As Donald Trump prepares to return to Arizona for a campaign event on Thursday at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, the legendary singer herself criticized the former president for his “his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance.”
Taking to social media on Wednesday, Ronstadt lamented over Trump’s upcoming rally at her namesake in her hometown, Tucson. “I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something,” she wrote. “It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.”
The singer denounced the Trump administration for having “systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum” across the U.S. southern border, adding: “There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused.”
“Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico,” she continued. “I’m worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House.”
Ronstadt also announced that she would be “voting proudly” for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, while also throwing in a dig at Trump’s vice presidential pick J.D. Vance’s infamous “childless cat ladies” remarks.
The singer performed her final concert in 2009, several years after suffering the first symptoms of the incurable illness. Last year, she began to appear at spoken-word events, talking about her career and how her lifestyle has changed in the past decade.
“You have to have a life, but I have to be very selective about what I do,” Ronstadt told the San Francisco Chronicle in a new interview, noting that she was phasing out the medication she’d been given because of its side effects.
For Ronstadt, Mexican culture has always been a source of pride. She believes she managed to escape the scourge of internalized prejudice because of her light skin and German surname. (Ronstadt’s great-grandfather immigrated from Germany to Mexico in the 1800s). “People didn’t have a clue I was Mexican unless they grew up with me,” she said.”
“I knew it was something systemic,” she said of losing her singing abilities. “I knew it wasn’t age. Doctors looked at my larynx and said it was in perfect condition, that I had a teenage larynx.” Ronstadt wasn’t diagnosed until 2013, which was too late to mention it in her book, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, that was published that year.
“Brushing my teeth is the hardest thing I do all day,” she said. “I’m like a window washer without a safety harness. Of course, I have a hard time talking, and traveling is ridiculous. It’s just the nature of the beast.” Ronstadt added that she makes a point of working out regularly. “It’s important to push that signal through my brain," she explained. "It takes a lot of will.”
