
Neil Young calls for “blue tsunami” in midterms to “limit Trump’s power to do damage”
Neil Young has issued a rallying cry to voters ahead of the US midterm elections later this year.
Although the midterms don’t take place until November 3rd, Young, who became a naturalised US citizen in 2020, has already cast his mind to election day, which he wants to see swing in the Democrats’ favour.
Young, who is one of the most outspoken critics of President Donald Trump’s administration in the music history, wrote on the Neil Young Archives on May 17th, “You and I are not powerless. We can limit Trump’s power to do more damage – by getting out the vote on or before November 3.”
The legendary singer-songwriter then shared his hopes for the midterms, continuing, “We have less than six months to get the largest midterm turnout in American history – a blue tsunami that will start the process of repair, reform and return to sanity.”
It comes after Young previously called the Trump administration “the biggest mess I’ve ever witnessed”, following the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minnesota in January.
He added of the current government, “Today the USA is a disaster. Donald Trump is destroying America bit by bit with his staff of wannabes, people with no experience or talent, closet alcoholic wife beaters, inexperienced leaders who only know how to lie to keep favor with Trump’s falseness so they can hold their unearned positions in his inept government, a Congress full of Republicans acting like idiots with no conscience.”
The Canadian-born singer-songwriter even released a protest anthem, titled ‘Big Crime’, against Trump’s rule in 2025. On the defiant track, he sings, “Don’t need no fascist rules, Don’t want no fascist school, Don’t want soldiers on our streets, There’s big crime in DC at the White House.”
The release of ‘Big Crime’ came after Young expressed his fears about not being allowed to re-enter America following his European tour last summer due to his criticism of the regime, writing in a post on his website: “If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for Freedom? I love America and its people and its music and its culture.”
Notably, while Trump has engaged in public fall-outs with Young’s peer Bruce Springsteen, who he recently labelled a “total loser“, the president has never taken to Truth Social to hit back at the ‘Heart of Gold’ singer.
Prior to entering politics, Trump spoke positively about Young, telling Rolling Stone in 2008 that he had “something very special” and recalled watching him at BobFest in 1992, saying that he “totally brought the house down” before calling him a “terrific guy”.
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