Testament’s Alex Skolnick Implores Voters to Boot Out Donald Trump from Office

With the U.S. presidential election now less than a month and a half away, a number of notable metal and hard rock musicians are chiming in publicly with their political beliefs with added urgency. The latest: Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick.

In a post to Instagram along with a photo of himself wearing a shirt from NerdsVote, a get-out-the-vote initiate led by a group of cosplayers and gamers, Skolnick shared his opinion that voting Donald Trump out of power is imperative, calling his administration “hateful” and lamenting the president’s recent statements indicating he would not submit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.

The statement reads in full:

“Thank you @nerdsvote for the cool t-shirt!
If you hate thoughts on politics, please read no further (it’s on you if you choose otherwise)

“There’s a Presidential election coming up, not sure if you’ve heard? (I’m kidding. That shouldn’t have to be spelled out, but here we are). I’ve been relatively quite considering the fires that are going on (literally & figuratively), doing 90%+ music-related, non-political posts. Yet that’s still too much for some, so a warning: A few more such posts may be coming between now & the election.

“A common complaint by characters such as the ever-ranting Don Jr: “These entertainer types are trying to tell us how to think!!” (Hey @donaldjtrumpjr: Stop being a f-cking snowflake). No one is telling you how to think. It’s more like this “Here’s how I feel based on real world thoughts & experiences, not someone yelling on TV. If it’s not asking too much may you consider a different point of view?” Let’s stop the name calling & accusations that so many do. Honest question: Are you “conservative” and afraid of “radical” ideas? Well here’s the most radical concept there is: Refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event of an election loss. That is RADICAL & HATEFUL OF AMERICA.

“Those who agree with me on this include more conservative/pro-2nd Amendment folks crossing party lines (at least on the top of the ticket, for POTUS) than ever before in history. Imagine if things were reversed? Suppose you had this many Democrat-leaning folks running for the hills from the current Dem POTUS, 99.9% of the Dem party in fear of saying anything our Prez might not agree with for fear of an angry tweet storm & riled up constituents?? If that were the case, I promise you I’d be proudly voting Republican this one time. Yet this IS what’s happening, only the other way around.

“Therefore I believe it’s more urgent than ever we vote out the one who expresses that view & not vote for anyone who supports him. Please don’t give me a “But…” “What about…” “It’s BOTH sides” No. No no no. Just no If you use an out of context quote to make a point, you have no point. Ok. Rant over???? So: ARE YOU REGISTERED 2 #VOTE? @nerdsvote can help!”