Hi everyone, Dissathony Pointano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and yes, today I'm disappointed in one of my favorite guys, one of the best rockers of all time, guitarist extraordinaire, Mr. Tom Morello. The zany sound-effect six-string man from the band Rage Against the Machine.

Now, Tom Morello is known for maybe two things. One, being in that band, and two, having some pretty strong political opinions, or at least that's what I know him for, because Rage Against the Machine wasn't just a cool mainstream rap rock act at one point. No, they were literally a communist band that was plastering Che Guevara's face everywhere, and believe it or not, they were not just doing it for the vibe.

They didn't confuse Che's face for the Misfits skull logo, and were like, " This is gonna be our version of that." And despite Tom and his other band members being pretty open about their political stances, it surprises me every time when people find a way to get offended over them, as if you don't already know what you're getting into when you're watching a Tom Morello interview. Because recently he was in hot water again for, I guess, the sin of not voting for Kamala Harris.

I'm crystal clear that people's conscience cannot allow them to do something that they fundamentally believe is wrong. I was the scheduling secretary for United States Senator Alan Cranston. I saw how the corporate Democrat sausage is made. It is worse than you think. And there is a reason, there is a righteous fury at the, at the corporate-controlled, money-controlled electoral system we have that is absolutely legitimate. And people cannot choke down voting for a candidate. I understand it. Cannot choke down voting for a candidate that's responsible for what happened in Gaza. And that and they just, they can't do it. And I'm not going to blame them for that. It's, but I think that putting it on them is the most cowardly thing. Put it on the fucking Democratic Party. But I think it's all of our responsibility to co-create the world that we want and not point fingers at people that were just like, my conscience didn't allow me to do that. So it's your fault. I just don't, I, I will not co-sign that.

Interviewer: I get it. Interestingly, you, you voted for Kamala Harris.

I certainly did not. Now I live in a state where that's, it may not have, moved the meter, but I just couldn't do it.

Interviewer: When's the last time that you didn't vote for the Democratic candidate?

I don't, can't remember the last time I did.

Oh my God, the horror. Oh no, the humanity. How could you not vote for Kamala Harris? Okay. Not to completely mock every which way that Tom is getting some pushback on this recent interview clip, because I do think there is some nuance to this conversation, but honestly, I'm having a hard time finding why people are so pissed off about it because, again, Tom did become famous starting a communist rap rock band. And while I'm sure there are communists who did vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, can you be surprised that there are maybe some that did so while holding their nose or abstained from voting completely?

If there was going to be a political ideology that looks at our two-party system and sees, there's, there's not really an option here for me. Yeah, I think it would be a communist plus on top of it. I feel like the outrage over what Tom is saying in this clip is misplaced for another reason, because do the people reacting to this not know how our own Electoral College system works? From what I understand, Tom Morello lives out in fricking California. One of the bluest goddamn states. And the union. Oh, and on top of it, the election was two goddamn years ago. What does it matter if Tom Morello didn't vote for Kamala Harris in a blue state two years after the election, when he is finally making his opinions and stance known?

From what I remember, it's not like he was running up and down the street that year telling people, " No, no, don't vote for Kamala Harris. I'm telling you it was Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Don't do it."

Tom Morello in a video discussing voting:

Some people out there seem to be confused, but I always vote in every local and every national election for every office and every ballot initiative since I was 18 years old. Some of my greatest civil rights heroes have fought and died so that we can all vote. And I honor their memory in the ballot box every single time. To some of us, especially those of us like myself who have been scheduling secretaries for U. S. senators, it often seems like a morally reprehensible choice between compromised corporate Democrats and fascist minded Republicans. Where I live in California, I have the luxury of voting. my conscience for president for third party candidates that better align with my ideas of justice and equality. But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascists every which way we can. Recognizing that even if there's but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. So vote your ass off. But don't just exercise your right to vote. Exercise your right to fight for, organize for, struggle for, and manifest the kind of world you'd like to really see without compromise and without apologies. Before, during, during, and after election day.

With all that being said, I'm not going to sit here and act like a Kamala Harris presidency was going to run the exact same as a Trump presidency. If I may bring up one teeny tiny example, the U. S. aid cuts that Elon Musk ushered in under Trump long-term are probably going to total in death counts that go up to the millions. And personally, I believe for as long as we have access to electoral options in our political system, we should use them to our advantage as best we can to reduce harm, and if not turn things around, at least slow the progression of things getting worse. In addition to that, I should also make mention of another key topic that came up in Tom's reasoning for not voting for Kamala, and that's the genocide in Gaza.

Now, personally, would I weigh in other factors when deciding whether or not to vote for a new administration in a national election? Yes. However, the idea of funding a very violent and broadcast across the world on the internet quite frequently genocide that is disturbing and horrifying. Yeah, I think not wanting to support such a thing monetarily or politically is a perfectly valid request for a political party's base to make of the politicians that are supposed to be representing them.

It's actually like a very tiny, small ask. Very simple ask. But Kamala and the Biden administration wouldn't even acknowledge the political reality of this situation, even for optics' sake.

And I bring all of that up to say that the split on this topic among Democratic voters right now is pretty bold and pretty clear. Not only is an aggressive stance against the genocide in Gaza popular among most voters in the party, but it was also popular at the time, too, in the 2024 election, and was seemingly a deciding factor for a lot of voters who decided to just kind of opt out that year. The writing was on the wall, and there was no shortage of voices and places and platforms that you could go, not only online, but in person, too, and hear perfectly well-reasoned arguments and sensible takes on why the DNC should be taking a stance against this genocide. All they simply needed to do was embrace it as a position, and most likely, the tens of thousands of voters that Kamala would have needed to win would have felt seen and heard and would have come out to the polls for her. It would have been that simple.

And unfortunately, Tom Morello's little clip here is a sign of a larger discourse problem in a lot of leftist politics right now. And that's where, instead of putting the blame on these politicians who don't acknowledge clear political realities and take positions that their voters and their supporters are actually hoping for them to advocate for, are loudly telling them they advocate for nothing. They offer nothing but half measures. And then, when nobody is excited about that, they turn around and blame the voter.

Kamala Harris:

As commander-in-chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.

Kamala Harris in her appearance on The View:

Interviewer: Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?

There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of, of, of most of the decisions that have had impact. Listen, I plan on having a Republican in my cabinet. You asked me what the difference between Joe Biden and me is? Well, that will be one of the differences. I'm going to have a Republican in my cabinet.

And again, while I think on a certain baseline level of civic duty, for the most part, you should not be skipping out on significant national elections like these, especially if you do happen to live in a red state. Far more of the blame in this situation is laid upon Joe Biden for deciding to run again rather than pass the torch to Kamala and setting things up socially and politically so that she was more likely to win.

More blame goes to the Democratic National Convention for not properly running a primary. More blame goes to Kamala Harris and her team for not formulating a political platform that people were actually excited about. All of those factors were way more significant to the final result of the 2024 election than a single communist guitarist who was abstaining in California, which was going to vote blue anyway.

I think I am going to leave it here.

Anthony Fantano. Tom Morello. Forever.