It's a little odd to me that he's almost slapping in the face of people
that made him famous.
It's off-putting, I didn't like this.
>> Speaker 2: She didn't like it.
And who is she?
Well, Newsmax contributor and Daily Caller reporter, Chrissy Clark is
pretty salty over the fact that the latest viral sensation, Oliver Anthony,
who went viral for his anti-establishment folk song, has basically
snubbed the Republican Party, who wanted to claim him as one of their own.
Now, why did they wanna do that?
Because of some lyrics in the song that went viral,
which we'll get to in just a moment.
But Oliver got fawning praise and a pretty warm reception from right-wingers for
his song Rich Men of Richmond, or Rich Men North of Richmond, I should say.
And so let's take a look at the particular lyrics that they liked, and
then we'll give you the updates on what happened.
So in the song, which I think is a really good song, and
you should listen to it if you haven't already.
These rich men north of Richmond, Lord knows they all just wanna have total
control, wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do.
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do.
Cuz your dollar ain't, and then he uses a word that I unfortunately can't use here,
and it's taxed to no end cuz of rich men north of Richmond.
So you can understand why conservatives might hear those lyrics and
think, he's one of us.
I'll give you a little more, though.
I wish politicians would look out for minors and
not just minors on an island somewhere.
Lord, we got folks in the street ain't got nothing to eat and
the obese milking welfare.
That set the left off, and led to all sorts of criticism toward him that
I didn't think was smart from the left, and I'll explain why in just a moment.
But Fox News even used that song at the very beginning of
the first GOP primary debate as part of their lead question.
But four days ago, Anthony actually posted a video making it clear that the goal of
the song wasn't to make a partisan point.
Let's watch.
>> Speaker 3: The one thing that has bothered me is seeing
people wrap politics up into this.
I'm disappointed to see it's aggravating seeing people on
conservative news try to identify with me like I'm one of them.
It's aggravating seeing certain musicians and politicians act like we're buddies and
act like we're fighting the same struggle here,
that we're trying to present the same message.
It was funny seeing it at the presidential debate because
it's like I wrote that song about those people.
So for them to have to sit there and listen to that, that cracks me up.
[LAUGH] But it was funny kind of seeing the response to it,
that song has nothing to do with Joe Biden,
it's a lot bigger than Joe Biden.
That song's written about the people on that stage and
a lot more too, not just them but definitely them.
>> Speaker 2: So that is exactly what led to Chrissy Clark getting
real salty toward Oliver Anthony.
And so let's watch a little more of her appearance on Newsmax.
>> Speaker 4: It seems like when you look at the headlines,
liberals are just reveling in Anthony's comments over the weekend, saying that
he's not on either side, but Republicans are not turning their backs on.
Chrissy, I think that's emblematic sort of, of what conservatives are about, and
it's about people being able to speak freely in America today.
What is your take on why the left is so excited about.
Well, of course,
they're excited about this because he's not overtly coming out as partisan.
But when I initially saw this headline, I was like, are you kidding me?
This is a group of people that made your song wildly famous,
and you can't write a song that's about politics.
He's not talking about rainbows and butterflies, okay?
He's talking about politics, and
then wondering why the political zeitgeist picks this up.
It's a little odd to me that he's almost slapping in the face the people
that made him famous.
It's off-putting, I didn't like this.
>> Speaker 2: His song resonated with countless Americans,
the idea that she's gonna turn around and say, how dare you?
We made you is pretty pathetic.
And I actually applaud the fact that he is really trying
to make a point about how this is not partisan.
In fact, this is the kind of song, and
please listen to it if you haven't already, listen to the lyrics.
Aside from the controversial lyrics,
listen to what he's trying to get across about the plight of Americans,
okay the precarious nature of work and what people get paid in America.
That should be a rallying cry across political ideologies,
instead it immediately turned into a nonsense partisan garbage fire.
It's so stupid to take this song that has, in my opinion, a very important
message and trash it based on what you assume about the guy's politics.
What do you think, Cenk?
>> Speaker 5: Okay, so first,
let's note the hilarious intro versus commentary that just happened there.
The intro is leftists are catching feelings, but us Republicans,
we're open-minded in favor of freedom of speech.
What do you think? No, I hate it.
[LAUGH] Totally.
I can't believe he's not 100% on our side, I despise him now.
Okay, that was awkward.
[LAUGH] Okay, so now, guys, in the beginning,
we were supposed to hate him, now they're supposed to hate him.
