Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder says Donald Trump is “desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy”
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has criticised Donald Trump, describing him as “desperate to win” in a bid to ”keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy”.
The singer made the comments during a new interview with The Sunday Times, following the recent release of the band’s 12th studio album ‘Dark Matter’.
During the discussion, Vedder went on to recall the inspiration behind the song ‘Wreckage’ – adding that the lyrics to the song emerged as part of a discussion about the former US President.
“There is a guy in the United States who is still saying he didn’t lose an election, and people are reverberating and amplifying that message as if it is true,” he told the outlet, going on to make reference to the former President’s highly publicised arrest and his being charged in four criminal cases.
“Trump is desperate. I don’t think there has ever been a candidate more desperate to win, just to keep himself out of prison and to avoid bankruptcy. It is all on the line, and he’s out there playing the victim — ‘at least they’re doing this to me, because if not, they would be doing it to you’ — but you haven’t falsified your tax records.
“You don’t have classified information in your basement. So the song is saying, let’s not be driven apart by one person, especially not a person without any worthy causes.”
At time of writing, Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records. This was allegedly as part of a scheme to quash stories that he thought could hurt his presidential campaign in 2016 (via Sky News). He is accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. If found guilty, the offence is punishable by up to four years in prison – although it’s unclear if the former president is likely to face jail time.
Later in the interview with Sunday Times, Vedder was asked if he thought Trump’s time was on the way out, to which he responded: “I can’t wait. Most thoughtful people are going through a bit of PTSD about it now.”
This is far from the first time that the iconic ‘90s singer has used his platform to take aim at Trump. On Pearl Jam’s 2020 album ‘Gigaton’, the song ‘Quick Escape’ saw the frontman describe a devastated planet and recall “the lengths we had to go to then/To find a place Trump hadn’t fucked up yet”.
Later that year, he also faced backlash from some Republicans for a poster, which showed the White House in flames and a bald eagle pecking at a skeleton that some thought depicted Trump.
As highlighted by Blabbermouth, Pearl Jam also called out Trump’s administration for its lack of leadership during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“There’s been no clear messages from our government regarding people’s safety and our ability to go to work,” the band said. “Having no examples of our national health department’s ability to get ahead of this, we have no reason to believe that it will be under control in the coming weeks ahead.”
NME gave Pearl Jam’s latest album ‘Dark Matter’ a glowing four-star review, and praised it as “some of their strongest work in recent memory”.
“For those longing for the charismatic songwriting that first put the band on the map over three decades ago, ‘Dark Matter’ will come as a pleasant surprise,” it read. “Not only does it showcase Pearl Jam reclaiming the charm that first made them a force to be reckoned with back in 1991, it comes alongside some of their most impressive musicianship yet, as well as a determination to take risks after years of playing it safe.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
