Natalie Maines of the country music icons The Chicks issued a blistering, foul-mouthed rant about President Donald Trump on Instagram on Monday, in which she called him a 'fugly slut' and warned that 'Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes.'
The 51-year-old singer, who was one of the earliest victims of so-called 'cancel culture,' delivered her tirade 23 years after she said on stage that her band, then known as The Dixie Chicks, was ashamed of former President George W. Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq. That political outburst led the trio to be banned from thousands of country music stations and sparked a wave of death threats.
Maines kicked off her post with an official portrait of Trump grimly staring into the camera, one eyebrow raised, standing in front of an American flag. 'Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes,' she began. 'This fugly slut is using your gas money to pay the insurrectionists,' she continued, seemingly alluding both to Trump's war in Iran, which has caused a massive hike in gas prices, and to a controversial deal he struck with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund that Democrats and ethics experts have fiercely criticized.
'But don't worry about it. I'm sure posting selfies will fix everything,' Maines added. The 'Ready To Run' singer also alleged that her 'last post that called [Trump] a fugly slut got removed. We'll see how long this one lasts.' She concluded by urging followers to share her post to 'help the message live,' and referenced Representative Jamie Raskin's claim that his search for 'Trump' in a database of unredacted files relating to Jeffrey Epstein garnered over one million search results. Maines added hashtags for 'democracy,' 'freespeech' and 'fugly slut.'
Her fury appears to have been sparked by news that the president, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against the Treasury and IRS in the Southern District of Florida in response to the leak of their tax returns. In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, the IRS agreed to create a $1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund,' which will issue formal apologies and provide monetary relief to claimants. The fund will be governed by a five-member commission appointed by the Attorney General, who was appointed by Trump. Trump will also have the power to remove any member. While Trump is technically barred from directly receiving payments, entities associated with him are not explicitly prohibited from filing additional claims.
The settlement drew immediate fury from Democrats, including Senate Finance Committee member Ron Wyden, who called it 'a stunning act of corruption' and 'a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion.'
Maines' criticism of the current president comes more than two decades after she attacked George W. Bush for the start of the second Iraq War. 'Just so you know, we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,' she said on stage at a London concert. Her comments and the backlash led to a rapid commercial decline for The Chicks. Maines subsequently issued an apology for her remarks, but in 2006 she rescinded it. 'I don't feel that way anymore,' she told Time. 'I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever.'
The Dixie Chicks later shortened their name to just The Chicks in June 2020, following years of criticism over the connections 'Dixie' has to the history of slavery in the US. The group claimed they had wanted to change 'that stupid name' for years after they settled on it while still in their teens.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Trump administration and The Chicks for comment.
