Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste, Outspoken Bernie Sanders Supporter, Backs Hillary Clinton

During the Democratic presidential primary elections, Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste was an unwavering supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. In the spring, Droste campaigned at Columbia University and NYU on Sanders’ behalf. Grizzly Bear also performed at one of his rallies in Brooklyn. At the show, they modified the lyrics to “Knife,” so Droste sang “can’t you feel the Bern?” In June, after Hillary Clinton sealed the Democratic nomination and Sanders left the race, Droste joined fellow Sanders supporter Ezra Koenig on his Beats 1 show to discuss life after Bernie. At the time, he said voting for Clinton was “a tough trigger to pull,” but conceded that he does not advocate voter abstention “even if you’re not excited about the candidate.”

Following last night’s presidential debate between Clinton and Republic nominee Donald Trump, Droste has voiced his support for Hillary Clinton, declaring “#imwithher” in a post on his Instagram. He praised her “grace and restraint” during the debate, calling her a “GOD” compared to Trump, whom he called “disgusting,” as well as a “racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic hate monger.” He continued that voting for him or a third party candidate is “essentially enabling the dismantling of rights and oppression of all POC, LGBTQ people and WOMEN.” Droste admitted that he will always love Sanders and disagrees with Clinton on certain issues, but he said “she is strong” and “what we need.” Read Ed Droste’s full note below. Scroll down for Droste’s reaction to the first debate.

Many musicians have declared their opposition to Donald Trump in recent months. The White Stripes have been selling “Icky Trump” t-shirts after a pro-Trump video that uses one of their songs surfaced. Kanye West producer Mike Dean sampled Trump’s lewd 2005 comments on a new track aimed against the candidate. YG’s latest album Still Brazy includes the song “FDT” (short for “Fuck Donald Trump”), and he recruited Macklemore and G-Eazy for its remix; YG also beat up a Trump piñata at a concert. The Roots mocked Trump on “Fallon.” Arcade Fire’s Win Butler bashed Trump in a recent lecture. Bruce Springsteen dedicated a song to an anti-Trump concertgoer. And like YG, Neil Young told Donald Trump, “fuck you.”

This human is disgusting. If I need to spell it out for you, you aren’t paying attention. Nobody is perfect, including me. But I will say I could never demonstrate the grace and restraint that @hillaryclinton displayed tonight against this racist, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic hate monger …. I would have SCREAMED! She is not perfect, and I have been critical and will continue to be when she is elected to hold her accountable for her recent turn left. That said, you CANNOT compare the two. She doesn’t deserve to have to endure debating with this asshole. She is a woman and is hated for that. Look at her behavior compared to most of his. She is GOD compared to this Donald mess…. I love @berniesanders and will always ….but you know what? I’m an adult and I see what’s happening right now and it’s frightening. #imwithher ….and don’t you even try to shame me for coming around to the options we have. I don’t love everything about her, but she is strong and she is right now, in our current situation, what we need. If you choose trump, or frankly third party (of which I wish we had more viable options) you are essentially enabling the dismantling of rights and oppression of all POC, LGBTQ people and WOMEN, and that is NOT ACCEPTABLE TO ME. (Ps. @ivankatrump , I know you follow me, how can you defend this? Please? )

A photo posted by Ed Droste (@edroste) on Oct 9, 2016 at 8:19pm PDT

Say what you want, but post debate, it’s just beyond a no-brainer that Clinton is the only real presidential candidate in the running.

— Grizzly Bear (@grizzlybear) September 27, 2016

Trump is a fear mongering, racist horror show, and his ignorance TRULY showed tonight.

— Grizzly Bear (@grizzlybear) September 27, 2016

Can you imagine voting for someone who arbitrarily in a presidential debate decided to attack Rosie O’Donnell? A true JOKE. LOL #dumptrump

— Grizzly Bear (@grizzlybear) September 27, 2016

Watch Grizzly Bear perform “I Live With You” for Pitchfork.tv:

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