KID ROCK Opens New Tour With Video Message From DONALD TRUMP: 'Let's Make America Rock Again'

Kid Rock played a video message from his friend and golf partner, former U.S. president Donald Trump, during the kick-off concert of his "Bad Reputation" tour Thursday night (April 7) in Evansville, Indiana. Before launching into his anti-Joe Biden anthem "We The People", Rock, who was born Robert James Ritchie, played the message from Trump, who was sporting a "Make America Rock Again" hat.

"Hello, everyone," Trump said. "I love you all. I know you're having a great time at the Kid Rock concert tonight. Quite frankly, he's amazing. All of you in attendance are the true backbone of our great country — hard-working, God-fearing rock and roll patriots."

He added: "Bob is truly one of the greatest entertainers of our time. Not the best golfer by any means — his golf game could use a little work — but a great, great entertainer, and that's why you're there.

"Let's all continue to love one another, fight for our God-given freedoms, and most of all, let's make America rock again."

Last month, Kid Rock made headlines in the mainstream media when he said that Trump once asked him for advice about U.S. policy on Islamic State and North Korea. In an interview with the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the 51-year-old musician, who visited White House in 2017 with Ted Nugent and Sarah Palin, said that he was "there with [Trump] one day when he ended the caliphate," referencing U.S. efforts against the Islamic State.

"[Trump] wanted to put out a tweet … I don't like to speak out of school. I hope I'm not. But … the tweet was, and I'm paraphrasing, but it's like, you know, 'If you ever joined the caliphate, you know, trying to do this, you're going to be dead.'

"He goes, 'What do you think?' [I said] 'Awesome. I can't add any better.' But then it comes out and it's … reworded and more political, to look politically correct. And just, 'be afraid."

He also said he and Trump were once "looking at maps. I'm, like, you know, like, 'Am I supposed to be in on this shit?' Like I make dirty records sometimes. I do.

"'What do you think we should do about North Korea?' I'm like, 'What? I don't think I'm qualified to answer this.'"

Kid Rock also praised Trump for speaking "off the cuff".

"See now, if you watch a Joe Biden interview, and you watch a Trump interview, there's no comparison. And Trump speaks off the cuff.

"I understand what it's like, sometimes you get it wrong. But I would way rather hear somebody come from here [the heart] and get it wrong once in a while."

Kid Rock had previously described himself to The Guardian as "definitely a Republican on fiscal issues and the military, but I lean to the middle on social issues."

"I am no fan of abortion," he said, "but it's not up to a man to tell a woman what to do. As an ordained minister I don't look forward to marrying gay people, but I'm not opposed to it."

He also said he "played Barack Obama's inauguration [in 2009] even though I didn't vote for him. I didn't agree with his policies, but there was an exciting sense of change in the air. That promise hasn't been fulfilled — the country is more divided than ever."

Kid Rock is currently promoting his new album, "Bad Reputation", which was made available digitally on March 21. Physical CDs arrived on April 6.

"Bad Reputation" includes the three songs Kid Rock released in January — "We The People", "The Last Dance" and "Rockin'" — as well as his November 2021 single "Don't Tell Me How To Live", which was recorded with Canadian hard rockers MONSTER TRUCK.

"We The People" features the chorus of "Let's go, Brandon," conservative code for "Fuck Joe Biden" (born when a NASCAR reporter misheard a crowd, reporting that they chanted in support of racer Brandon Brown when they were actually chanting expletives toward the U.S. president),and also takes aim at the mainstream media, CNN, TMZ, Twitter and Facebook, as well as mask mandates and COVID-19 restrictions.