System of A Down made waves on Friday by releasing their first new music in fifteen years, to support the Armenia Fund, and raise awareness for the ongoing tragedy in Artsakh. Now, drummer John Dolmayan is making waves by praising the job President Trump did and arguing the election is not over, although not taking the time to explain why.
Dolmayan posted the following statement:
“If the will of the American people is that Joe Biden is president then so be it but only if he achieved this without fraud or collusion. This president has been under attack for nearly five years by all media both social and otherwise along with massive corporations and the lifelong politicians who have been actively attacking him since he decided to run.
“Why?He dealt with a worldwide pandemic crisis and a total shutdown of the economy perpetuated and instigated by his opponents in the hopes that our economy would crash and that he would be blamed . Massive violent protests ( they will go away if Biden is elected )that were most certainly instigated by his opposition to destabilize our nation and erode trust in our system.
“If Biden wins all of these protests will disappear and there will be a quick end to the pandemic , don’t fall for it. You will probably never see another non politician run for this office again ,that is our loss. This election is not over nor should it be without complete transparency.”
Dolemayan’s political leanings are interesting considering System of a Down's overt left-leaning politics courtesy of vocalist Serj Tankian. So has that political difference driven a wedge between the two in recent years? According to Tankian in an interview with Forbes, not really.
"He's my brother-in-law and my drummer," said Tankian. [Tankian and Dolmayan married sisters] "Is it frustrating being politically opposite to your own drummer and brother-in-law? Fuck yeah. Of course, it's frustrating. But that's having to do with American politics. When it comes to Armenian issues, we're on the same exact page. We know what injustice is happening, we work together. We're doing different auction activities and working together on many fronts. The Armenian nation is united, whether you voted for Republican, Democrat or neither.
"But I was a Bernie [Sanders] supporter, I still am. I feel like he still would've been the best choice going forward. But I'm okay with [Joe] Biden. The elections are coming up and normally I'm very vocal, but this war and the daily death toll [in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh] has really taken up my full spectrum of focus."
The duo also recently spoke over text message about their increasingly public political views, and how they might be perceived by the public.
