Political views Nugent is a vocal supporter of the
Republican Party and various associated
conservative causes, particularly
gun rights and
hunter's rights. He is a supporter of President
Donald Trump and has made a number of statements critical of former President
Barack Obama, one of which was perceived as potentially threatening and led to Nugent being investigated by the
Secret Service. in Scottsdale, Arizona In addition to Nugent's support of Trump, he also endorsed
Mitt Romney for president and
Joe Arpaio for
Sheriff of Maricopa County, in the
2012 U.S. elections. He also worked as the treasurer and co-chairman for
Sid Miller's 2014 campaign for
Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Despite his support of Republicans, he has been critical of several Republican politicians, stating during the
2008 presidential election that
John McCain was "catering to a growing segment of soulless Americans who care less what they can do for their country, but whine louder and louder about what their country must do for them." He also clashed in 2014 with
Jay Dean, then the mayor of
Longview, Texas and an incoming Republican member of the
Texas House of Representatives after Dean moved to cancel Nugent's scheduled appearance at the Longview Independence Day concert. Dean said that he finds Nugent's music unsuitable for family-oriented audiences on July 4. Longview hence paid Nugent $16,000, half of the amount he had been promised, to drop him from the concert. Nugent in turn called Dean "racist" and "clueless, dishonest and one of the bad guys."
Animal rights Nugent, an opponent of
animal rights, said in a long interview, "I'm stymied to come up with anything funnier than people who think animals have rights. Just stick an arrow through their lungs." In a 1992 radio interview, Nugent referred to Heidi Prescott of the Fund for Animals as a "worthless whore" and a "shallow slut", asking "who needs to club a seal, when you can club Heidi?" He was ordered by a court to pay Prescott $75,000. In 2000, Bhaskar Sinha was jailed briefly following an incident outside a department store in San Francisco in which he threatened and physically assaulted Nugent, who in turn took Sinha into custody until
San Francisco Police arrived and arrested the protester. However, protesters claim that Nugent started the altercation by spitting in the face of one of the protesters when offered an anti-fur flyer. A San Francisco police officer, who stated that he was on the scene, said that he did not believe Nugent spat on anyone. Nugent has reportedly received death threats against him and his family from animal rights activists. On the ''
Penn & Teller's Bullshit!'' episode about
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Nugent said, "We've got reports and files with law enforcement across America where the animal rights extremists are on record threatening to kill my children on the way to school because we eat pheasant." Nugent defended
Kid Rock, a fellow musician and hunter, when he killed a
mountain lion in January 2015, calling the people who targeted Rock "braindead squawkers" and that Rock did good by keeping predator numbers low and helping the deer population, which is vital for hunting. In July 2015, Nugent referred to people outraged over the
killing of Cecil the lion as "stupid". Nugent owns a 340-acre hunting ranch near
Jackson, Michigan, called Sunrize Acres. Anti-hunters claim this fenced facility offers
"canned" hunts. Nugent has said, "I understand the criticism from those who say canned hunting violates the ethic of
fair chase", though he still operates the facility and refers to it as "high fence hunting". In April 2012, Nugent agreed to a
plea deal to plead guilty to transporting an illegally killed
American black bear in
Alaska. His sentence included two years of probation, a prohibition on hunting and fishing in Alaska and on any U.S. Forest Service lands for one year and a fine of $10,000 and he was required to produce and broadcast at his own expense a 30–60 second Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the responsibilities of hunters. The judge in the case, Michael A. Thompson (Alaska), admitted in court that he had never heard of the law in which Nugent was charged. Nugent explained his side of the situation in an interview with Deer & Deer Hunting. Nugent's views on animal rights have prompted criticism from fellow musicians such as
Paul McCartney and
John Feldmann. Feldmann wrote a song for his band
Goldfinger, titled "Fuck Ted Nugent", on their album
Open Your Eyes.
Civil rights Nugent's views have been considered racist by some. In an interview in 1990, a few months after the release of
Nelson Mandela during the
negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, Nugent stated, "apartheid isn't that cut-and-dry. All men are not created equal." He described black South Africans as "a different breed of man" who "still put bones in their noses, they still walk around naked, they wipe their butts with their hands". In November 2008, coinciding with the election of Barack Obama as America's first black president, Nugent appeared on
The Political Cesspool, a
white nationalist radio show. In 2012, he stated, "I'm beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the
South won the
Civil War." Nugent is also a staunch critic of
Black Lives Matter, stating "Black Lives [Matter] don't give a shit about Black lives" and that they are a "terrorist organization". During an interview with
Piers Morgan in 2011, Nugent was asked if he would mind if one of his children came out as gay, saying "Not at all ... I'm repulsed at the concept of man-on-man sex, I think it's against nature. I think it's strange as hell, but if that's what you are, I love you. I'm not going to judge another's morals. I say live and let live. I have friends that are gay."
Environmentalism Nugent has stated, "You have to have shit for brains to believe this
global warming bullshit" and said people "have to be mentally ill to believe in electric vehicles". At a 2009
West Virginia rally, sponsored in part by the coal extracting company
Massey Energy, Nugent "defended
mountaintop removal mining", according to reporters on the scene. "On behalf of the Nugent family, I say, start up the bulldozers and get me some more coal, Massey", Nugent was recorded as saying. Nugent was a vocal opponent of a
proposition to reintroduce gray wolves into Colorado passed in 2020. He urged Colorado citizens to vote against the proposition, which had widespread support from environmental groups.
