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U.K. campaign wants Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ No. 1 for Donald Trump visit

Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong performs in 2018, and Donald Trump answers questions in a scrum. Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to the United Kingdom later this week, and there’s currently a social-media campaign to get rock band Green Day‘s 2004 song, American Idiot, to the top of the music charts.

The campaign, titled “Get American Idiot to No. 1 for Trump’s UK Visit,” has been on the go for two weeks in the hopes of getting the song to No. 1 before Trump’s arrival on Friday.

A Q&A at the top of the Facebook page aims to address any questions about the campaign. The first three questions read:

Q: WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING TO DO THIS?
A: Because we’d find it hilarious and reckon thousands more will find it hilarious too. If you don’t like then great…just don’t like it then, but we really couldn’t care less. We’re doing this anyway

Q: THIS IS THE MOST IDIOTIC CAMPAIGN I’VE EVER SEEN
A: Sorry did you say “Idiotic”? That’s very shrewd of you. Yes you’re correct, we know that, an idiotic campaign for an idiotic man

Q: YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS HOW DARE YOU?
A: So you’re trying to tell us that using this as a peaceful protest against a racist, misogynist, pu**y-grabbing, elitist, healthcare-destroying, climate change-denying, bullshitting, backward, orange s**tgibbon of an excuse for a man is not ok then? Hmmm…righty oh… you do realise when our weak Prime Minister offered him a full state visit there were over 1.8 MILLION signatures against this within days…so we’d say we’re in the right here

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The campaign asks participants to download American Idiot — at the time of its release, a song rumoured to be about former U.S. President George W. Bush — July 6-13, to push the 14-year-old single to the top of the Official UK Charts.

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(As of this writing, the song sits at No. 18, still quite a feat for a song that’s over a decade old. It’ll take some major purchasing power to get it to No. 1 by Friday.)

The point of the campaign is to feature some type of musical protest against Trump, which has actually happened in the U.K. several times over the years. In 2008, for example, an English DJ sick of singing competition winners dominating the charts launched a campaign to get “Rick-rolling” song Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley to No. 1.

Trump isn’t exactly a beloved person in the UK. His YouGov.uk page lists words used to describe him by both his haters and his fans, and they include “annoying,” “awful,” “rich,” “controversial,” and perhaps most apropos, “idiotic.”

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Of course, Brits aren’t just going after Trump musically. On Friday, as Trump arrives in the country, protesters plan to march and to fly a blimp depicting Trump as a screaming orange baby over Parliament.

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The president will spend Thursday night at U.S. Ambassador Robert “Woody” Johnson’s London residence but will otherwise steer clear of the city.

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Johnson told reporters on a conference call Friday that the president’s itinerary was not designed to keep him away from protesters. He said Trump appreciates free speech, which is seen as one of the shared values that bind Britain and the United States.

“The president is not avoiding anything,” the ambassador said. “The president is merely trying to get as impactful a trip as he can get in a 24-hour period.”

He said the highlight will be the chance for the president and first lady to meet the queen.

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READ MORE: Donald Trump could meet Queen Elizabeth next month, U.S. diplomat says

Trump and his wife Melania plan to spend the weekend privately in Scotland, where the president owns two golf courses, before traveling to Helsinki, Finland, for a July 16 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s trip is classed as an official visit, rather than the full-scale state visit, hosted by the queen, for which May invited Trump soon after his January 2017 inauguration. London and Washington say the state visit is still due to happen at some point.

Take a listen to Green Day’s American Idiot, below.

With files from The Canadian Press

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