On Friday, July 22, country music star John Rich took to former President Donald Trump’s social media network, Truth Social, to announce what is sure to be a controversial new MAGA-inspired song titled “Progress.” .
In the song’s lyrics, Rich makes opinionated remarks on a variety of divisive topics, including, in his opinion:
- America’s Replacement of Religion by Government
- President Biden’s Build Back Better Bill
- Immigration and the death of American soldiers during the evacuation from Afghanistan
- How virus response measures have encroached on freedom
- And the shutdown of Main Street as Wall Street profited at all-time highs
And Rich’s reaction to all this “Progress”, as he calls it, is to take it all and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.
The opening verse of the song laments the sense of emptiness that plagues the country:
There’s a hole in this land
Where was the heart.
Next, he refers to the societal division symbolized by the burning of the American flag, while videos of fiery protests play in the background:
Old Glory is split on fire in the street.
After that, he rejects President Biden’s virus relief and response bill:
They say build back better, make America great
If this is a wave from the future, all I have to say is….
Then the chorus sounds, which underlines the MAGA meaning of the lyrics:
Stick your progress where the sun doesn’t shine
Keep your big mess away from me and mine
If you leave us alone, everything will be fine.
Then another verse opens, contrasting the opening of borders with the death of American soldiers:
They invite the whole world to come and live in our land
And let our compatriots die in Afghanistan.
He criticizes America’s substitution of devotion to small-town Christianity and self-sufficiency for devotion to big government and centralized decision-making:
They say let go of Jesus and let the government save
You can get your freedoms back if you do what we say
They shut down our pipelines and they shut down our voices
And they closed our main streets
And they block our choices.
All before concluding with what could be seen as a kind of rallying cry from the right:
They bent us all over but it’s all over now
‘Cause we got it
We don’t back down
Yeah, serious stuff.
Rich, based in Nashville, is no stranger to aligning himself with controversial conservative political figures. Late last year, he appeared on camera with Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire, whose media company is based in Nashville.
Below is the music video for Rich’s “Progress”, which is now #1 on iTunes. What do you think about it?