Foreign policy In 2004, while entertaining U.S. troops during the
Iraq War, Nugent visited
Saddam Hussein's former war room. He commented on Iraq, "Our failure has been not to
Nagasaki them." In addition to Iraq, Nugent has
criticized Islamic-run countries as a whole, calling
Islam a "voodoo religion" that "believes in world domination". While speaking at a rally for Donald Trump in 2023, Nugent shouted in regard to American support of
Ukraine in the
Russia-Ukraine War, "I want my money back, I didn't authorize any money to Ukraine, to
some homosexual weirdo."
Gun rights Nugent is an advocate of the
right to bear arms, and served on the board of directors of the
National Rifle Association (NRA). He has said "If it was up to me, if you uttered the word 'gun control,' we'd put you in jail." When interviewed by
Texas Monthly editor
Evan Smith in season 5 of
TexasMonthlyTalks, he said, "I would rather that the [victim of a violent crime] in Massachusetts last month who was taking her daughter to soccer when they were carjacked by a recidivist maggot, who had been in the prison system all his life but was let out again because we feel sorry for him, maybe he had a bad childhood – instead of her being hijacked and murdered, I'd rather she just shot the bastard dead... But in Massachusetts, somebody decided she can't do that. So she's dead. I would rather she was alive and the carjacker was dead." On July 9, 2010, Nugent was interviewed by
Alex Jones and criticized the latest policies issued by the
Obama administration and the
U.S. Supreme Court concerning gun policy. He claimed that rejecting the idea of the right to self-defense being expressed in the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which Nugent called "gun control" policies, is most likely to destroy American society. Nugent also claimed similar policies were the cause of the downfall of every society in human history. In 2016, Nugent posted an image on his Facebook page implying that Jews are behind the push for gun control. Nugent's rant sparked outrage and some called for his NRA resignation. In March 2018, Nugent criticized the survivors of the
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who became
gun control activists, calling them "mushy brained children" and stating that "the evidence is irrefutable: They have no soul." In June 2018, Nugent said that "evil, dishonesty and scam artists have always been around and that right now they're liberal, they're Democrat, they're
RINOs, they're Hollywood, they're fake news, they're media, they're academia and they're half of our government, at least ... There are rabid coyotes running around, you don't wait till you see one to go get your gun, keep your gun handy. And every time you see one, shoot one." On April 19, 2021, Nugent announced on Facebook that he had tested positive for
COVID-19, which he referred to as the "Chinese shit". He said, "I thought I was dying ... I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days." Nugent had refused to get the vaccine saying, "nobody knows what's in it", and had denied that the
COVID-19 pandemic was real. At a rally in Austin on April 29, 2023 (which focused on border security for Texas), a protester heckled at Nugent about the vaccine. Nugent responded by telling the person to "bring your needle up here, I'll shove it up your ass."
Obama administration Nugent was particularly critical of former President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, saying they "should be tried for treason & hung", among other comments directed towards them. On Facebook, he shared a video depiction of Clinton being shot by her
2016 Democratic presidential primary opponent,
Bernie Sanders, commenting "I got your gun control right here bitch." In 2012 he said of Obama, “He is an evil, dangerous man who hates America and hates freedom, and we need to fix this as soon as possible”. In January 2014, Nugent called Obama a "
communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel". That February, Nugent endorsed
Greg Abbott in the Republican primary election for
Texas Governor. Abbott, however, distanced himself from Nugent due to the "subhuman mongrel" comment, saying, "This is not the kind of language I would use or endorse in any way." After being further chastised about it by Senator
Rand Paul, Nugent apologized for the comment. However, when asked in April 2017 if he regretted his comments about Obama, he replied "No! I will never apologize for calling out evil people." On April 17, 2012, while campaigning for Obama's opponent,
Mitt Romney, at the 2012
NRA Convention, Nugent said, "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Nugent received a visit from the
Secret Service for these remarks. On February 12, 2013, Nugent attended the
State of the Union address given by President Obama. He was the guest of
U.S. Representative Steve Stockman of
Texas's 36th congressional district.
Donald Trump in April 2017 In February 2016, Ted Nugent praised Trump's
2016 Republican Presidential Primary opponent
Ted Cruz, stating "My dream would be if Ted Cruz became president tonight. I really admire Ted Cruz, on many levels." Nugent later
endorsed Donald Trump and during the last week of the
U.S. presidential election campaign performed at a number of Trump rallies in Michigan, including Trump's final campaign rally in
Grand Rapids. On April 19, 2017, alongside
Kid Rock and
Sarah Palin, Nugent had a "long-planned" visit at the White House. According to Nugent, the visit lasted four hours and was like "a family reunion." Nugent described it as "a wonderful personal tour of every room" followed by photo sessions and dinner with Trump.
Potential runs for office Referring to Michigan governor
Jennifer Granholm (in office 2003–2011), during performances he would frequently interject "Jennifer Granholm, kiss my ass" into his songs and shoot an arrow at her likeness. In a 2007 interview, in discussing running for governor of Michigan, he stated that Granholm "is not doing an ugly job, but as the perfect woman, she is scrotumless". Although Nugent has never run for government office, in the 2000s, he publicly speculated about doing so on several occasions. In May 2005, he announced he was "getting real close to deciding to run" for
governor of Michigan in 2006; while in 2007, he talked about running for that office in 2010. During the latter period, he stated, "Michigan was once a great state. Michigan was a state that rewarded the entrepreneur and the most productive, work-ethic families of the state. Now the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats are basically the state's babies." In a July 2013 interview with
The Washington Post, Nugent expressed interest in possibly running for President of the United States as a Republican in the
2016 election. He never sought the office. ==Band members==