SERJ TANKIAN Blasts DONALD TRUMP: He Is 'An Absolute Maniac' Who Is 'Only Interested In Himself'

SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist Serj Tankian has blasted former U.S. president Donald Trump, calling him "an absolute maniac" who is "only interested in himself".

The 56-year-old Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician and songwriter made his comments less than two months after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee for president in 2024, securing more than half of the total GOP delegates after the primary elections.

Speaking to Metal Hammer 's Paul Brannigan, Tankian said: "Donald Trump is an absolute maniac. He's only interested in himself, his own ego, his own everything. He doesn't even care about other Republicans, it just happened to be the party that he took. He's a showman, he's almost unreal, but he is very dangerous."

He added: "I'm not saying that I'm a big fan of Joe Biden and what the Democrats have done either.

"I just heard a figure that there are more independents in America than ever in American history, because both parties have been completely missing the point of what's going on.

"There are other candidates that have a lot more potential like RFK Jr., for example," referencing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the scion of the famed Kennedy family, who initially sought the Democratic Party's nomination for president but dropped that effort in October and re-entered the race for the White House as an independent, "but these two parties have a stranglehold on the system, as in [the U.K.] Parliament.”

Circling back to Trump, Tankian said: "But I would say that the propensity of Trump, liking authoritarianism, enjoying authoritarianism, would be dangerous for the world, because he would be on the side of people that think that way, whether it's [Russian president Vladimir] Putin, or [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan in Turkey, or [Ilham] Aliyev in Azerbaijan. Plus he has hotels in those places, he's got business dealings: again, it's all about himself.

"To me, in a perfect world, someone like RFK would take over, and not be a Democrat nor a Republican," Serj said. "But if the choice is between Joe Biden and Trump, there is no choice. Trump is very dangerous, very dangerous. I consider Trump an extremist, he's a right-wing extremist, he's not a center-of-the-road Republican or Democrat. And to see a country, half of a country, whatever the numbers are, gravitate around an extremist in a country like the United States is incredibly disconcerting. It's a threat to democracy, it's a threat to the world. I can't think of a world where Trump takes over again, I really can't."

According to NPR, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been widely criticized for promoting debunked theories, misleading claims and outright falsehoods, including suggesting that Wi-Fi causes cancer and "leaky brain," antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender and AIDS may not be caused by HIV.

Tankian's views on the Trump presidency are diametrically opposed to those of SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan, who has repeatedly defended America's 45th president, saying that Trump opponents "perpetuated and instigated a total shutdown of the economy" in the hopes that it would crash and that he would be blamed. Dolmayan also praised Trump and accused Democrats of "demonizing" the president and "blaming him for everything under the sun." In addition, John called Democrats "the true bigots" who "fought to maintain slavery" and were "directly responsible for 70 plus million abortions, a large majority of whom were black." Dolmayan also supported Trump's claim that his administration had done more for the African-American community "than any president since Abraham Lincoln."

In October 2020, Serj told Forbes that it was "frustrating" for him to see John so publicly supportive of Trump, especially considering Dolmayan is Armenian as well. "But that's having to do with American politics," Serj explained. "When it comes to Armenian issues, we're on the same exact page. We know what injustice is happening, we work together. We're doing different auction activities and working together on many fronts. The Armenian nation is united, whether you voted for Republican, Democrat or neither."

In 2020, Tankian called for Trump to resign and described him as "completely useless" over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Tankian's memoir, "Down With The System", is due on May 14 via Hachette Books. The book is described in a press release as an exploration of "the myriad influences which shaped both [Serj's] creative journey and his activism while sharing his unique perspective on the band's unlikely rise to fame."