DISTURBED's DAVID DRAIMAN: 'I Hate All Politicians Equally'

DISTURBED frontman David Draiman was recently asked by Loudwire for his thoughts on the 2016 U.S. presidential race. He responded (see video below): "I think it's all entertainment. I don't know how you can take any of these guys seriously. You know, they're all full of shit — every last one of 'em."

He continued: "Every politician, in order to be a politician, has to be adept at the art of one and one thing only, and that is lying. Okay? They're all in bed with all the same power brokers. It doesn't change from presidency to presidency. It's all about whatever agenda happens to be carried on a social basis by any one individual. They all get married to all the same corporations. They're all in the pocket of all the same people who wield the power to begin with. So if anybody has any delusions of grandeur that anything is really going to change from one president to the next, you're fooling yourself. Change has to come from within. Change has to come from a much larger portion of society, whether it's Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or that idiot with the fake hairpiece. It really doesn't make much of a difference to me."

Draiman added: "I hate all politicians equally. I think they're all full of shit. So I think that it is what it is. I just stand back and watch with my popcorn and enjoy the entertainment, 'cause I can't take it seriously."

Draiman recently decided to quit Twitter and other social media outlets after several contentious years. He explained explained: "The Internet, sadly has become a preying ground for trolls and just predators. And when you're in the position that I'm in and you have a wife and a child who had just come into this world not too long ago, you start wondering whether or not that continued interaction and some of the threats and some of the nonsense are worth it."

Draiman added: "I was never the guy who was going to try to use my social media to be a source of promotion for myself . . . It was always trying to use whatever kind of a voice in the position that I have been blessed with for good. To be able to try and educate people a little bit, make 'em laugh a little bit, make 'em open their eyes a little bit. And it just didn't seem to be making a difference."

Draiman concluded that social media "was taking away from my marriage, it was taking away from my time with my kid . . . I'm done being anybody's punching bag."

Draiman has in the past battled with Twitter trolls who have harassed him about his sometimes-controversial views regarding Israel and its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. Draiman has had frequent heated exchanges with followers on Twitter, some of whom believe that Israel is not blameless in the ongoing conflict with Palestinians.

Draiman, the son of Israelis and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, spent much of the last few months linking to articles by conservative and pro-Israel blogs and has often used his fame to speak out against anti-Semitism.

DISTURBED's first new album since 2011, "Immortalized", was released on August 21.