White House mocks Noah Kahan after singer condemns Trump's use of his song

The White House has responded after Noah Kahan criticised the Trump administration for using his song "American Cars" in a social media post promoting President Donald Trump's visit to a General Motors facility in Michigan, escalating a public dispute over the unauthorised use of the singer's music.

Kahan objected after discovering his 2026 track had been used by the White House on Instagram and TikTok. Commenting beneath one of the posts, the singer wrote that he would "never approve" of his music being used "in support of you or this administration". His guitarist and co-writer, Noah Levine, also criticised the post.

The criticism prompted a sarcastic response from White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr, who posted on X that "Symptoms of TDS apparently include having a northern attitude", a reference to Kahan's hit song "Northern Attitude" and the phrase "Trump Derangement Syndrome". 

Following the backlash, Kahan's music was removed from the White House's Instagram post, although the version uploaded to TikTok remained online at the time of publication.

Kahan is the latest in a growing list of musicians to publicly object to the Trump administration's use of their songs in official social media content. Recent critics include Katy Perry, Olivia Rodrigo, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Radiohead and Ariana Grande, all of whom have said they did not authorise their music to be associated with the administration or its messaging.