With Vermont senator Bernie Sanders currently looking like the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination for this year's U.S. presidential election, it appears that two members of the politically active and generally liberal band System Of A Down seem to have widely different opinions about the self-described democratic socialist.
First, drummer John Dolmayan posted a message criticizing Sanders and his proposals, writing, “Childcare/free, healthcare/free, university/free. F**k it, if everything’s going to be free and it’s all going to come from the rich anyway then why work at all? Why not just live off the work and profits of the rich? I’m a millionaire and so is Bernie but I only have two houses so maybe I can share this hypocrite’s ‘summer camp.'”
Dolmayan added, “Don’t believe the indoctrination, don’t believe Hollywood/music elites, and don’t believe communism disguised as democratic socialism will do anything but strip you of your freedoms and make everyone equally destitute . . . It doesn’t work, it will not work, and it always leads to poverty for the working class. The same elites pushing this agenda will be well taken care of while the rest of the people starve.”
An hour after Dolmayan shared his post, System singer Serj Tankian shared a screenshot of a Newsweek article that pointed out that Sanders is the first presidential candidate, Democrat or Republican, to win the popular vote in the first three early voting states. Tankian added a brief, “Oh yeah!!!”
It's not clear if Tankian's post was a response to his bandmate, but Tankian has been an outspoken supporter of Sanders since at least 2015 and continues to do so.
System Of A Down has a number of live shows coming up this spring and summer but continues to hold out on making new music.