Joe Biden was declared the next U.S. president by most major news outlets on Saturday after surpassing the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the election. However, System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan is among those insisting that the election isn’t over, and that Americans should rally around incumbent Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the results.
Trump himself has not conceded, despite his claims of widespread voter fraud not being substantiated with any specific evidence. Dolmayan, whose relentless support for Trump directly contradicts the anti-Trump messaging of his bandmate and brother-in-law Serj Tankian, posted his thoughts on the election just a couple days after System of a Down surprisingly released their first new songs in 15 years.
On Friday, System of a Down unveiled the new tracks “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” to show support for their ancestral homeland of Armenia and its neighboring state Artsakh, which have been under attack by Azerbaijan and Turkey. At the time, Dolmayan alluded to his political differences with Tankian, stating, “No matter how we feel about each other, no matter what issues linger from the past, we need to put them aside because this is bigger than System of a Down and bigger than all of us …. We need to do something to support our people.”
On Sunday, Dolmayan shared a graphic of Trump with the words, “He’s fought for us since day one. Now it’s time to fight for him.” He added his own comments in the caption, which read as follows:
“If the will of the American people is that Joe Biden is president then so be it but only if he achieved this without fraud or collusion. This president has been under attack for nearly five years by all media both social and otherwise along with massive corporations and the lifelong politicians who have been actively attacking him since he decided to run. Why? He dealt with a worldwide pandemic crisis and a total shutdown of the economy perpetuated and instigated by his opponents in the hopes that our economy would crash and that he would be blamed. Massive violent protests (they will go away if Biden is elected) that were most certainly instigated by his opposition to destabilize our nation and erode trust in our system. If Biden wins all of these protests will disappear and there will be a quick end to the pandemic, don’t fall for it. You will probably never see another non politician run for this office again, that is our loss. This election is not over nor should it be without complete transparency.”
While Dolmayan showed his continued support for Trump, he did call out Republican Governor Chris Sununu, who just won re-election in New Hampshire. The drummer shared a graphic that suggests Sununu has ties to a mining company that will benefit from Azerbaijan’s attempted takeover of Artsakh. “If you follow the money you’ll always find the root of all conflicts,” wrote Dolmayan.
Tankian recently admitted his frustration with Dolmayan over the drummer’s pro-Trump rhetoric, but ultimately said their shared support of Armenia creates a strong bond between the bandmates. “Is it frustrating being politically opposite to your own drummer and brother-in-law? F**k yeah. Of course it’s frustrating,” Tankian told Forbes. “But that’s having to do with American politics. When it comes to Armenian issues, we’re on the same exact page.”
System of a Down’s new songs “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” are available digitally via Amazon and Bandcamp, or physically via the band’s merch site. Proceeds from the songs will benefit Artsakh and Armenia in their conflict with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
See John Dolmayan’s aforementioned Instagram posts below.
