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Gene Simmons Speaks Out About ‘Political Animal’ Donald Trump

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 07:26 PST, Apr 1, 2016

Rock star Gene Simmons has underscored that he is not endorsing Donald Trump for president but describes him as “the truest political animal I’ve ever seen onstage” and someone who has “changed politics forever.”

The Kiss frontman is no stranger to controversy and is well known for declining to hold his tongue, as it were, in disagreements over political correctness.

Simmons, 66, explained to Rolling Stone that while he has not climbed aboard the Trump train, he likes the GOP front-runner’s candor “even if I disagree.”

Ahead of the Wisconsin primary next Tuesday, Trump has experienced a rather rough week on the campaign trail, with the whole Michelle Fields-Corey Lewandowski media saturation coverage, plus the immediately walked-back comments about abortion punishment, along with some adverse polling from the Badger state.

In the interview with Rolling Stone, Simmons, among other things, praised Trump for speaking to huge crowds without relying on a teleprompter and for his general stagecraft/showmanship.

“He has no speechwriters, no editing, no nothing. He’s actually on tape going ‘motherf****er.’ You cannot turn away. He has said some very vile, unkind things. But don’t kid yourself. He speaks off the cuff, and what you see is what you get. And he’ll double down. If you ask him about building a wall, he’ll say, ‘F**k you, I’m going to make it 10 feet higher, just because you asked me.’ He’s not there to be your friend.”

A disillusioned 2008 Obama voter, the bass guitarist and Kiss lead singer also insisted that the brash New York real estate mogul is reflecting the unstated feelings of a significant portion of the electorate, particularly those who support Trump’s plan to build a “beautiful” wall at the U.S.-Mexican border.

“He’s good for the political system. The middle, the centrists, they can say, ‘What do you think of this?’ because everybody is sick and tired of being politically correct. Secretly, tens of millions, perhaps 100 million people may actually have some positive feelings about a wall…Trump is not a politician. He does not need your money, and he will speak his mind, God damn it, whether you like it or not. And he has no problem saying ‘F**k off.'”

Simmons, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 8 from Israel with his mother, whose Hungarian family was murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, added that many countries around the world have erected walls at their border for security reasons, including the barriers around Vatican City.

“The Pope has said the wall is unkind, but it’s interesting that at the Vatican there’s a wall. They don’t want people on the outside coming into the Vatican.”

Perhaps to offset this week’s bad publicity, this “women for Trump” video has been released on social media.

Gene Simmons is not the only former Celebrity Apprentice contestant who has endorsed Donald Trump.

Trump has received the backing of Jesse James, Omarosa, Hershel Walker, Johnny Damon, Dennis Rodman, and possibly others who have interacted with the presidential candidate directly.

In a separate Rolling Stone interview earlier this month, Gene Simmons created a controversy by declaring that he is looking forward to the death of rap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZbGp-XUTeQ

In July 2014, the musician and entrepreneur admitted that he’s been a member of the one percent for about 30 years and that “it’s fantastic” because one-percenters create all the jobs in the U.S. economy.

Gene Simmons and his Kiss bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014.

[Photo by Christopher Barth/AP]

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