Donald Trump Recently Featured on a Song Created by January 6 Defendants
Donald Trump has been a highly controversial figure since he entered the political arena. From his presidential campaign to his term in office, Trump has been a lightning rod for controversy for his political views, public statements, and actions. Now, the former president is making headlines for featuring on a song by defendants in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack. The song, “Justice for All,” features Trump and a group of inmates calling themselves the J6 Prison Choir.
Who are the J6 Prison Choir members?
According to Forbes, the J6 Prison Choir consists of about 20 inmates in a Washington, D.C., jail. The prisoners were part of a group of Trump supporters locked up for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The attack happened after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. His supporters tried to keep him in power by stopping a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes and verifying Joe Biden’s win.
Although the riot didn’t stop the certification process, the attack has been linked to nine deaths, including that of police officers who died by suicide. Over a thousand suspects have been arrested. Hundreds have been found guilty, some for seditious conspiracy, and hundreds more are still on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Trump was impeached for encouraging the insurrection but later exonerated after enough Senate Republicans remained loyal to the former president. He promised last year that, if re-elected in 2024, he would issue full pardons to the insurgents and apologize on the U.S. government’s behalf.
Donald Trump features on a song by January 6 defendants
“Justice for All” features Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, interspersed with the J6 Prison Choir singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The two-minute song ends with a chant of “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”
“Justice for All” is available on Spotify and other music-streaming platforms, where Trump is surprisingly credited as the composer. The cover art for the single is a gloomy prison cell with a window that looks out on a barbed-wire fence and an American flag.
According to Forbes, Trump recorded his portion of the song a few weeks ago at Mar-a-Lago. The J6 Prison Choir’s rendition of the National Anthem was recorded over a phone about a month ago in a Washington, D.C., jail where the inmates await trial. Reportedly, money raised from sales of the tune will go to the inmates’ families.
Reaction to the Donald Trump song
The release of “Justice for All” has generated a strong reaction from both sides of the political spectrum. Trump supporters have praised the song as a powerful anthem for their movement, while critics have condemned it as glorifying violence and extremism.
“Here’s a disgusting desecration by the disgraced, defeated, twice-impeached ex-president whose only election as POTUS was an electoral college victory procured by fraud and by foreign interference that didn’t even stave off a massive popular vote defeat,” Laurence Tribe, a lawyer and professor emeritus at Harvard University, tweeted.
And University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade described the song as a “disinformation tactic right out of the authoritarian playbook.” She claimed Trump was trying to disguise his lies as displays of patriotism.
A former U.S. president featuring on a song created by defendants in a high-profile criminal case has sparked a debate about the role of entertainment in politics. As the trial continues, it remains to be seen what impact, if any, the song will have on the defendants’ case.
