The Bad Penny (beta)

Palm Ghosts’ Joseph Lekkas was all smiles when The Bad Penny caught up with him a little under a year ago. We connected with the bassist/singer in his residence via video conference call, and he was surrounded by his trio of devastatingly adorable dachshunds. Additionally, his long-running Nashville band, Palm Ghosts, were giddily on the verge of releasing new songs.

Fast-forward to roughly a month ago, when we checked in again with Lekkas and Palm Ghosts bandmate Benjamin Douglas (vocals, guitar, keyboards). We immediately noticed that they were burned out emotionally – and likely spiritually and physically as well – thanks to the terror that the Evil Empire Trump Administration is inflicting on the American public.

The first nine months of the president’s second term are most forthrightly described as debilitating for the vast majority of Americans. Artists, who tend to be more sensitive and attuned to their surroundings and how the world works, are also finding that, like the East Wing of the White House that Trump destroyed, rebuilding is going to require all hands on the proverbial deck.

“It’s not like I’m Tom Morello, sharing viewpoints all the time about politics,” Lekkas clarified. He then posited a sad-but-true statement that he’s considered for many months, if not years: “Nobody [particularly in the U.S.] even cares really about what anybody’s saying artistically,” he remarked in blunt, hard-to-refute fashion.

“[Even] with 7 million people going on the street [at the No Kings 2 protests on Oct. 18], it doesn’t even make a dent, and nobody even cares,” Lekkas continued, as Douglas nodded in agreement. “[The federal government] just keeps taking stuff away. Members of Congress can get up there in the chamber and complain or shut the government down, but [at the end of the day,] Trump does what he wants.”

Check out these recent installments of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series:

• Relaxed Rocksteady Blokes Big Special Get Hammered While Hammering Out Views on MAGA, Farage and Autocracy

• Charlie Nieland on How LGBTQ+ Artists Can Push Back Against ICE, MAGA

• With Authoritarian Takeover Now Complete in U.S., ‘We’re Just Focusing on Survival,’ Queer Artist Nic Pugh of Midniter Says

• Moonspell Vocalist Says Colonialism Caused Gaza Crisis but That Democracy Can Be Restored After Fascist Rule

• Off-Duty Cop Reportedly Pepper-Sprays Teen at Turnstile Concert

This entry was posted on 11/18/2025 at 12:04 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, Joseph Lekkas, On Tyranny, Palm Ghosts, trump, tyranny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.