To Hell With Songwriter’s OK, Trump Parades On With Unauthorized Campaign Songs
It sounds minor in the overall avalanche of corruption but trump’s continued use of campaign songs without the approval of songwriters is the whole trump game boiled down to its fetid essence.
The trump camp’s chronic use of songs without approval in political campaigns shows that in trump world, no law is too small to ignore. Trump has been cited more times than any other president for the unauthorized use of campaign songs by artists from the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen to Tom Petty, Jack White, Prince and Adele and many more.
Some unapproved songs resulted in court orders and others were classic in their cretive responses.
George Harrison’s estate issued a cease and desist to the Republican National Committee for using his song “Here Comes the Sun” at the 2016 GOP National Convention. Members of Harrison’s estate tweeted their disapproval after the song written by the late musician, was played during the convention. The estate letter added a pithy caveat, “If it had been ‘Beware of Darkness,’ then we MAY have approved it!”
The unacceptable use of popular tunes not only insults the songwriter but it gives the false impression that the songwriter endorses trump. The damage, however, has been done as millions have seen the corrupt ads and as the saying goes, a judge can disallow a lawyer’s comments but the jurors can’t unhear the lies.
Berishaj AKA JMSN
The latest musician that trump robbed of his tune is R&B artist Christian Berishaj, who goes by the name of JMSN. His lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to trump after the White House used JMSN’s song “Love Me” in a taxpayer-funded political ad promoting the president ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a letter slamming the unpermitted use of his song, Berishaj’s lawyers wrote, “To be absolutely clear, JMSN does not want to be viewed as directly or indirectly affiliated with the President or his Administration”
Attorney Norm Eisen also wrote “The use of the song in this context, as part of an overtly partisan, political advertisement, is particularly damaging, as it could cause others to call into question JMSN’s artistic independence and integrity.”
Not only was the political propaganda ad run without Berishaj’s permission but it also apparently violates federal law that bars officials from using public money to promote candidates.
The ad shows trump urging Americans to “defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” as a choir in the background recites the verse “Love me” from Berishaj’s song. Several of trump’s common and discredited messages are flashed across the screen ‒”LARGEST TAX CUTS IN HISTORY. REIGNITING AMERICAN MANUFACTURING. DEFEND LAW AND ORDER” ‒ and a repeated line that, “AMERICA WILL NEVER BE A COMMUNIST COUNTRY.”
The video includes UFC boss Dana White at the 2024 Republican National Convention praising trump as the “toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met and nothing is gonna stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.”
A White House spokesperson said the ads are “educational and unapologetically patriotic.”
In the letter sent to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Monday, Berishaj’s lawyers said the 2023 track was used “without a synchronization license, master use license, or any other authorization from the copyright holder.”
And it added: “Nor would permission have been granted if requested.”
Berishaj’s song “Love Me” is a spiritual ballad that fuses his voice over the full gospel choir. “Mama love me, Papa love me/ Brother love me, Sister love me/ And all the rest of my family that always wants to just judge me,” he sings.
Born in Dallas and raised in Detroit, Berishaj has been an influential figure in the contemporary R&B and alternative music scenes. Berishaj has been releasing music as JMSN since the early 2010s, and “Love Me” is one of his most popular songs, with more than 138 million streams on Spotify. The song was originally released in 2023, but got a renewed boost in late 2025 when it became part of a meme spoofing Drake song intros.
“To anybody who has followed my career and knows what I stand for and built my career on, it should go without saying that I would never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign,” Berishaj posted this week.
He said trump could have sought advance permission to use the song to which Berishaj would have responded “no” and the matter would end. Instead trump, “illegally uses the song without asking but still the public goes full retard and immediately assumes that a license was granted.”
Berishaj said he has “built my career independently outside of any major system and have made it a point to not sacrifice my artistic integrity. I don’t have a publicist or anything so being forced in a situation like this and having to comment is ridiculous.”
The letter from Berishaj was signed by Democracy Defenders Action’s Norm Eisen, a former Obama White House ethics lawyer, and representatives from law firm Ballard Spahr LLP. It demanded “the government immediately cease and desist from any further use of ‘Love Me’” and not use any of JMSN’s music in the future.
Trump stole more songs than any other president.
One of the most known is the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” which the group gave trump reluctant permission to use.
