By EVAN ALDO
Songwriter and singer Kid Rock expressed interest in running for political office on Wednesday.
“I have had a ton of emails and texts asking me if this website is real … http://kidrockforsenate.com The answer is an absolute YES,” he tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
In another tweet, the Michigan native said, “I will have a major announcement in the near future.”
The website Kid Rock referred to in his tweet features a photo of the 46-year-old wearing a hat, aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket. The website has a logo that reads “Kid Rock ’18 For US Senate.” There is also sales of stickers, shirts, lawn signs and caps that say “Kid Rock for US Senate.”
The artist has been speculated to be a potential opponent for Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election next year.
A supporter of President Donald Trump, Kid Rock performed at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
“I’ll bet you he would generate as much excitement as Trump did,” said Wes Nakagiri, a Michigan Tea Party activist.
Considering that the media will do anything for an intriging story nowadays, Nakagiri is probably right.
Similar to President Trump, Kid Rock is a controversial figure. He enjoys swearing and bashing groups of people that he is against. In response to the uprising of white supremacists he said, “Nazis. F—ing bigots. And now again the KKK? I say F— all you racists. Stay the hell away.”
I believe that if the news media gives Kid Rock the immense amount of attention that President Trump was able to receive during the election cycle, he will easily be able to win the senate seat.
What reporters seem to be unable to understand is that negative news media attention does not necessarily hurt a candidate. In fact, in can actually help a candidate by getting his name out to more people. Trump had a much greater amount of news media attention than Hillary Clinton. The fact that a lot of it was negative did not prevent him from winning.
Many other celebrities such as Kanye West, Mark Zuckerberg, Dwayne Johnson and Oprah Winfrey have been talking about running for public office as well. If the news media decides to give all of these people coverage, they too are not far from the White House.
A 2020 presidential election with Kid Rock on the Republican ticket and Kayne West on the Democratic ticket is not something that far out of reach.