The Chicks’ music career was nearly derailed after lead singer Natalie Maines dissed then-President George W. Bush over the Iraq war. Now she says she’d kiss the former POTUS when comparing him to Donald Trump.
One of the best things to ever happen to George W. Bush‘s presidential legacy is Donald Trump‘s current presidency. The Dixie Chicks — now known as just The Chicks — lead singer Natalie Maines believes that the Bush administration’s lies over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq seems lesser in comparison to the volume of lies that Trump tells. Despite saying “We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” in concert days before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Natalie now says she’d have a huge “love fest” with Bush today, because of where Trump has taken the country.
The Chicks appeared remotely on the July 21 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. The 52-year-old host read off a question from a viewer who wanted to know Texas-native Natalie’s “reaction to the backlash Ellen got last fall when she was sitting next to George W. Bush at a Cowboys game.” Daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, 62, posed with the 74-year-old conservative former president at a Cowboys game versus the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 6, 2019. She later responded to massive Twitter backlash by reminding everyone to be unconditionally kind to one another, regardless of political beliefs.
Andy asked “Did you follow that at all?” 45-year-old Natalie smiled and responded, “I did see that. You know I joke that today I might actually make out with George Bush.” Andy then inquired, “I was actually going to ask you that and I’m sure you’ve been asked before. But does the current president at least make you rethink at all your feelings for George W. Bush?”
Natalie replied, “Yes, I mean I don’t rethink that I didn’t want to go to war and that weapons of mass destruction were a lie,” she snarked. “But yes, it would be a huge love fest if I saw George Bush right now. Because of where we’re at with this current president.”
The Chicks’ career nearly imploded after the massive backlash following Natalie’s 2003 concert comment about then-President Bush. Fans turned against them as being unpatriotic, and many country radio stations stopped playing their songs. The aftermath was featured in the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. The trio released a successful album in 2006, Taking the Long Way, but it would be seven years before they hit the road touring again in 2013. They finally released their studio follow up album Gaslighter on July 17, 2020, 14 years after Taking the Long Way.