For years, Serj Tankian’s left-leaning beliefs clashed with his System of a Down bandmate and brother-in-law John Dolmayan’s MAGA-leaning social posts, but now the singer believes that the drummer’s support for President Trump has waned.
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In a new interview with Rolling Stone Italy, when the topic came up about the political differences between the members of System of a Down, Tankian shed new light on Dolmayan’s current stance on the Trump administration:
“First of all, I don’t want to speak for John about his political views; that wouldn’t be fair. I can say that the verb ‘was’ [a Trump supporter] is correct. I can’t say for sure that it still is. I think he, too, got tired of Trump, like many others. Do differences make things more difficult? Of course. But there are also many points on which we agree. And John isn’t just my drummer, he’s also my brother-in-law. So it’s even more complicated. Our children are together all the time. They’re cousins. We see each other at family gatherings. That part is complicated.
But I’m certainly not the only person in the world who has a brother-in-law with different political views. It happens to a lot of people. Yet that doesn’t stop us from doing what we truly do: loving each other. We share so many things: our origins, our Armenian identity, our culture, our music, and everything we’ve built together over thirty years. And that carries a lot of weight. Yes, it’s difficult at times. But times change. Opinions change.
I’ll tell you one thing: before Trump, John voted for Barack Obama. I don’t even know if he says it publicly, but it’s true. People change. I know so many Armenians in Los Angeles who voted for Trump and now regret it. That’s all I can say. In fact, I’ll add something else. If you look at how much the United States has invested in education from 1980, when Reagan became president, until 2026, that explains everything.”
Back in 2021, at the height of Dolmayan’s pro-Trump social posts, Heavy Consequence caught up with Tankian, who told us at the time, “I love and respect John very much, but I don’t love and respect his American political views. And that’s fine. And I can live with that and he can live with that because we respect and care for each other.”
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During Trump’s first term. Tankian called for the end of his regime, while Dolmayan defended the president as “the greatest friend to minorities” while calling Democrats the “true bigots” when it comes to race relations in the United States.
In early 2025, Dolmayan even praised Trump’s second election, saying, “I’m glad he won, because it brings a little sanity back. Irrespective of what you hear out there, it’s much more sane with him than it was without him.”
However, Dolmayan’s Instagram page has avoided political messaging over the past year, as his posts have mostly been devoted to happenings within System of a Down.
Meanwhile, System of a Down recently announced an early 2027 tour of Australia and New Zealand, on which they’ll be sharing the bill with Faith No More, who will be playing their first shows in more than a decade. SOAD are also set to headline the Sick New World fest in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 24th of this year (pick up tickets here).