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The White House has entered a social media dispute with anti-Trump musician Jack White, formerly of The White Stripes, whose song was recently used by the Trump administration in a Border Patrol propaganda video.
“Look at how disgusting Trump has transformed the historic White House. It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room.”
In a video posted for Father’s Day by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Border Patrol, The White Stripes’s “We’re Going to Be Friends” plays quietly in the background over a video of a Border Patrol agent riding an ATV in the desert. A young child narrates a tribute to her dad, calling him a “superhero.”
“He rides his ATV in the desert with Border Patrol,” she says. “He helps keep our communities safe.”
Truthout was unable to reach White for comment.
Last year, White called President Donald Trump an “obvious fascist” and “wannabe dictator.” More recently, he criticized Trump’s redecorating choices.
“Look at how disgusting Trump has transformed the historic White House,” White wrote in an Instagram post under a photo of Trump’s meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. “It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room.”
In response, a White House spokesperson said the Grammy-award winning artist is a “washed up, has-been loser.”
White responded, telling “MAGA folk” to “enjoy your paving over your rose garden, your 200 million dollar ballroom in the White House, and your gaudy ass gold spray painted trinkets from Home Depot, cause he ain’t spending any money on helping YOU unless you fit into his white supremacist country club rich idiot agenda.”
Trump has used White’s music before. Last year, the Trump campaign’s deputy director of communications posted and then deleted a solicitation for donations featuring The White Stipes’s “Seven Nation Army.”
“Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists,” White posted on Instagram.
The White Stripes sued, but dropped the lawsuit in December. The band did not provide a reason, although these types of lawsuits can take years and run up high costs for the litigants.
The Instagram accounts for the DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol, and others frequently post propaganda videos featuring popular music, including by artists who detest him, such as the late Nipsey Hussle, who wrote “Fuck Donald Trump” and headlined a tour of the same name. In that video, Border Patrol agents board a helicopter that flies over what appears to be the desert in the Southwestern part of the United States.
Other videos include music by: the Black Eyed Peas (“Pump It”), Fergie (“Glamorous”), Young Jeezy, featuring Akon (“Soul Survivor”), Madonna (“Like a Prayer”), Shaboozey, featuring Paul Cauthen (“Last of My Kind”), Vanilla Ice (“Ice Ice Baby”), Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Can’t Stop”), Dolly Parton (“9 to 5”), Survivor (“Eye of the Tiger”), Hall and Oates (“Private Eyes”), Solo Artist Saxx (“Blowin Up”), and LL Cool J (“Mama Said Knock You Out.”)
The videos featuring LL Cool J and Solo Artist Saxx’s music are particularly odious. Their songs play over videos of the administration’s abductions. In the LL Cool J video, Border Patrol agents handcuff a man and lift up the back of his shirt, exposing a tattoo. The abduction occurs outside a 7-Eleven convenience store and the man’s clothes appear to be splattered with paint. The video with “Blowin Up” shows a montage of Border Patrol agents violently grabbing people off the street.
Throughout his political career, artists have lambasted Trump for using their music in his political campaigns. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Beyonce sent the Trump campaign a cease and desist letter after they used her song, “Freedom,” in a video showing Trump stepping out of an airplane.
In August, Isaac Hayes III, son of the late musician Isaac Hayes, posted on social media: “Today, on the anniversary of my father @isaachayes death we have repeatedly asked Donald Trump, the RNC and his representatives not to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter during campaign rallies but yet again, in Montana they used it. Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly.”
The late musician’s estate and Isaac Hayes Enterprises LLC sued the president, his campaign, and others. In April, the judge denied Trump’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.
During his 2020 campaign, Trump played Panic! At The Disco’s “High Hopes” at a rally.
“Dear Trump Campaign, F–k you,” the band’s vocalist, Brendon Urie, fired back in a social media post. “You’re not invited. Stop playing my song.”