“He has remained respectful in his use of our songs and has not crossed the line…Having said that, we certainly don’t endorse his use as we’d prefer our music be kept out of politics,” the group said in a statement on Facebook in February 2020.
The group quickly changed their tune in June 2020, after the administration’s militant response to peaceful Black Lives Matter protests. Lead singer Victor Willis requested trump stop using any Village People’s songs.
“If Trump orders the U.S. military to fire on his own citizens (on U.S. soil), Americans will rise up in such numbers outside of the White House that he might be forced out of office prior to the election,” Willis wrote on Facebook. “Don’t do it Mr. President! And I ask that you no longer use any of my music at your rallies especially ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and ‘Macho Man.’ Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way.”
Wrong Headed
Some unapproved songs were clearly misinterpreted by candidates.
For example, Bruce Springsteen was the first artist to fight back against the use of his song “Born in The U.S.A.” during Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign. Reagan referred to the song as a “message of hope” although the lyrics were clearly an indictment of the US war in Vietnam.
Springsteen also asked that trump, and former Republican presidential candidates Sen. Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan also quit using “Born in the U.S.A.”
Trump used Linkin Park’s “In the End” during his 2020 reelection campaign. The song was hardly optimistic, with the verse, “I tried so hard/And got so far/But in the end/It doesn’t even matter.”
Before his death, late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington called trump “a greater threat to the USA than terrorism.”
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign included unauthorized video clips of Celine Dion’s hit 1990s song “My Heart Will Go On.” Played at several trump rallies, the song was an odd choice as it was featured in the 1997 movie, “Titanic.”
A statement from Dion said that “In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use […] And really, THAT song?”
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Happy
At a public event in October 2018, trump played Pharrell Williams’ upbeat track “Happy.” Hours earlier a gunman had killed 11 people in an attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Williams’ lawyer sent trump a cease and desist letter saying, “On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged ‘nationalist,’ you played his song ‘Happy’ to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,” There was nothing ‘happy’ about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Jackson Browne sued GOP candidate John McCain, the Republican National Convention and Republican Party of Ohio for using his popular song “Running on Empty” in a commercial critiquing high gas prices. The case was eventually settled outside of court and McCain and the GOP apologized to Browne.
Queen scolded trump in 2016 after he played “We Are the Champions” ahead of his victory speech during the final round of Republican primaries. That July, then-candidate trump again borrowed “We Are the Champions” for his first-night walk onto the Republican National Convention stage.
The response from Queen was sharp.
“Queen does not want its music associated with any mainstream or political debate in any country. Nor does Queen want ‘We Are the Champions’ to be used as an endorsement of Mr. Trump and the political views of the Republican Party,” the band said in a statement. “We trust, hope and expect that Mr. Trump and his campaign will respect these wishes moving forward.”
Being trump, in October 2019, he tweeted a video that showed footage of his rallies while Queen’s “We Will Rock You” played in its entirety. The band took action and the video was removed from Twitter (now X) a few days later.
The two Bush president also came under fire for using songs without permission.
John Mellencamp objected when Reagan used “Pink Houses” in 1984, when George W. Bush used “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” in 2000, and when John McCain used both “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” in 2008.
McCain once said that ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance On Me” were in his top 10 favorite songs. The Swedish band was not swayed and told McCain to stop using the song in his 2008 campaign.
During the 2009 campaign, McCain also used the Foo Fighters song “My Hero.”
In asking he stop the practice, the band said in a statement “The saddest thing about this is that ‘My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential.To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song.”
Bobby McFerrin found out that candidate George H.W. Bush was using his 1988 song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” McFerrin complained and Bush tried to assuage him by inviting him to dinner. McFerrin rejected the invitation.
Tom Petty didn’t back down when candidate George W. Bush used his 1989 song, “I Won’t Back Down.” Petty sent a cease and desist letter and did likewise after GOP candidate Michelle Bachmann, played Petty’s “American Girl” during her 2011 campaign.
The late rock star’s family slapped the Trump campaign with another cease-and-desist letter after “American Girl” was played at trump’s June 2020 rally in Tulsa.
“Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind,” Petty’s daughters Adria and Annakim, widow Dana, and ex-wife Jane wrote in a statement on Twitter. “Tom wrote this song for the underdog, for the common man and for EVERYONE….We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we were complicit in this usage.”
