Ugh, just when you think the Trump family can’t get any worse, they surprise us. Lara Trump is releasing a cover of the classic Tom Petty song, “Won’t Back Down,” her way of channeling the Trump family’s defiance of its critics.

The song will be available Sept. 29 through Mailman Media’s country music sub-label First Class Records. Pre-sales of the song will be available on Friday.

The core of the song comes in its first few lines, which go, “Well, I won’t back down / No, I won’t back down; You can stand me up at the gates of hell / But I won’t back down; No, I’ll stand my ground / Won’t be turned around.”

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump used the song at a rally, but was given a cease-and-desist notice by the family of the dead rocker, according to NPR. In a statement posted to Petty’s Twitter account, the family said the use of the song was “in no way authorized.”

“Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind,” the statement read. “Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together.”

pic.twitter.com/mxToRoHWNn

— Tom Petty (@tompetty) June 21, 2020

Petty’s family said he wrote the song “for the underdog, for the common man and for EVERYONE.”

“We believe in America and we believe in democracy,” the family said. “But Donald Trump is not representing the noble ideals of either. We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we are complicit in this usage.”

Benmont Tench III, a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, echoed the family’s sentiment, tweeting: “Second. Absolutely.” In an Instagram post, he said: “I in no way approve of Trump even whistling any piece of music associated with our band. I hope that’s clear enough.”

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A post shared by Benmont Tench III (@benmonttench)

Lara Trump said the recording is not a gotcha at Petty’s family, but rather “a message to the country that we can’t back down. We can’t stop fighting for this country.”

“I think that there certainly are people who would rather us just kind of lay down, and take it, and let this country kind of fade off into the sunset. But I think that there are millions of Americans who are fighting to keep this country, the country they grew up in for their kids, like me. That’s what I want for my kids one day. So I think the song can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I got no message for the Petty family because I don’t even think about them,” she said.

Sadly, Lara is indeed allowed to cover the song, per US Copyright rules. She just has to change it in some fashion, and she says she releasing it as a “country version”. And it’s truly horrible. The full version hasn’t been released yet, but this snippet should be enough to make you scream in horror, especially if you were a fan of Tom Petty:

That’s Donald Trump. He’s Not Backing Down” – Lara Trump Records Tom Pettys ‘Won’t Back Down’ Cover Song to be Released September 29 pic.twitter.com/MLjCBVxbnT

— ShotGunBonnie (@ShotGun_Bonnie) September 15, 2023