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Journey Isn't Playing the GOP Convention, But...

by Seth Millstein

Republican officials who like belting out “Don’t Stop Believin'” received some bad news on Friday: The Republican National Committee has not signed Journey to play at its national convention. Earlier reports suggested that the GOP had booked the '80s rock band to play a post-convention bash in Cleveland, but the RNC has denied these reports. But Republicans shouldn’t fret — there are plenty of other musicians who might be open to playing at Donald Trump’s coronation in July.

Politico reported Thursday that Journey would be playing at an RNC-sponsored event right after the national convention, and that the RNC had ponied up a half a million dollars to make it happen. This wasn’t a particularly crazy notion — after all, Journey did play the Republican National Convention in 2012. However, the RNC denies having been involved in any such deal, even though the Politico piece still claims the opposite is true.

Nevertheless, if Republicans really do want to book a musical act to celebrate Trump’s wholesale destruction of the party, they still have some options. Although there aren’t that many notable musicians who support Trump, there are a couple. Let’s take a look at some of the acts who might conceivably take a call from Reince Priebus when it’s time to schedule the convention’s entertainment portion.

Kid Rock

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The self-styled American Badass says that he’s “digging Trump,” because the country should “let the motherf***ing business guy run [the country] like a f***ing business.”

Aaron Carter

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The former kid singer endorsed Trump, though he’s spent more time defending himself against the subsequent backlash than actually articulating his reasons for supporting Trump.

Tila Tequila

Although her forays into music have been limited, the star of Tila Tequila’s Shot At Love might be a good choice to play the RNC — she supports Trump because the Donald, like her, is an anti-vaxxer.

Ted Nugent

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It’s no surprise that the man who once called President Obama a “subhuman mongrel” thinks President Trump would “kick ass and take names” from the White House.

Azealia Banks

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The controversial rapper tweeted that “Donald trump [sic] is evil like America is evil and in order for America to keep up with itself it needs him.” That doesn’t sound like an endorsement, but Banks says she’s voting for the Donald in November.

Wayne Newton

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The Las Vegas showman says that Trump “would make a great president” — although he also said Jeb Bush would be “an incredible president,” which would probably put him at odds with the party’s nominee.

Loretta Lynn

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The country singer said that Trump is “the only one who’s going to turn this country around." The fact that President Obama himself awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom would make this a pretty good coup for Republicans.