Skip to content

Weiser-Schlesinger: Donald Trump is the Lana Del Rey of politics

Millions of excited fans show up to events with this person’s name on the bill, hoping to catch a peek at this legend-in-the-making while they’re still barely accessible. The voices of their haters roar even louder than the fans, as the passion for and against them grows by the day. And, let’s face it, they probably don’t really care what you think about them.

Think I’m building up to some, “It’s not Donald Trump” kicker? Come on, I’m not that predictable. Instead, I’m going to tell you why Donald Trump is the Lana Del Rey of politics — and Del Rey the Trump of music.

Del Rey is praised for her self-described “gangster Nancy Sinatra” style, defining her identity as a modern indie pop star while evoking a general aura of nostalgia.

Del Rey opponents will point out her manufactured image, citing that she changed her musical identity thrice — from Elizabeth Woolridge Grant to Lizzie Grant, Lana Del Ray and Lana Del Rey. Her millionaire father funded all the reinventions of her image, and her “unique” sound really isn’t that different from past women in popular music.

Trump has similar treatment in the popular sphere. His supporters love him for his image, distinct from Washington politicians and bureaucrats, while reminding them of a simpler time where America was once “great.”

Like Del Rey, opponents of Trump call the businessman falsely authentic with a message unlike anything heard from presidential candidates in modern history, manufactured and financed with family-inherited capital.

What critics of both ignore, however, is that neither of these controversial figures are too radically different from the people they’re supposedly a departure from.

Trump gets flack for his big campaign ideas like building a Mexican border or banning Muslims from entering United States, but other candidates share those beliefs too. Ben Carson has said he wants to build border walls along both Mexico and Canada, and Ted Cruz has even said he’ll recruit Trump to build the Mexican wall with him.

Few other candidates have openly expressed sympathy for a ban on Muslims, but as 37 percent of likely American voters and 65 percent of Republican ones support such an idea, don’t be surprised if more than a few of the candidates side with Trump on this in the long run.

And don’t even get started on the argument Trump has switched sides on major issues toward more traditional positions. Every candidate on either side of the political spectrum has changed positions on certain issues at some point.

The argument that Del Rey is inauthentic and dangerous to indie music as we know it is flawed for similar reasons.

Plenty of artists that call themselves “pop” and “indie” have reinvented their image. Pop artists like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Billy Joel, as well as alternative and indie artists like Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos and the Beastie Boys have also fundamentally changed their musical identities. Lana Del Rey reinventing herself in accordance with a changing artistic vision should be celebrated, not attacked.

I hardly want to defend Donald Trump or Lana Del Rey here. I don’t plan on voting for Trump at any point, and I’ll continue to avoid listening to Del Rey’s music for the most part. But senseless attacks on either a candidate or musician for doing certain things one disagrees with can, too often, ignore the problems with either the campaign process or music industry as a whole.

Trump might promote certain ideologies that are deemed racist, but saying so ignores that many candidates believe a lot of the same things he does — they just don’t get as much attention for saying them. Lana Del Rey may have changed her sound several times and had a career funded by rich ancestors, but so have most of the big names in pop and indie music.

To quote an old, overused cliché: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Brett Weiser-Schlesinger is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. He can be reached at bweisers@syr.edu or on Twitter at @brettws.

13 responses to “Weiser-Schlesinger: Donald Trump is the Lana Del Rey of politics”

  1. This comparison is ridiculous on many levels. But who hates Lana Del Rey because besides rare idiots I don’t see many haters around. To say that Lana’s career was funded by her father is embarrassing. You really think that Lana bought her way with her fathers money into a contract with Intescope the biggest label in the world which has the biggest stars signed? You think that you come at their door saying Hi I’m Lana’s rich father I gave you 1 mil$ to sign my spoiled rich girl who want to be an artist? This is a slander invented by jealous indie artist who didn’t made it. She was trying to have a career for many years before she had success. And her father is an innovator and a self made man who loves her children and helped them but Lana’s career has nothing to do with her fathers money. And you’re serious when you said that she changed her identity from Elisabeth Woolridge Grant to Lizzie Grant? Lizzie it’s a short from of Elisabeth. Embarrassing

  3. You’ve got it all wrong…I believe close to 0% of people necessarily hate Lana Del Rey because she’s done nothing particularly major to deserve that hate. I’ve met lots who don’t really care to listen to her music but that’s a common personal preference because she’s got a particular sound. On the other hand we have Donald Trump which I could go on a serious rant for hours. There’s always a reason that a large number of people wouldn’t like Donald Trump and it’s almost never senseless because of his irrational views on world issues. Because a part of a politicians job is usually to share their views on things happening and whether they agree with it or not, they are most likely to have a larger negative following. Has Lana shared views on politics? I don’t think so because she’s an entertainer not a politician which is why the two should never be compared in the first place. The only half decent comparison you’ve managed to think up was that Lana’s career was allegedly jump started with her fathers money as was Donald Trumps but these broad comparisons could easily be drawn with 90% of main stream artist and for that, you are a poor excuse for a journalist for coming with this lazy time wasting article.

  5. First of all. No. Second of all no. It’s true that I am a huge fan of Lana, but if you were right I would be in your favor. But no. First step before you write anything like this and compare a person like Lana to a person like Trump, make sure you know all of the facts.
    1. Lana has NEVER ever been funded by her father and growing up she wasn’t a millionaire. In fact she had a tough childhood because she went to a correctional facility because of alcohol use at the age of 15. Luckily now Lana hasn’t had a drink in years.
    2. You should know that Lana has one of the most authentic sound in music nowadays. No one has that dreamy indie trippy sound that she has. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t attack the artist because you can simply not listen to her music.
    3. The “Gangster Nancy Sinatra” style actually slipped from her managers mouth while they were on a meeting and since then everyone calls her that way. Lana has never reffered to herself as ” Gangster Nancy Sinatra ” and has said that she hates that it is stuck to her now.

    It would be better for you to research something before you write an article like this. You can’t compare a talented artist like Lana Del Rey to a heartless and most of all shitty person like Trump. You can’t just go throwing words around when they aren’t even true. This is highly unprofessional and

  6. You, my child, should maybe look into a different job because you clearly know nothing about music and politics. You are wrong on so many levels that it actual hurts me. Please for our and your sake delete this article.

  7. I’m a big fan of Lana Del Rey but who the heck is donald f***ing duck. PS: I’m not an american

  8. I’m a big fan of Lana Del Rey but who the heck is Donald f***ing duck? (i’m not an American, no idea about their politics)

  9. Dumbest thing I’ve ever read. The straws you are failing to grasp at are seriously nonexistant.

  11. This article is just no no. Lana’s dad was NOT a millionaire. Please, do some research thanks.

  12. This article is a no no just no. There’s a lot of things wrong in the article about Lana. Please,do some research thanks.

Leave a Reply