Dropkick Murphys: “MAGA Got Played”
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project
4.6 • 9.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump didn’t speak for the working class—he played it. In this episode, Rick Wilson sits down with Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey to unpack how Trump’s brand of fake populism conned millions of working Americans while delivering power, tax cuts, and protection to billionaires and authoritarians. Rick and Ken break down how grievance replaced policy, how MAGA culture turned resentment into a loyalty test, and why the people waving the biggest flags ended up getting sold out first. Then they flip the script: punk rock as an early warning system, a working-class truth teller, and a loud, unapologetic form of resistance to fascism, cult politics, and manufactured outrage. This isn’t about music nostalgia—it’s about class consciousness, propaganda, and why real resistance has never come from strongmen at the top, but from people willing to call bullsh*t, turn up the volume, and refuse to be fooled again.
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You can find Ken Casey at dropkickmurphys.com. Check out their website for tour information and details on their upcoming album! Their updated song "Citizen ICE" is out now.
Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I like to sum it up by just saying for all of them, check the hard drive. |
| 0:04.0 | You know what I mean? |
| 0:06.3 | Check the hard drive. |
| 0:07.9 | I'd like to know what the hell they're watching at night on their phones, you know? |
| 0:12.2 | Your task will not be an easy one. |
| 0:14.5 | Your enemy is well trained, well equipped in battlehardt. |
| 0:18.4 | There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. |
| 0:22.0 | There is the United States of America. |
| 0:26.9 | Good night. |
| 0:27.8 | And good luck. |
| 0:28.8 | Hey, folks, it's Rick Wilson. |
| 0:30.0 | Welcome to 2026. |
| 0:31.5 | And welcome to the Lincoln Project podcast. |
| 0:34.4 | Delighted to be joined today by Ken Casey from the Dropkick Murphys for 30 years they've |
| 0:39.1 | been making kickass uh you can i don't even know how to describe it it's Celtic it's folk |
| 0:45.2 | it's rock it's the whole thing um but you guys have been on the stage now for like 30 years and |
| 0:51.4 | like making a real musical punch for for as long as I can remember. |
| 0:57.7 | And I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. |
| 1:00.6 | It's great to be on here, a big fan of your work as well. |
| 1:03.3 | And it's nice to talk to you. |
| 1:05.3 | Likewise. Likewise. |
| 1:06.2 | So let me start out because, you know, you guys did the song First Class Loser, |
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