Katy Perry, come on down, you’re the next contestant on “Don’t Use My Song.”
Donald Trump is a music lover. At his Mar-a-Lago peacock farm for movers and grifters, he grabs his iPad and morphs into DJ Don. Blast “Y.M.C.A” and he turns into a Boston Dynamics robot, gyrating and milking invisible cows with the rhythm of a BarcaLounger.
He belongs on a dance floor as much as microplastics belong in a can of tuna.
Trump, the music lover, understands the power of song. Whether he’s belting out “Tiny Dancer” in his tighty whities at 2 a.m. or lying to associates about how the late Tina Turner once confessed “The Best” was about him, his ego and self-worth need a jaunty soundtrack.
But what he still can’t grasp: musicians hate his guts more than botanists hate invasive species. He is a weed in the culture.
Singers don’t want their beloved hits linked to his divisive policies.
As Olivia Rodrigo wrote in November: “don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda.” She was responding after one of the sickos and sadists on Trump’s social media team scored a sizzle reel of ICE deportations to her hit “All-American Bitch.”
It’s only a matter of time until there is a video of death row inmates set to “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” The cruelty is the point of every Trump video.
Enter Ms. Perry. This weekend, while not spooning with Justin Trudeau, the singer took to X to condemn the use of her “Firework” song as the backing track for a new Iran war porn video.
“I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it,” she wrote.
The sickos and sadists removed the song, but not before the video was watched by millions.
For more than a decade, Trump has run a shadow record label with an unsigned roster of artists who do not want their work showcased at his rallies, campaign stops or in deranged agitprop that revels in the suffering of others.
But he ignores their wishes. He chuckles at their concern.
Trump now gets more cease-and-desist letters from artists than Santa gets gift lists from kids. The list of musicians demanding he stop using their catalogues to amp-up his cultists includes Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Adele, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Queen, R.E.M., Rihanna, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Neil Young, Céline Dion …
You don’t often find ABBA and Guns N’ Roses on the same list.
The problem for DJ Don is if he only used music from artists who support him, he’d be limited to Kid Rock, Nicki Minaj and Lee Greenwood. That’s a trio that would get even Helen Keller to cover her ears. Let’s be honest. Trump would rather listen to AOC scratch a chalkboard while laughing maniacally than subject himself to five seconds of Kid Rock’s “Bawitdaba.”
Trump is so despised by our best songwriters that legal threats even come down from heaven. The estates of Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen, George Harrison, Ozzy Osbourne and Sinéad O’Connor have insisted he stop using unauthorized songs.
But he never stops — he just doubles down. On Monday, the White House TikTok posted a new video, this one using Perry’s “Part of Me.” The sickos and sadists are always keen to taunt.
So here’s a modest proposal for musicians: take the sonic fight to Trump.
Hire short-form video creators to blend your hits with footage of the turmoil that is Trump 2.0. Set “Rockin’ in The Free World” to images of citizens lining up at food banks. Use “Welcome to the Jungle” to show a graphic montage of people getting shot and killed by ICE thugs. Cue up “Money” to illustrate the breathtaking corruption of this administration. Make your own military porn that shows the suffering of civilians in conflict zones set to “War Pigs.”
It’s one thing for Trump to play fast-and-loose with licensing rights at a rally in which a prespeech tune is drowned out by bad acoustics and crowd noise. It’s quite another to use a pop song to cheer ballistic missile strikes in a faraway theatre because a sicko or sadist thought it would be hilarious to time the explosions to the lyrics, “boom, boom, boom.”
That transcends copyright violation. It veers into moral abomination.
It’s time for musicians to drop the mic and commandeer the culture wars until DJ Don is forced to stop. One punchy video about “Fake Melania” may be enough.
Springsteen should shoot a new video for “Born in The U.S.A.” that mocks Trump, the draft dodger. Taylor Swift should make a new video for”Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” that explores all the Trump references in the Epstein files. Bing Crosby’s estate should green light a new “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” to drive home the affordability crisis.
Donald Trump won’t stop stealing music until musicians charge shame royalties.
