Brandi Carlile has a call to action for those who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 but now feel disappointed in how his second presidential term has played out so far: It’s OK to change your mind.
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In an interview with Rolling Stone moments after her Saturday (Feb. 21) concert in Minneapolis, the country star expressed empathy for people she thinks were misled by the twice-impeached POTUS, especially amid ICE’s widely criticized ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the United States. “It’s very clear that this administration is not interested in legal immigration,” she told the publication backstage at the Target Center.
“They’re interested in violent theater,” Carlile continued. “Violent theater and dominance over other people. I don’t believe most people signed up for that. Even people who voted for Trump, who I’m angry with, I don’t think they voted for this, and I do think that they can still change their minds.”
The 11-time Grammy winner went on to compare the situation Trump voters are in to a time when she says she was manipulated into buying an expensive vacuum cleaner by a door-to-door salesman. Rather than paying the bill — which she couldn’t possibly afford at the time as a struggling artist — she called up the company and successfully pressured them into taking the product back at no cost.
“So, you got f–king scammed. We’re living in a scammy time,” Carlile said. “That’s what people do. You can’t even pick up your phone without getting scammed. Doesn’t mean you have to double down. It doesn’t mean you have to pay for the f–king vacuum cleaner. And I just think there are a whole lot of people out there right now feeling duped and feeling ashamed and embarrassed.”
“What they need to feel is angry,” she added. “They need to get mad and change their minds. Get past the embarrassment, get past the shame that we got duped by a con artist. Get mad enough to change your mind.”
Billboard has reached out to the White House for comment.
The singer’s tour stop in Minnesota doubled as a benefit concert for Minneapolis nonprofit The Advocates for Human Rights, which has been working to support families affected by ICE’s arrests, detainments and deportations in the city. According to a post shared by Carlile on Instagram, the event raised more than $600,000 for the organization.
Minneapolis has been at the center of discussions around the morality of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants since the beginning of the year, with people all over the country protesting ICE’s presence in the city and the fatal shootings of two civilians — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — at the hands of immigration enforcement officers in January. Many musicians have spoken out against ICE in the weeks since, while Carlile has long been outspoken in her opposition to the federal agency’s actions.
“I am so heartbroken and angry for Minnesota,” she wrote in a January post on Instagram. “Over the past month, the community there has continued to set an incredible example for the rest of us, demonstrating the power of uniting to protect our neighbors and defend what is right.”
