroit native, Eminem’s songs combine a deep bitterness for a flawed system with violent insults launched at perceived wrongdoers — so it’s not difficult to imagine why he might be a patron saint of disgruntled white men.
But on Tuesday night Eminem displayed an impressive self-awareness of the possibility that his anti-establmishment image might be synonymous with Trump’s and delivered a message to those fans who are “supporters” of the president: Fuck you.
“Any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his, I’m drawing in the sand a line, you’re either for or against,” he concluded after ripping Trump for a nearly five minutes. “And if you can’t decide who you like more and you’re split on who you should stand beside, I’ll do it for you with this: Fuck you.”
Eminem’s rejection of fans who are “supporters of his” came after unleashing a characteristic barrage of caustic insults at Trump. “What we’ve got in office now’s a kamikaze that’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust,” he rapped. “Racism’s the only thing he’s fantastic for, cause that’s how he gets his fucking rocks off — and he’s orange.”
Trump’s reaction to NFL protests against systemic racism and in equality also got a shout out in the freestyle. “Plus he gets an enormous reaction when he attacks the NFL so we focus on that and instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada,” Eminem rapped. “All these horrible tragedies and he’s bored or would rather cause a Twitter storm with the Packers.”
Presumably, Eminem has now overtaken Senator Bob Corker on Trump’s Twitter hit list this week. As of publication, Trump has yet to respond to Eminem’s cypher, but something tells me he will.
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