This past Sunday, Zac Brown delivered one of country music’s most beloved refrains: It’s not political, it’s patriotic.
He also performed the national anthem.
Brown sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the cage fights held on the South Lawn of the White House, standing honorably on an American flag-themed Monster Energy drink logo, beneath the glow of a massive UFC claw in a suit that was lightly giving cartoon detective at Donald Trump’s birthday bash. If you want to memorialize the event, you can purchase the official patriotic t-shirt (imported).
“This is patriotism, not politics for me,” Brown told the Pat McAfee Show in an interview about appearing at the match. “I mean, fuck all the division. I don’t believe in that. I love this country. I love all the people that have sacrificed so that I can live my American dream.” Brown was on the show to combat some criticism he’d received for signing on to appear at the event — a night that unfolded in an extremely non-apolitical way when heavyweight fighter Josh Hokit capped his win by yelling “Michelle Obama is a man” to the crowd. Whether or not you try to preemptively excuse yourself by declaring it’s about “patriotism,” anything Trump does is inherently political. Of course it ended with its winner hollering a ridiculous, unpatriotic statement about the only Black First Lady in history.
For country artists, it’s one of the oldest tricks in the try-to-keep-as-many-fans-as-possible playbook. Many before Brown have lobbed the “it’s not political, it’s patriotic” packaging when doing anything but: Jason Aldean’s racially coded “Try That in a Small Town,” Toby Keith’s jingoistic “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten.” Musicians aren’t obligated to do anything political as part of the job, and plenty of audiences appreciate when artists don’t preach partisan points of view. But doing something divisive and trying to explain it away with “patriotism” is, to many, a step too far.
“I’m ashamed,” says Michael Trotter Jr. of the War and Treaty, a veteran of the Iraq war who endured live combat. “I take great pride in being able to say that I served this country and served it well. So, I am ashamed that people would hide behind the term ‘patriotism.’ I’m ashamed that grown men would use a sporting event to throw a jab at a former First Lady, who represented the very grounds the event was on with class, dignity, and beauty. I’m ashamed that my colleagues participated in it. But the truth of the matter is there’s nothing patriotic about what we just saw.”
To be fair, Brown has used his platform to direct resources and support to military families and veterans with his Camp Southern Ground organization. Because of that, the “Chicken Fried” singer likely knows where patriotism ends and politics begins — and where Trump’s machismo 80th birthday party might fall on that scale.
Trotter, meanwhile, is launching an organization called iVet Cares with his wife Tanya, to support veterans, and says he wants more country artists to stop posturing and start listening about what being patriotic actually means. “I think most artists think that throwing money at a thing is enough, but it’s more important to listen to veterans, listens to soldiers and sailors and Marines, and really learn what they truly need. And then go lobbying, go to congress and get involved,” he says. “Artists need to stop being artists, and start being humans.”
The UFC event was supposed to show support for veterans, but that was murky at best. It was reported that military members in attendance were held to a “fitness standard,” and were required to pay for their own travel, while the for-profit event drew a crowd of tech billionaires and shilled for advertisers. In the end, as is custom with anything the Trump administration does, the divisive nature of a cage match at the people’s house made the potential for any real patriotism impossible.