[LAUGH] How about if we don't hate him.
>> Speaker 2: I don't hate him at all in the beginning when the left was supposed
to hate him.
Right, now this is a real populist song.
And so if you don't like the line about welfare, for example,
I hear you, I don't love the line about welfare.
Well, he's a populist, and so he's not a politician,
he's not trying to make you happy.
He's just telling you we're all getting screwed, and
he doesn't like the way we're getting screwed, and
one of the ways he doesn't like us getting screwed is welfare, okay?
>> Speaker 5: We disagree with him on that.
>> Speaker 2: No, I don't even think that he's against welfare.
He's making a point about people who don't need it, taking advantage of it, so
I think he's trying to make a point about fraud.
And look, I am not against the social safety net.
In fact, I want a far more robust social safety net, but I'm not so
dumb to believe that welfare fraud isn't a thing, it is a thing.
In fact, the PPP loans, there was massive fraud when it came to the PPP loans,
massive, hundreds of billions of dollars, okay?
So that is an issue, and we should fix those flaws because we should protect
those resources for people who genuinely need it.
The fact that that line was enough for people to ignore the overall message here,
the populist economic message, I think, does not speak well of the left
that purports to care about improving working conditions for
American workers in this country?
>> Speaker 5: But my overall point is you don't have to agree with every line,
even if my interpretation is right and you don't love that line,
it's okay, brothers and sisters.
In order to work together for the average guy, we've got to actually work together.
We don't have to agree on everything 100%.
That's it.
I only disagree, I agree with that guy only 98%.
That's it, I hate him, he's a fascist, and blah, blah, blah, etc.
By the way, the right wing, same thing, right?
Now he's not kissing the ass of Republican politicians and
Republican talk show hosts.
I hate him, I only agree with him 98.
Look, guys, you don't even know what he thinks, it's just a song.
And what he's saying is this is against the powerful,
the politicians, the establishment, and in favor of the average American worker.
Whether you agree with the way he says that or not,
you can appreciate that that is a real problem in America, and
that is real anger and frustration felt by hundreds of millions of Americans.
And the fact that it broke through in popular culture, and
that it resonates with people is a good thing.
Because all of us, right or left, at some point,
if we're ever gonna fight against the incredibly powerful establishment or
what he would call the rich men north of Richmond, we've got to unite.
Otherwise, they're gonna have us fight each other to no end, we're gonna rip each
other apart, and the rich men north of Richmond are going to laugh their ass off.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, I just think it's amazing that all it takes is for
some skepticism in regard to which tribe he represents to just
completely ignore his message, right?
And by the way, let me correct myself.
The PPP loans, I think I said hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud.
Sorry, it was actually hundreds of billions of dollars, okay?
So, in fact, there was an analysis done in March of last year that showed
that at that point, they found about $80 billion in PPP fraud, okay?
So look, those are issues, and for hardworking taxpayers, right,
that's a frustrating situation when you see people take advantage of
the system like that.
Anyway, but that's beside the point.
Let me get back to Oliver here, because look at his life story.
So, as of August of 2023,
the left was also getting at him because he owns some land.
But I mean, the guy lives in a $750 camper with his wife and two kids, okay?
He dropped out of high school in 2010, he later got his GED,
he worked at industrial jobs in North Carolina and Virginia.
He had a workplace accident while working at a paper mill in Virginia in 2013,
which fractured his skull, leaving him unable to work for a year.
I mean, this is a guy who has gone through a lot.
He had issues with alcoholism, which he has overcome and is now sober.
This is an American who is experiencing something that many Americans are also
experiencing, which is why his message in that song resonated.
It should have been a rallying cry that unites workers across the political
spectrum, and instead, it immediately devolved into nonsense partisan politics.
>> Speaker 5: Now we're picking the guy's life apart.
What the hell is this?
And by the way, this is what happens to you.
I've explained this many times.
In the old days, if somebody was causing trouble, they'd assassinate them,
now we do character assassinations.
So if anytime somebody is against the rich men north of Richmond, all of a sudden,
there's articles about, yeah, he's a big landowner,
brother's paying $750 for a camper man.
But no, we got to assassinate his character, because you assassinate
a character, you not only hurt the person, but you hurt the cause.
>> Speaker 2: Yes.
>> Speaker 5: And so stop buying into that stuff.
If the average guy in America, no matter which tribe they're in,
does not unite, those rich men will rule you forever.
Take yes for an answer.