Musicians—at least the good ones—can teach you a lot. Back in 2018, one of them even taught me how the US government works.
We skipped over the whole executive-branch-legislative-branch-judicial-branch nonsense and got straight to the point.
He—Jack White—told me to take two minutes and listen to the first three lines of his song.
“It might not make sense now, but it will,” he said. (Note: This conversation is completely fabricated.)
And now, almost seven years later, it does.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
The A-Side
In 2023, a representative from Minnesota took the bold move of stating the obvious—the president’s age was a concern.
He called for others to run against the president in primary elections.
“My convictions relative to the 2024 presidential race are incongruent with the majority of my caucus…,” he stated.
Eventually, he opted to himself challenge the president in the primaries.
Of course, he had to fight via the court system to even be included on primary ballots, and his presidential bid went nowhere fast.
Months later, the president did indeed step aside after age-related concerns went from speculative to conspicuous.
As of 2025, the representative from Minnesota will no longer be in politics.
The B-Side
In 2020, the 45th president of the US lost his bid for reelection.
Rather than accept defeat, he invented a story about election fraud.
He filed 62 lawsuits and lost 61.
The Supreme Court—stacked in his favor—dismissed a case called Texas v. Pennsylvania.
The president later called the Secretary of State of Georgia requesting the fabrication of 11,780 votes.
He even oversaw the creation of false slates of electors to challenge the actual slates.
When none of these efforts worked, he asked his vice president to refuse to certify the election results.
Meanwhile, he incited a mob to storm the Capitol Building and threaten his vice president, who had opted instead to fulfill his constitutional duty.
Five people died.
Thereafter, a representative from Wyoming—of the same political party as the president—helped chair a committee that showed the American people what had happened.
As of 2024, the representative from Wyoming and the vice president are no longer in politics.
The 45th president is preparing to be the 47th president.
And that’s how the US government works.
Who’s with me?
