In an interview with Billboard magazine, Voice star Blake Shelton appears to give a tacit endorsement of demagogue Donald Trump. Yuck.

“In country music, we’re so politically correct and so afraid to possibly upset someone,” he says. Recently a tea party website announced, “Blake Shelton Sides With Trump on Issues of Political Correctness,” dubiously trying to claim him for the right wing. Does the singer support Donald Trump? “I’m not going to have the political conversation with you about Trump, or about Hillary Clinton, but I will tell you this: Whether you love him or hate him, he says what he thinks, and he has proven that you don’t always have to be so afraid. A lot of people are pulling for him, no matter how much Hollywood fights it. I see people who don’t like him go and beat up people that do like him. You tell me, who’s crazy here?” Shelton, who says he will vote in November, adds, “I probably wish there was another option, but there’s not.”

Jezebel calls out Blake’s anti-PC stance for what it is: an audible dog whistle. “Blake Shelton, we fucking see you,” they say.

“Saying what he thinks” has, of course, been a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign boasts about himself. It rests on the idea that everyone has the same bigoted, Islamophobic, racist, woman-hating thoughts as Trump, but only he’s bold enough to say them aloud.

It’s not a hugely surprising stance for a wealthy white new-country star to agree with, but maybe don’t pretend like you’re doing something clever here, Shelton, or threading some kind of needle. It’s interesting, too, that Shelton would reference Trump haters “beating up” Trump fans. He probably means metaphorically, as opposed to the Trump fans literally beating a homeless man or sucker-punching protesters.