Barack Obama was the rare Democrat to be slapped for using a song without OK. During rallies in 2008, Obama played the popular Sam & Dave tune “Hold On, I’m Comin.” The songwriter, Sam Moore, wrote Obama, “it is thrilling … to see that our country has matured to the place where it is no longer an impossibility for a man of color to really be considered as a legitimate candidate for the highest office in our land” but that he had not endorsed Obama and his vote “is a very private matter between myself and the ballot box.” Moore went on to perform at Trump’s inauguration in 2016.
Trump announced his bid for president in 2015 to the background of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Trump was evidently unaware of the song’s dark theme, as in the verse,
“I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
There’s an old street light (near a garbage can)
Near a garbage can (near a garbage can)
Now she put the kid away and she’s gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she’s done to it
There’s one more kid that’ll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.”
Trump kept using “Rockin’ in the Free World” at multiple 2020 rallies and Young sued that the songs were used “for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.” Young said that trump was not authorized to use the song and noted that he was “a supporter” of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
R.E.M. was not pleased to learn that trump played “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” at a rally in 2015. The band asked that trump cease and desist from using their music. Frontman Michael Stipe was less polite, saying “Go f — — yourselves, the lot of you — you sad, attention grabbing, power-hungry little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.”
Ozzy Osbourne’s wife, Sharon, sent a cease and desist letter to trump in 2019 for the unauthorized use of Osbourne’s tune “Crazy Train” in a video posted to Twitter. The Osbournes suggested that “perhaps he (trump) should reach out to some of his musician friends. Maybe Kayne West (‘Gold Digger’), Kid Rock (‘I Am the Bullgod’) or Ted Nugent (‘Stranglehold’) will allow use of their music.”
The estate of the late Laura Branigan took immediate disagreement when trump played her hit song “Gloria” at his rally ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by trump supporters.
“It’s absolutely appalling to hear ‘Gloria’ being played in the background of a widely-circulating video of Pres. Trump… given the tragic, unsettling, & shameful happenings that occurred at the US Capitol,” Branigan’s legacy manager Kathy Golik wrote on Twitter. “It’s very sad & upsetting to see Laura’s beautiful memory & legacy have any association w/ Pres. Trump & such a dark day in US history.”
The estate of the late Sinéad O’Connor was livid at the use of her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” at a February 2024 trump event.
“It was with outrage therefore that we learned that Donald Trump has been using her iconic performance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ at his political rallies,” said the estate of O’Connor who died in 2023. “It is no exaggeration to say that Sinéad would have been disgusted, hurt, and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil.’”
Leonard Cohen’s unforgettable “Hallelujah” has been sung by many artists, most notably by Rufus Wainwright who said that Hallelujah has become an anthem dedicated to peace, love and acceptance of the truth.
Trump used the song at a rally on October 14, 2024 and Wainwright was irate.
“Witnessing trump and his supporters commune with this music last night was the height of blasphemy. Of course, I in no way condone this and was mortified, but the good in me hopes that perhaps in inhabiting and really listening to the lyrics of Cohen’s masterpiece, Donald trump just might experience a hint of remorse over what he’s caused. I’m not holding my breath,” Wainwright wrote.
Old Habit
Many songs were integral to the American political process. One of the first was composed to honor President George Washington and was used to rally the new country behind their new leader. The campaign song, “God Save Great Washington,” ironically was essentially the British anthem “God Save the King” with Washington’s name inserted wherever “King” used to be.
Campaign songs didn’t always work. John Quincy Adams’ 1828 campaign song “Little Know Ye Who’s Coming,” warned against the dangers of Andrew Jackson. If Adams lost, he warned that the nation would see fire, slavery, pestilence and plague. “Fire’s a-comin’, swords a-comin’/pistols, guns and knives are comin’/…” went the song. Jackson, however, won in a landslide.
A famous early example of music as a part of a political campaign is William Henry Harrison’s 1840 campaign song “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” Harrison defeated incumbent Democratic President Martin Van Buren. It was a hollow victory as Harrison died just one month into his presidency, leading to John Tyler’s succession.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to use a song already written. The song “Happy Days are Here Again” from the musical film “Chasing Rainbows” was the anthem of the 1932 Democratic campaign. The song was first published in 1929 by Ager, Yellen, and Bornstein. It was also used in Prohibition‑era “Happy days are beer again” signs.
