Link: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tom-morello-interview-album-sheeran-springsteen-audioslave-1235635303/

a couple snippets from the interview. the first snippet is about Tom Morelloa doing some concert to promote voting in the midterms. the second snippet is him saying that he didn't vote for Kamala because of her complicity in Gaza genocide, he doesn't use the word genocide.

https://archive.is/o6xOR

bold is interviewer, non-bold in tom

Is there an argument that people’s focus on Ed Sheeran is indeed a distraction from what they should be focusing on?

Yeah, 100 percent. It’s all right to shame him in this moment because he deserves the shame, but not the focus. The focus is your and my tax dollars are going to commit horrific war crimes in the Middle East, and that, I believe, should be the focus and what we should be doing our best to stop in its tracks.

It’s a clickbait, it’s salacious, it’s, “Oh my gosh, poor Ed Sheeran.” First of all, has Ed Sheeran never seen a Macklemore performance before in the last three years? He certainly should’ve known what he was getting into.

The one thing that’s sort of adjacent is, this is a time where speech is being vilified and is a crime, where the truth is a crime, where skin color is a crime, where immigrant status is a crime, where gender is a crime, where sexual orientation is a crime. And it’s my belief that the true crime is the rise of authoritarianism, and the true crime is the erosion of freedoms, and the true crime is an impending environmental disaster. And so my hope at each one of my shows, I deputize the audience as anti-fascist crime fighters, and that’s really the way that I think you have to look at the world right now. Like, what are the real crimes that are happening, and what is it that you and I can do to stop it?

Now that I’ve gotten you fired up — your Power to the People Festival. What is its most essential purpose?

It is not PR or hyperbole to say it is a festival of peace, love, justice, and music. In a time where war is celebrated, this is a festival of peace. In a time where hatred and division are rife, this is a festival of love. In a time where injustice is the norm, this is a festival celebrating fighting for justice. In a time where there’s a lot of shitty music, there’s gonna be a lot of great music on this stage, so we’re going for four for four.

How much were the midterms on your mind when you scheduled this?

As my dear departed mom, Mary Morello, who passed away at 102 years old, was a very political person, said, “You’ve got to fight the fascists every which way you can.” One of those ways is at the ballot box. It’s not the only way, and you should not just think that because you’ve done that. Voting is a piece on the chessboard, and that you try to create an environment where in between the voting you can fight for a more just, a more peaceful, a more equal world.

And so, is the festival three weeks before the midterms? Yeah. Does the money from the festival go to voting rights organizations? Yeah, it does, but the festival is about something much bigger than that. It’s about what kind of world do you really wanna live in, and should we fight for that world, or should we settle for the one that’s being spoon-fed for us by the oligarchs?

Returning as promised to the electoralism issue — there are some on the left who tend to argue it doesn’t matter, don’t bother voting, both sides are the same. So what would you say to someone on the left who says, “Listen, man, I listen to Rage Against the Machine, and I know everyone’s the same. It’s about tearing down the power structure. Doesn’t matter who you vote for. I’m not voting”?

On the one hand, I think that rebellion is self-care, in a way, but I answered that already. Mary Morello was 100 percent right. You have to stop the fascists every which way you can. First of all, a lot of people who I greatly respect and admire the sacrifice they’ve made to try to get people with my color skin to be able to vote in this country, and have died, been lynched for it, they’ve been shot in the back for it, and it’s very disrespectful to their memory to do that.

But that in and of itself is not going to change the levers of power in a significant way. It’s not. It’s not. You should do it. But it would be like, okay, great, you vote, and on the next day you start working. You start working harder for the world you really want without compromise and without apology. And not just putting in the hands of whatever corporate Democrat you choke down your vote for in that particular election, that it’s your job to make the world the way that you think it could be to help those that are the most in need and to hold those accountable who are most guilty.

Do you feel that people on the left should have voted 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 corporate controlled, money controlled electoral system we have that is absolutely legitimate, and people cannot choke down — I understand it — voting for a candidate that’s responsible for what happened in Gaza, and they just can’t do it, and I’m not gonna blame them for that.

But I think that putting it on them is the most cowardly thing. Put it on the fucking Democratic Party. First of all, I don’t believe it’s their responsibility and they’re never gonna necessarily never do the right thing, 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, “Well, you know, my conscience didn’t allow me to do that, so it’s your fault.” I will not co-sign that.

Did you vote for Kamala?

I certainly did not.

You did not?

Did not. I couldn’t do it.

I didn’t realize that.

V for Vendetta — that one inch of who you are belongs to you, and they can’t have it. Now, I live in a state where it may not have moved the meter, but I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it.

When’s the last time that you didn’t vote for the Democratic candidate?

Can’t remember the last time I did.

Wow, okay. I thought you were softening a little bit.

Can’t remember the last time I did.

Tom Morello lives in California, where his vote for president doesn't matter at all, and is literally doing work to promote voting now. It sounds like he's not going to hold it against anyone if they can't stomach voting for Democrats with truly abhorrent policies though. It shouldn't be such a hard bar to pass for them not to push people to that "one last inch".

I'm sure all those dead Iranian schoolchildren appreciate it.

Voting doesn't matter. 2nd amendment does

So, how did that turn out?

