In light of President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard in Washington DC, Neil Young has acknowledged that DC does have a crime problem — within the White House. In a new song performed during a sound check at a concert on Chicago’s Northerly Island, the 79-year-old musician slammed the “fascists” in the White House.
Young also shared the song via YouTube and his website. Though the musician doesn’t name Trump directly in the song, it’s pretty clear who and what he’s talking about, especially with lines like, “No more great again,” an apparent reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“Don’t need no fascist rules / Don’t want no fascist schools / Don’t want soldiers on our streets / There’s big crime in DC at the White House,” Young sings.
Elsewhere in the song, he says we need to “get the fascists out” and “clean the White House out.” The song also includes powerful lines like, “No more money to the fascists / the billionaire fascists / time to blackout the system.”
Reacting to the song on YouTube, fans praised the musician for continuing to speak out about political issues. One fan wrote, “Never sold out. Still singing the truth. We need more voices like Neil’s.” Another said, “Thank you Neil. Call it what it is. Media can learn from you.”
Even prior to the release of this very direct song, Young has made it pretty clear that he does not support Trump in any way. Previously, Trump tried to use Young’s music on the campaign trail. He first tried to use the song “Rockin’ in the Free World” when running for president in 2015. In 2020, Trump tried to use the song again, and Young eventually sued him.
“Imagine what it feels like to hear ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ after this President speaks, like it is his theme song. I did not write it for that,” he said, per Variety. In his lawsuit against the current president, Young said he “in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.”
At one point, Trump claimed that he didn’t really care about the song anyway. “‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ was just one of 10 songs used as background music. Didn’t love it anyway,” he said, per The Guardian. Young later dropped the lawsuit after Trump lost the 2020 election.
