Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, and other Red Staters’ misuse your favorite rock songs.


Donald Trump is so unlikable that there were even allegations he had to hire people for his own presidential candidacy announcement
.  Now if only he could pay people to vote for him, I might have a chance in the 2016 election (not really).  Moments after his big announcement, the Donald, with a hairpiece twice as big as his mouth, blew any chance of garnering more votes than a few ironic, when during all the Trumped up fanfare, he decided to play Neil Young song as his campaign anthem.

If you were to judge the song only on its title alone, "Rockin 'in the Free World" might seem like a decent song choice.  But you actually have to read the song's lyrics to understand it (this is a concept kindergarten), just like you have to read the pages in between the covers of a book to appreciate the story.  The anthemic refrain can be seen as deceiving, considering the song is an indictment of Ronald Reagan, and the rampant commercialism of the 80s.  Just look at these lyrics:

"We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand.
We got department stores and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
For the ozone layer."

Even the most passive listener can understand those are rather pessimistic lines to get your constituents "pumped up" about voting for you.  This leads me to believe that Trump never listened to the song besides the part that repeatedly told him to "keep on rockin 'in the free world."  I'm the Donald, I like to rock, and I like to promise to free world to my supporters! Hey, this is the song for me!  I do not know what a "kinder, gentler machine gun hand" is, but I'm sure it's just "rock talk" for all the good times to be had in this free world in which we will be rockin'!

Trump's not the first blockhead to try to inappropriately appropriate unrelated song as their campaign anthem.  Rudy Giuliani - that humble man of the people and savior of New York City - chose to reggae-influenced punk song by the Clash, because duh!  It had his name in the title.  "Rudie Can not Fail" is not the story of a politician, who refuses to lose an election (although the song was obviously a lie and the non-owner Rudy promptly dropped out of the running) . The Clash's Rudie is a Jamaican street tough, lowest drinks beer for breakfast and is so "rude and reckless" that he's repeatedly criticized by his elders. Perfect tune to get the people behind you, Rudie-I mean, Rudy!  At least we know you can not fail.  Except when you do/did.

Also there's the case of a candidate so badly exploiting the message and lyrics of a certain New Jersey rocker that he caused the musician to become a political figure ... for the other party!  We all remember Bruce Springsteen's endorsements of Barack Obama and John Kerry, but back in 1984, Ronald Reagan thought he could get the Boss to fight for his team when he said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. "

Springsteen responded by playing"Johnny 99" - the story of an assembly line worker who loses his job and kills a night clerk - dedicated to Dutch.  Reagan thought Bruce was a good, clean American boy, because he sang about being born in this country, but in reality, "Born in the USA" is the lament of a Vietnam veteran, who returns home to find the country indifferent to the horrors he witnessed. It's not a fucking song campaign, Reagan!  But at least the song title contains one of the three qualifications to run for president.

And that's not all: "Dubya" thought he could blast Tom Petty's "I Will not Back Down" at his own rally, to which the Florida heartbreaker said, No Dice, Bushy Boy! And when to Al Gore ceded the election to George, Petty went down to Gore's house to play the song live ... which makes about as sense as Rudy Giuliani failing to the soundtrack of his song about NOT failing, because, well, Gore had just backed down .

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

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