OLIVER ANTHONY: ‘We can fuel a proxy war in a foreign land but we can’t take care of our own’

Anthony said it’s "aggravating seeing certain musicians and politicians act like we’re buddies" and "act like we’re fighting the same struggle here."

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"You know, I've had a lot of people reach out to me and I've tried to be polite to everybody and I've talked to hundreds of people the last two weeks. It seems like certain people want to just ride the attention to the song. Maybe make them their own selves irrelevant, and that's aggravating as hell."

Anthony said "it was funny" seeing his song being played at Wednesday’s RNC primary debate, adding that it was funny "because it’s like, I wrote that song about those people, you know, so for them to have to sit there and listen to that, that cracks me up."

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"But it was funny kind of seeing the response to it, like that song has nothing to do with Joe Biden, you know, it’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden. That song is written about the people on that stage and a lot more too, not just them, but but definitely them."

Anthony said he hates seeing the song be "weaponized," adding that "I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own and I see the left trying to trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation."

Addressing leftists that have slammed his song as anti-poor people, Anthony said "If you listen to my other music, it's obvious that all of my songs that reference class defend the poor."

Anthony said "I've got to be clear that my message, like with any of my songs, it references the inefficiencies of the government Because of the politicians within it that are engulfed in bribes and extortion."

He noted that while children in Richmond are missing meals over the summer because their parents can’t afford to buy them things, upwards of 30 to 40 percent of food bought by welfare is spent on "junk food" and soda.

"You know, we can — we can fuel a proxy war and a foreign land but we can't take care of our own. That's all the song is trying to say. It's just saying that the government takes people who are needy dependent and makes them needy independent.

Rich Men North of Richmond, which debuted this week on the Billboard Hot 100 at number one, centers around a theme of the struggling working-class American being pushed around by the political class living in and around Washington, DC.

"I've been selling my soul, working all day, overtime hours, for bullsh*t pay," the song starts. "So, I can sit out here and waste my life away. Drag back home and drown my troubles away."

"As we sit here tonight, the No. 1 song on the Billboard chart is ‘Rich Men North of Richmond," Fox News’ Martha MacCallum said to the eight GOP debate attendees on the stage. "It’s by a singer from Farmville, Virginia, named Oliver Anthony. His lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government and of this country. Washington, DC, is about 100 miles north of Richmond."

30 seconds of the song was played for the debate attendees, with MacCallum asking the first question to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, "why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now? What do you think it means?"

DeSantis said that voters "need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline" and that "we cannot succeed as a country if you are working hard and you can’t afford groceries, a car or a new home while Hunter Biden can make hundreds of thousands of dollars on lousy paintings.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.