During Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign for President, he frequently used Tom Petty’s song “Won’t Back Down” at rallies and events. That angered the Petty family, who at the time said “Both the late Tom Petty and his family firmly stand against racism and discrimination of any kind. Tom Petty would never want a song of his used for a campaign of hate. He liked to bring people together.”

Donald Trump stopped using the song after the complaints, but his daughter-in-law Lara — Eric’s wife — decided to do a cover of the song.

There was a lot of joking about her awful previews of the song on various shows, and Lara, who turned 41 today, claimed that her single was being “shadowbanned” from streaming services. In reality, no one wanted to hear it, because every time she gave someone a preview, it was off-key and terrible.

Stephen Colbert said last week, “Well I’ve never been to the gates of hell but now I’m pretty sure I know what they sound like.”

Truly…listen to this a cappella version Lara graced the world with:

Wow. Lara Trump has the voice of an angel. An angel who can’t hit a single note. She really needs to sing a cappella at Trump rallies. Best laugh I’ve had since I saw Alan Jones sing Love Changes Everything. #LaraTrump #TomPetty #SkyNews #AlanJones

pic.twitter.com/wL8YN0Lm2l

— Maris S (@DreamAudit) October 6, 2023

But after a huge push by Fox News to get the song heard, and a social media campaign to get the word out to right-wingers about it, Lara finally made it into the Billboard 100. It barely crept in at number 96, after a blink-182 track and four Nickelback songs.

Nevertheless, Lara Trump is feeling vindicated. She’s sold almost 3,500 copies of the song in the last week, putting her relatively high on that part of the list. Of course, most of the purchases are almost assuredly because of political support, not because of the quality of the cover.

It’s ironic that conservatives are so attracted to the 1989 hit song. Tom Petty wrote it about an arsonist who set fire to his home. The superstar escaped the fire with his family (and their housekeeper), but he was still furious about the incident.

Republicans, on the other hand, seem to excel in burning their own House down.

The former President has 91 felony charges against him. His sons, including Lara’s husband Eric, have been dragged into the fraud trial going on in New York and found liable themselves. And in the biggest irony of all, congressional Republicans — who control the House — burned everything down by threatening to shut down the government and then firing their own Speaker of the House.

It’s got to hurt at least a little when they sing along with Lara Trump’s cover.