Feeling patriotic this week, eh?
There’s been a lot of buzz the past few days from folks who are excited about the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. The inauguration ceremonies on Monday featured several country artists, including some who haven’t really spoken publicly on politics in the past.
Of course there was Carrie Underwood’s incredible performance from the swearing-in ceremony, which was briefly disrupted by technical issues before Carrie took control and delivered an acapella version of “America the Beautiful.” And then of course there was the disastrous performance from Billy Ray Cyrus at the Liberty Ball later that evening, when technical issues once again seemed to derail the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer’s performance and left many scratching their heads.
But I have a feeling that (other than “YMCA”) no song has been played more by supporters of the 47th president than Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA.”
The song was adopted by President Trump on the campaign trail and used as his entrance music at his rallies. And Greenwood has frequently performed the song for the president himself, including at both the Republican National Convention just days after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania and at a rally in Butler just a few months later when Trump returned to the site of the shooting.
Greenwood, himself a longtime Trump supporter and friend of the president, also performed the song both at the inauguration this year as well as at Trump’s “Make America Great Again” victory rally the night before the swearing in.
But apparently Trump supporters weren’t sick of hearing the song as they left Washington DC the day after the ceremonies.
A video shared by Old Row shows a veteran taking the microphone on a Southwest Airlines flight home from the inauguration and leading the plane in a singalong of Greenwood’s patriotic anthem:
@oldrowofficial
And look, normally I’m the first to criticize stuff like this, mainly because when I’m on a flight I just want to put my headphones in, order a drink or two and not talk to anybody until the flight lands…especially when I’m on my way home, tired and possibly hungover.
The last thing I want to hear is somebody on the microphone singing, or telling jokes, or even the flight attendant having the whole plane sing happy birthday to somebody flying to Nashville for their 21st birthday. Just let me sit and be miserable in quiet for the hour and a half flight.
But it seems like this crowd didn’t really seem to mind it (except for the guy with his headphones on scrolling on his phone, maybe he was a government employee from the Biden administration who had just lost his job). For the most part though, it seems like everybody on the plane was joining in and enjoying the performance, no doubt still energized from all the festivities and their excitement for the next four years.
And hey, he did a better job than Billy Ray Cyrus.
Fuck me running 🤣🤣🤣 Billy Ray Cyrus appears to have smoked a mountain of crack and knocked back about 15 Busch lights. Billy Ray Cyrus gives up entirely after attempting to perform at the Liberty Inaugural Ball for Donald Trump and bizarrely wanders around the stage. pic.twitter.com/Q3CKBoFb0L
— zach moushon (@ZachMoushon) January 21, 2025
