Neil Young is now officially an American citizen, and you know what that means: He has the God-given rights to bear arms, have a fair trial by jury, and write scathing open letters to his leaders in the Helvetica font. He chose to do the latter this week about Donald Trump, a man he has openly loathed for quite some time, by outlining all the reasons he isn’t going to vote for him in the next election. “You are a disgrace to my country,” Young wrote on his official website. “Your mindless destruction of our shared natural resources, our environment and our relationships with friends around the world is unforgivable. Our first black president was a better man than you are. 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.”
Young reminded fans about Trump’s repeated unauthorized use of his hit tune “Rockin’ in the Free World” at numerous campaign rallies and events, which, back in 2015, prompted Young to condemn Trump and pledge his support to Bernie Sanders. (Young was still a Canadian citizen at the time.) “It is not a song you can you can trot out at one of your rallies,” Young explained in his open letter. “Perhaps you could have been a bass player and played in a rock and roll band. That way you could have been on stage at a rally every night in front of your fans, if you were any good, and you might be.” As a kicker, he added, “we are going to vote you out and make America great again.”
Funny enough, this serves as a good reminder that Trump is a massive fan of Young’s and actually deferred to him during the “Rockin’ in the Free World” controversy: At the time, a Trump spokesperson said, “Mr. Trump is a big fan and likes Neil very much,” and, because of that, will “respect his wish” by no longer playing the song. Trump has attended numerous Young concerts in recent years and once told Rolling Stone that he’s “got something very special” as a musician. “I’ve listened to his music for years,” Trump said. “I’ve met him on occasions, and he’s a terrific guy.”