In a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis said that he wouldn't have had a problem playing Donald Trump's inauguration "like Beyoncé and everyone that would've." Lewis — who is widely considered to be one of the most politically conservative musicians in rock — described himself as a fiscally conservative, socially libertarian, constitutionally driven patriot. "Freedom means freedom," Lewis said in the interview. "Get out of my business." He added that he wanted "capitalism with a conscience" and after backing Senator Ted Cruz, Trump's closest competitor in the Republican nomination race, in the Massachusetts primary, he "proudly jumped into the basket of deplorables and voted for Trump." The STAIND frontman had been a staunch critic of President Barack Obama, telling a crowd at one of his solo concerts last year: "For the last eight years, I thought our country was going fucking crazy. Barack Obama should have been impeached a long fucking time ago. Every fucking decision he makes is against the Constitution, it's against what's good for our fucking country, and he is truly the worst fucking president that we have ever had in the history of this fucking country. And a hundred years from now, our fucking grandkids will be looking back at this, going, 'What the fuck was going on?' I truly believe that he was elected over three hundred years of guilt… because he is the least qualified, most inept, completely useless president we have ever fucking had." Lewis told Billboard last year that he would support Trump in the U.S. presidential race, even though he was "disappointed" by the real estate mogul "with the bickering and the name-calling." It was widely reported that the Trump transition team had trouble attracting A-list talent to appear at his inauguration, with artists like Elton John, Justin Timberlake and others rejecting offers. Although other rock artists like Kid Rock and Ted Nugent had voiced their support for the former reality TV star, they were absent from the inauguration. President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009 featured Jon Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, U2, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks, among others. Lewis released a new country music solo album called "Sinner" in September.
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