The Televised Revolution

“The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” – Kendrick Lamar (New Orleans, February 9, 2025)

“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” – Donald J. Trump (Truth Social, February 15, 2025)

I consider myself a decent student of American history and a terrible interpreter of hip-hop music, but here goes anyway.

Last Sunday, while watching the Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Kendrick Lamar, I recognized that the artistry on stage was communicating more than I understood. I was somewhat aware of the Kendrick v. Drake feud and that part of the performance concerned the former’s accusation of the latter’s possible relationships with underage girls (which is denied), but introducing Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam and dancers forming the American flag signified much more than an artist feud. After considerable reading, learning, and reflecting, I have come to believe that the message from the Pulitzer-Prize-winning artist is both profound and sobering.

The message? We are experiencing an actual political revolution.

At the beginning of the performance, while standing on top of a Buick and in reference to a poem by Gil Scott-Heron in 1970, Lamar said: “The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” The original poet had written “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and later explained his meaning, i.e., that true change originates in one’s mind, but Lamar flipped the script and left his lyrics for our interpretation.

I buy the following interpretation: We are watching a political revolution unfold, and although revolution might be called for, we picked the wrong revolutionary.

Maybe it is just me, but I had always imagined that a government overthrow involved guns and tanks, but it makes sense that a revolution can occur even through a peaceful transfer of power. We are now living through the subsequent dismantling of a government.

What many anti-Trumpers struggle to see is that many MAGA supporters either want the government destroyed or don’t mind that it is. It simply makes sense that those desiring to upend a constitutional system aren’t overly concerned if an action is unconstitutional. And lawsuits over checks and balances don’t mean much if you really don’t care about the checks and balances in the first place.

Whether MAGA fully appreciates the ramifications is beside the point. The reality is that a point exists where one despises government so much that its reform is uninteresting. 

Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social yesterday is telling: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” He pinned it to the top of his page for emphasis, and I suspect that he is well aware of its association with Napoleon Bonaparte, who came to power in the French Revolution. Regardless, it suggests himself as an American savior who stands above the law that governs the nation.

What we are seeing unfold is fundamentally different from your typical debate between a conservative form of American government and a liberal form of American government. There have absolutely been power grabs before, but none that look like this, and the others, when rebuffed, have retreated under the veil of respect for the rule of law and our system of government.

The revolution is frightening for the groups that the revolution intends to marginalize, of course,  but it is also concerning for many more that do not know what an American government unmoored from constitutional checks and balances might be.

For those that desired revolution, their joy is logical, but it will be depressing for other supporters who may come to see that their beliefs, fears, and/or prejudices were played by an impressive propaganda machine to overturn rather than reform a system of government—and allow a small group of people to acquire immense power and wealth for themselves.

I am particularly disturbed by the  professed devotion to the flag and the public oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I am convinced that what we are witnessing is an upending of that Constitution and the flag that has heretofore represented an imperfect but unique form of government.

I am not unequivocally devoted to the American style of government, nor am I opposed to nonviolent, revolutionary change. In fact, I desire revolutionary change for the poor and marginalized in this nation and around the world. But if I heard him correctly, I happen to agree with Kendrick Lamar. We picked the right time, but the wrong person.