In the early 2000s, emo transcended its roots in punk and indie rock, boiling over into the mainstream while retaining the whiny, petulant tone for which the genre had been pigeonholed. Bands like Good Charlotte and My Chemical Romance sounded as aggrieved as their predecessors but lacked the songwriting chops of early Jimmy Eat World or the earthy intimacy of Sunny Day Real Estate. Millennial mall emo did a great job of tapping into the shitty, self-important “depressed boyfriend” vibe of those earlier bands. A comparison between bad third-wave emo and the presidency of Donald Trump has not been made previously, but they’re a strangely natural fit, as this whiny-as-hell rendition of many of his tweets confirms.
Produced by Super Deluxe, the track nails the compressed guitars, theatrically sneering vocal delivery, and metal affectations of turn-of-the-century sad-boy rock, while also fitting in the requisite thumbhole T-shirt and eye-covering mop of dyed-black hair. More interesting is how well Trump’s tweets fit the mold, self-importantly holding onto old grudges and complaining ceaselessly about the unfairness of the press, his opponents, and probably his shithead parents who won’t let him drive to the reservoir outside of town with Todd anymore. The recently reported stories of Trump doddering about the empty White House late at night, lonesomely tweeting and watching TV, only add to the emo Trump image. You can just imagine him complaining about how much he can’t wait to get out of this stupid town via late-night text to Melania. With luck, he’ll be out of there soon enough.