Linda Ronstadt Calls Donald Trump A “Rapist” Ahead Of His Rally In Her Hometown
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Today, Donald Trump will hold a rally at Tucson’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall. The real Linda Ronstadt, a Tucson native, is not happy about this. In an Instagram statement posted last night, Ronstadt writes, “Since the building has my name on it, I need to say something.” She goes on to decry the Trump administration’s treatment of Mexican migrants: “Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.”
Linda Ronstadt, who is of Mexican descent on her father’s side, has spoken out about Trump before. When Ronstadt was given the Kennedy Center Honors in 2019, Trump’s Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo gave a State Department dinner for the honorees and quoted Ronstadt’s hit “When Will I Be Loved” in his welcome speech. Ronstadt, responded, “I’d like to say to Mr. Pompeo, who wonders when he’ll be loved, it’s when he stops enabling Donald Trump.”
Like fellow pop star Taylor Swift, Linda Ronstadt used her Instagram statement to endorse Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Like Swift, she also posted a photo of herself with her cat, taking a swipe at Trump’s running mate JD Vance and his line about “childless cat ladies.” (Swift’s best friend Selena Gomez will play Ronstadt in an upcoming biopic.) Here’s what Ronstadt wrote:
Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown, Tucson. I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something.
It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.
I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance — although there’s that.
For me it comes down to this: In Nogales and across the southern border, the Trump Administration systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum. Family separation made orphans of thousands of little children and babies, and brutalized their desperate mothers and fathers. It remains a humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture.
There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused.
Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.
Linda Ronstadt
P.S. to J.D. Vance:
I raised two adopted children in Tucson as a single mom. They are both grown and living in their own houses. I live with a cat. Am I half a childless cat lady because I’m unmarried and didn’t give birth to my kids? Call me what you want, but this cat lady will be voting proudly in November for @kamalaharris and @timwalz .
