Celebrated Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes once wrote: “Where there’s music, there can be no evil.”
He may have felt the need to revise that statement when hearing this particular song…
Just when you thought all things Trump couldn’t get more bizarre, groan-worthy or just downright sanity-eroding, the former President of the United States and “alternative fact” addict has dropped a single.
Yes, you read that right – Donald Trump now technically has a music career.
Not that you’ll be hearing his smooth baritone anytime soon, mind you.
Indeed, a new single released by a choir of men who are in prison for their participation in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 features a recording by the former president as the backtrack.
The song, ‘Justice for All’ by Donald J Trump and the J6 Prison Choir is now available on streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, and features the incarcerated men — referred to as the “J6 Prison Choir” — singing The Star-Spangled Banner from jail, mixed with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Listen to it here, if you must:
For those of you who have opted for sanity and still value your delicate ears, you’re not missing much. Just 2 minutes and 21 seconds of sickening «patriotic» posturing interspersed with a voice only a mother could love, followed by further chanting of “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”
Hardly a banger.
Forbes, which first reported the song’s production, said it was “produced by a major recording artist who was not identified”.
The outlet also stated that Trump’s charity single was intended to raise money for the families of those imprisoned, and that the project would not “benefit families of people who assaulted a police officer”.
Citing “a person with knowledge of the project”, Forbes said the choir consisted of about 20 inmates at the Washington DC jail who were recorded over a jailhouse phone.
Several who had their ears assaulted have called out the single on social media.
Robert Maguire, research director for the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said: “I have never been more repulsed by the mere existence of a song than one sung by a president who tried to do a coup and a literal ‘choir’ of insurrectionists who tried to help him.”
Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former US attorney, described the song as being “a disinformation tactic right out of the authoritarian playbook” and that Trump was “wrap(ping) lies in patriotism”.
Trump has repeatedly expressed sympathy for those incarcerated for their actions on 6 January, and has stated that those who carried out the insurrection are persecuted by the state. Before announcing his third presidential campaign in November, he said that if won re-election, he would consider full pardons for rioters.
The Capitol riot resulted in nine deaths. More than 1,000 people have been charged for their involvement and nearly 500 of them have pleaded guilty.
Additional sources • Forbes