I wish I understood .... the second amendment has been completely defanged as it was intended for militia groups. since the government is so effective at squashing solidarity at scale, we're left with idiot kids shooting up our schools lone-wolf style ... and that doesn't take into consideration the gap in technological prowess vis a vis the US military. I suppose it's effective propaganda to have such a narrow perspective.

the second amendment matters for voting

Quite well, actually. Kamala or Trump winning would have resulted in the exact same outcome in Gaza. The vast majority of the Gaza deaths were during Biden's term. Trump's Gaza policy is "continue all of Biden's policies, but be more performatively cruel about it."

So in terms of the actual impact on Gaza, Trump or Kamala winning made no difference at all.

However, what has changed is that support for Zionism has become politically radioactive among the Democratic party. This was only possible because Kamala's genocide support cost her the presidency. Her loss delegitimized pro-genocide voices among the Democrats, and the party has moved substantially on the issue.

So again, the actual condition on the ground in Gaza hasn't changed, but Trump and Kamala had identical Gaza platforms - full support for genocide. At least with Kamala losing, there are some hopeful signs of optimism for the future.

No shit? The lady who said there must be a peace-fire… [cheers] … for at least six weeks (or some similar bullshit). And didn't let any Palestinians speak at her big party. And told other activists to go to another rally for whatever they were saying. She lost? I wonder why.

It's not difficult to meet your voters where they are if you actually listen to them.

Downvoters cant handle the truth that cutting off rheir nose to spite their face has lasting consequences.

Tom Morello lives in California. His vote for president doesn't matter.

No I think Trump has been worse on Gaza than Harris would have been. The cruelty isn't just performative, it has hurt real people. But between the two of them, Gaza was doomed by the bipartisan consensus no matter what.

I agree that Trump has made pro-Israel stances absolutely toxic on the left. I don't think that would have happened with Harris in office. But the cost has been incredibly high.

Voting stops working when we believe it does.

You gonna take on the US military with your bunker ammo stash? Got any anti-tank weaponry down there?

Kamala was talking about building the "most lethal army in the world" and the biden administration was prepping for this war

edit: there's something really disgusting about using dead schooldchildren as a zinger...

What a silly take. Your not going to fight the US military. You're taking the fight against politicians, do you see any politician protected by the military?

Yep.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/10/trump-officials-military-housing-stephen-miller/684748/

Kamala or Trump winning would have resulted in the exact same outcome in Gaza.

Fucking insane bullshit. There's no way you're actually this stupid so my guess is you have an agenda

there's something really disgusting about using dead schooldchildren as a zinger

It's a team sports cult. It doesn't matter who they sacrifice.

Something isn't "insane bullshit" just because it goes against your sports team. The cold hard, unavoidable truth is that the vast majority of the deaths and destruction in Gaza occurred on Biden's watch. Trump just continued Biden's policies, though admittedly with more performative cruelty.

I really see no evidence that Kamala would have been any better. This seems to be a vibes-based argument. Trump has more evil vibes than Kamala, so therefore he has to be materially worse for Gaza. In practice, both sides give a blank check to the Israelis. Kamala would have given a blank check to Netanyahu while giving speeches calling for peace and reconciliation. Trump gave the same blank check while calling Palestinians subhuman animals. The actual material reality is the same. Trump's just cruder and crueler about it.

I bet the people of Palestine are really glad Kamala wasn't elected.

Geez. Another thread awash with election trolls.

Do we think these are actual people doing the trolling?

Why would it be any different for them? Israel was getting their bombs delivered either way

0 posts 20,000 comments year old account

at least them openly being lib nazi cunts on this thread lets us see and track them

The biggest difference is that Harris might have been halfway competent about it

Cry about it

Everyone reading this: "obviously he's talking about those other guys"

No, I'm talking about you. You're an election troll.

If I agreed with you, then I'd certainly be a person.

Eh you're right. I was going on vibes there, I concede.

And she's a repeat of junk we already used. There's plenty of other people and last names that have yet to be president.

Correct. Bot farms universally support conservative positions, so it's unlikely our objectives or opinions would ever align.

Admittedly, I don't think the threadiverse has enough users to be a target for misinformation from bots. Last cycle we just saw users that had picked up the talking points from bots on other platforms.

Easy for you to make that bet when you're never going to bother you listen to anything they say to see if you're right

Its really horrifying watching liberals recalibrate who they consider human in real time based on which administration is murdering them.

Its the easiest bet in history.

You can't convince me that Palestinians would prefer trump because it's an absurdity.

"Palestinians will say what I want them to say!"

Do you believe trump and Kamala's approach to such things would be equal?

Nah that's only on .ml mate.

If Trump and Kamala are the same for palestinians, then they wouldn't care if you voted for Kamala just to... you know... stave off the authoritarian apocalypse Trump is delivering.

"I know you are, but what am I!"

The point in not voting for Kamala is to put pressure on the democrats to stave off the authoritarian apocalypse they are delivering. It's not just stay at home and do nothing, but make your voice heard. Make sure people know what your demands are, organize with others. The dems are holding Trump as a gun to your heads saying "vote for me or else you'll get Trump" while bombing and killing in your name. And with your vote secured they keep sliding right, trying to appeal to people like the conservatives that aren't voting for them. So counterbalance that. Become part of the class of people they have to appeal to, make them earn their vote. You only get one, don't give it up for free.

The thing is, trump was WORSE for Gaza though but y'all didn't care about that

Worse how? Be specific

You realise you're doing exactly what conservatives want you to do?

They know it's not possible to win your vote, so instead just convince you not to vote, and / or criticise your own side.

Such witty banter were having.

Go back to reddit

Ooohh epic burn. That kills me. I feel so pathetic and unintelligent now.