Neil Young opened fire on Donald Trump in an open letter to the US president, telling him ‘You are a disgrace to my country,’ after the Canadian-born rock legend recently became a US citizen and indicated he would vote as a Democrat.
Young, 74, made his comments Tuesday adding that Trump’s ‘bragging about the US economy’ does not disguise the fact that he’s boasting about figures he ‘inherited 4 years ago’, in a reference to his predecessor Barack Obama.’
‘Our first black president was a better man than you are,’ the climate change activist adds about Obama, as he continued to rip into Trump, attacking his policies for worsening the ‘Climate Crisis’.
Neil Young lashed out at Donald Trump in an open letter to the US president, telling him ‘You are a disgrace to my country,’ after the Canadian-born rock legend recently became a US citizen and indicated he would vote as a Democrat
A tweeted image of Young after the Canadian-born rock legend became US citizen last month shows he was throwing his support behind Republican President Donald Trump’s rivals, the Democrats
Young in an open letter published on his website says, Trump’s ‘bragging about the US economy’ does not disguise the fact that he’s boasting about figures he ‘inherited 4 years ago’, in a reference to his predecessor Barack Obama’
He tells Trump, ‘The United States of America, my country, is not a green on one of your branded golf courses that you can ride around on and damage so that other players cannot shoot straight’.
The singer of ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’, mentions the 1989 song, warning that he wants Trump to think of him every time the tune is played at one of the president’s rallies.
‘Remember, it is the voice of a tax-paying US citizen who does not support you. Me,’ Young writes.
The open letter comes after Young celebrated becoming a US citizen in a tweet last month, which includes footage of him saying he was proud to be a ‘Canamerican’.
Despite delays in his citizenship application after he admitted to marijuana use, Young was swore his oath to the US and became a citizen, waving an American flag in victory at the Convention Center in downtown LA on Jan. 26.
The songwriter gripped his citizenship paperwork as he exited the building on an escalator with his wife, actress Daryl Hannah, wearing a big grin.
After 50 years living in California and paying taxes, it took his Malibu home burning during the Woseley wildfire of 2018 to urge him to finally become a dual citizen.
‘I’m happy to report I’m in!!’ he wrote on his website after the ceremony, while encouraging fans to ‘vote their conscience.’
Instead of relying on his current wife’s citizenship, Neil took the hard route by taking the citizenship test. Neil told the Los Angeles Times he plans to remain a Canadian citizen and the loss of his home motivated him to take action.
‘I live down here; I pay taxes down here; my beautiful family is all down here — they’re all Americans, so I want to register my opinion,’ he told the LA Times.
‘We’ve got a climate emergency, and governments are not acting.’
Before encouraging fans to vote in support of his activism, Young’s music had touched upon his social and political passions.
Daryl Hannah and Neil Young attend the “Paradox” Premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, in March 2018.
His songs include, ‘Ohio,’ which recalls when National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University during Vietnam War protests in 1970.
‘Rockin’ in the Free World,’ is a commentary on the 1980s and a critique of the inequalities in American society under Republican President Ronald Reagan’s policies.
His open letter to Trump says Young doesn’t blame people who voted for him.
‘I support their right to express themselves, although they have been lied to, and in many cases believed in the lies, they are true Americans. I have their back.’
Before encouraging fans to vote in support of his activism, Young’s music had touched upon his social and political passions
He quips at Trump, saying that US justice is ‘ours – not yours,’ without elaborating if he was referring to the president’s recent intervention in US Justice department action, particularly the sentencing of Roger Stone. The political strategist and friend of the president is awaiting sentencing on a conviction for lying to Congress.
However, Young hints that he is throwing his support behind Bernie Sanders.
‘One of your opponents has the answers I like,’ Young writes.
‘He is aiming at preserving our children’s future directly. He is not popular with the democratic establishment because unlike all the other candidates, he is not pandering to the industries accelerating Earth’s Climate Disaster, the end of the world as we know it,’ the rock entertainer explains.
‘He is truly fighting for the USA. His initials are BS. Not his policies.’
Young concludes with one final warning to Trump: ‘We are going to vote you out and Make America Great Again,’ and links to a video of him and the band Promise of the Real, performing the politically charged song from 2017, ‘Children of Destiny’.