Trey Radel, GOP Rep., Says Public Enemy's Lyrics Are Just Like the Republican Party Platform

Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" is often regarded as an anthem for fighting against abuse of authority. On Wednesday, Republican Florida Congressman Trey Radel professed of the song that, "really, if you really get down to it, in many ways reflects the conservative message."

In the online interview with Trey Radel, a Now This News interviewer asks whether there is a particular lyric or a song that would accurately explain how Radel feels about "the situation in Washington," to which he laughs and responds "the first one that I would have to refer to would be 'Fight the Power' by Public Enemy." Moments later, Radel becomes seriously confident in his belief that if you "get down" to the message of the song, it perfectly echoes the conservative message. He also claims that while he and Chuck D of Public Enemy might not agree on "certain philosophies of government," that "at the end of the day — and this is where I take my love of hip hop music — where there have been issues and problems with either heavy handed law enforcement ... or heavy handed government itself."

Watch the interview below:

The slew of mockery and critical comments of his artistic politicking is all over the place. There are the expected criticisms that come along with the territory, due largely to the perception that because he likes "Fight the Power" he imagines himself as part of some sort of oppressed minority. Still, if music is for the listener to interpret and if Radel can even slightly convincingly stretch the message of his hip-hop idols as a fine reflection of his conservative values, than maybe he's more creative than he’s getting credit for. Creative enough to enjoy making electro-housey hip-hop beats at home.