Kiss co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — who will be among this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients after Donald Trump‘s takeover and populist revamping there — haven’t had much to say about the president during his second term. But before that, they were fairly vocal about Trump, with opinions from Simmons, who competed on the Trump-hosted Celebrity Apprentice in 2008, notably shifting over time. (Former guitarist Ace Frehley, for what it’s worth, said he was a Trump supporter in 2020.) Here’s what Simmons and Stanley had to say over the years about Trump, who’s hosting the event himself.
Gene Simmons
March 2016: Simmons predicts Trump’s victory in a Rolling Stone interview, while stopping short of declaring his support. “He is the truest political animal I’ve ever seen onstage,” Simmons says. “He has no speechwriters, no editing, no nothing. He’s actually on tape going ‘motherfucker.’ You cannot turn away… He has said some very vile, unkind things. But don’t kid yourself. He speaks off the cuff, and what you see is what you get. And he’ll double down. If you ask him about building a wall [between the U.S. and Mexico] he’ll say, ‘Fuck you, I’m going to make it 10 feet higher, just because you asked me.’ He’s not there to be your friend…. He’s good for the political system.”
July 2016: Simmons calls Trump a “legitimate, upstanding guy” and a “straight shooter” on CNN, while acknowledging Trump had been “ungentlemanly” and was “better and smarter” than some of his worst comments.
September 2017: After Kiss turns down an invitation to play Trump’s inauguration. Simmons tells The Daily Beast, “In this polarizing era, it’s not a good idea.”
September 2017: “Whether somebody likes it or not, he’s the duly-elected president and I think you have to respect the presidency,” Simmons tells Rolling Stone. Asked if he thinks Trump is doing a good job, he replies, “not yet.”
May 2018: Simmons defends some Trump policies, including moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem plans to build a border wall. “The Vatican has a big wall around it for the same reason,” he tells CNBC. “They want to find out who’s coming in there.”
July 2019: “Politics has forever changed,” Trump tells Good Morning Britain. “Whether you like it or not, this president has changed it.” He describes Trump as “a New York streetfighter” and says “Earth has never been in better shape… Unemployment in the United States is the lowest it’s been in 50 years.”
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January 2021: Simmons counters Trump’s election fraud claims on his Twitter account, posting: “60 courts in various states and 60 Judges (including Pres Trump appointed Judges) UNANIMOUSLY, and without exception, dismissed ALL allegations of a rigged election..and that Includes Trump appointed US Attorney General Bill Barr!!!”
August 2021: Simmons tells Yahoo he strongly supports Covid-19 vaccines and says precautions like masks “should be a law.” He suggests the Trump Administration bears some blame for the pandemic. “The gentleman who was in office, the former president, I knew before the political world. It’s the same person I knew before; the stripes of a tiger don’t change. And the unfortunate thing is that, look, we all lie to some extent, but what happened in the last four years was just beyond anything I ever thought imaginable for people who have lots of power — not just him, but the administration, everybody…. all these QAnon people.”
May 2022: “Look what that gentleman [Trump] did to this country and the polarization — got all the cockroaches to rise to the top,” Simmons tells Spin. “Once upon a time, you were embarrassed to be publicly racist and out there with conspiracy theories. Now it’s all out in the open because he allowed it… I don’t think he’s a Republican or a Democrat. He’s out for himself, any way you can get there. And in the last election, over 70 million people bought it hook, line and sinker.”
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November 2022: When Bill Maher says that Trump doesn’t understand how the U.S. government functions, Simmons says: “I agree. The person that I saw first coming into power is not the person I saw within a year or two of that… But I changed, the way lots of people changed.”
Paul Stanley
August 2020: “REGARDLESS of who you support, it is incendiary & abhorrent for ANY candidate to say ‘If I lose, the election is rigged,’” Stanley tweets. “It’s an insult to those who have fought for the free, safe elections we have and dangerously implies that citizens who don’t share your views are the enemy.”
September 2020: Responding to Trump’s Twitter attacks on various targets, Stanley tweets, “Controversy… Is this what a president should be doing in the morning? Is it presidential? No opinion from me. I’m asking YOU! Tell me.”
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January 2021: Stanley condemns Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find 11,780 votes”: “This is ABHORRENT. A true danger to our democracy. The issue isn’t that it WON’T work. It’s Mob Boss behavior and politicians putting party over audits, investigations, court rulings & COUNTRY in an effort to overrule the will of American voters.”
January 2021: Stanley tweets an unequivocal response the January 6 attack on the capitol: “These are TERRORISTS. This is armed insurrection. The flames were fanned today & over time by the president & specific senators who CANNOT be allowed now to distance from or denounce what they have directly caused. Know their names. THIS is the result of their deception. Shame.”November 2024: Stanley is conciliatory after Trump’s second presidential victory. “If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” he tweets. “There will be no building bridges to those you don’t agree with by being condescending, insulting, talking AT them or removing yourself. If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”
