Pro tip: Just because a song has the word “American” in the title doesn’t mean that the government gets to use it willy-nilly. In early November, when the White House and the Department of Homeland Security shared an Instagram video of ICE agents detaining and arresting people with a caption encouraging people to “LEAVE NOW and self-deport using the CBP Home app,” using Rodrigo’s “All-American Bitch,” The post warned, “If you don’t, you will face the consequences.” Rodrigo hit back in the post’s comments.
“Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” she wrote in a since-deleted comment. As a grace note, the song is no longer available to use on Instagram, and the post, which remains as of this article’s publication, plays to silence.
The Smiths
Johnny Marr, the former guitarist for The Smiths, was distraught to learn, in January 2024, that his band’s song “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” had been played at a Trump rally in September 2023.
“Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass,” he wrote on social media. “Consider this shit shut right down right now.”
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen has repeatedly denounced Trump, and long ago banned him from using his music for campaign or political purposes. But the guy is just so persistent and eloquent in dunking on Trump that we had to include him in the second-term list, as a treat.
In an October 2024 video officially endorsing Harris, the “Born in the USA” singer called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime. His disdain for the sanctity of our constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of president ever again. He doesn’t understand the meaning of this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American.”
SZA
On December 8, 2025, the White House posted a pro-ICE video to social media that used a snippet of “Big Boys,” a parody song SZA performed on Saturday Night Live in 2022. The clip shows ICE agents detaining people, and is captioned, “WE HEARD IT’S CUFFING SZN. Bad news for criminal illegal aliens. Great news for America.”
SZA was not amused. “White House rage baiting artists for free promo is PEAK DARK,” she wrote on social media later that week. “..inhumanity +shock and aw tactics ..Evil n Boring.”
Rufus Wainwright and Leonard Cohen
Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah” was among the songs Trump played at a bizarre October 2024 town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, when the then candidate turned a medical emergency in the crowd into an opportunity for an extended listening party, standing onstage and swaying in front of the gathered attendees. The late Cohen’s estate asked Sony, his label, to issue the campaign a cease-and-desist, while Wainwright also issued a statement calling the song “an anthem dedicated to peace, love, and acceptance of the truth.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vanityfair.com ’
