Lara Trump’s cover of ‘I Won’t Back Down’ needs to be heard to be believed
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump launched her singing side hustle last September with the release of her cover of Tom Petty's hit "I Won't Back Down."
Since then, she has released just one more song—an original single titled "Anything Is Possible." When that song came out in late March, it renewed left-wing criticism and mockery of her musical moonlighting.
Trump—the daughter-in-law of the former president—has faced varying levels of backlash for her singing since the release of her "I Won't Back Down" cover.
Lara Trump 'I Won't Back Down'
On YouTube, Trump's cover has over 189,000 views.
Unfortunately, though, for those looking to see what people think, comments are turned off.
Last fall, a clip of her singing "I Won't Back Down" went viral for how far off-key she sounded—but in reality, the audio was digitally manipulated to make her sound that way.
That altered clip helped fuel a barrage of memes and posts joking about Trump's singing.
Some blasted the decision to cover that specific song, given that Tom Petty's estate sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Trump campaign in 2020 for using the song at a campaign rally.
"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 family wrote on social media, adding that Petty "would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate."
Despite the prolific backlash to her initial cover, it appears Trump won't back down from continuing her musical career.
Her new single "Anything Is Possible," which conveys positive messages about not giving up and keeping faith was met with similar criticism from opponents—including an AI-generated diss track released by the Democratic National Committee.
The memes and snarky quips from her opponents seem unlikely to stop anytime soon.
A video of Trump singing "I Won't Back Down" at Mar-a-Lago in February prompted actor Mark Hamill—an outspoken Democrat—to weigh in, writing: "I weep for Tom Petty."
In April, one user on X joked that the epicenter of the earthquake that recently hit the New York City region "was Lara Trump’s recording studio."
Another person mocked the drop in share price of Trump Media, quipping that her next song should be Petty's "Free Fallin.'"
While Trump's singing career is not without controversy, she's not the only political figure to wade into the world of music.
Former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake put out a single last June promoting the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump titled "81 Million Votes, My Ass."
And a number of politicians, such as Mike Huckabee and John Kerry, have been in bands. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, had a covert Spotify presence.
But none have caught the internet's attention quite like Lara Trump's.
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