Kid Rock: 'I'm Digging Donald Trump'

Kid Rock, who campaigned with Mitt Romney in 2012 and freestyled the couplet, "They say Obama is lyin'/ That's why I’m voting for Romney and Ryan" in a concert outside that year's Republican convention, has settled on his pick for the 2016 Republican presidential nominee: Donald Trump.

Rock is one of the most prominent right-leaning voices in music, but he's also a somewhat irregular Republican: "I don't like the hardcore views on either side and I'm not in bed with anybody," he told Rolling Stone in 2013. "I'd probably be more libertarian, but I’m a firm believer you have to pick a side. I can’t be playing the middle."  

Accordingly, he's picked the most unconventional 2016 candidate, not to mention the only one who might share Kid Rock's comfort with the self-designation "American Badass." As the Iowa caucuses approach, here's what Rock had to say in an interview for the next issue of Rolling Stone.

What do you think of the Republican field?
I'm digging Trump. I feel like a lot of people, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, feel like if you get Hillary or Bernie, or you get Rubio or Cruz or whoever, there's going to be the same shit. Has that much fucking changed when anyone's in office, whether it's been a Republican or a Democrat in office, in our lifetime, anyway? I haven't really seen this big, like, fucking change. Obviously some people fucked up. [Laughs] That's a long debate. My feeling: let the motherfucking business guy run it like a fucking business. And his campaign has been entertaining as shit. 

And you've liked what he's had to say and what his campaign has been like? 
Well, yeah, on a certain level. It's entertaining as shit.

Do you think he'll actually get the nomination?
I think he will. To me, I'm just like, "We gotta try something else," and ... I'm not an expert at political science or anything. I do try to follow things, obviously. I'm a pretty good, tax-paying citizen of this country. [Laughs] Let the business guy in there. It's not really working too well running it not like a business. I mean, what business fucking survives when they're fucking broke?