When Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he’s running for president, he did so to the righteous power chords of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Young, who is famously left wing — come on, the guy wrote “Ohio” as a condemnation of the National Guard shootings at Kent State less than a month after the incident — was not exactly happy about Trump’s playlist. He , and said he’s supporting Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Young, of course, is a Canadian citizen and won’t be able to cast a vote for either.
Even if Trump hadn’t said anything, “Rockin’ in the Free World” is a completely bizarre choice of song for Trump. This isn’t Neil Young talking about Harvest Moons or the Needle and the Damage Done — this is Neil Young in fierce folk-singer protest firebrand mode, with lyrics that don’t just evoke, but outright mock President George H.W. Bush:
We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand
The “thousand points of light” is a reference to Bush’s acceptance speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Look, it’s going to be hard to find an appropriate theme song for yourself if you’re a Republican candidate. Most rockers tend to be leftys, and there is only so much Ted Nugent the world can take. But would it be too much to ask that Republican politicians at least find a song with lyrics that aren’t an outright rebuke of everything they stand for?
Here are six other politicians who got into trouble for rocking a bit too hard: