When Green Day's Vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong Compared Trump to Hitler: "I Can't Wait Till..."

The comparisons of Donald Trump to history's most notorious dictator Adolf Hitler don't seem to die down. Many political figures and celebrities called Trump out for his authoritarian language, including the rock band Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. The lead vocalist has always expressed his political views fearlessly and back in 2016, he called the ex-president a "f***ing Hitler."

In an interview with Kerrang Magazine, Armstrong went after Trump and his group of loyal supporters, "The worst problem I see about Trump is who his followers are. "I actually feel bad for them, because they’re poor, working-class people who can't get a leg up. They're pissed off and he's preyed on their anger."

The Green Day frontman then compared, "He just said, 'You have no options and I'm the only one, and I'm going to take care of it myself.' I mean, that's f—ing Hitler, man!" per Entertainment Weekly. "I don't even know how else to explain it. wish I were over-exaggerating. And sometimes maybe I do over-exaggerate with Bush. But with Trump, I just can't wait 'til he's gone." 

However, Trump isn't the only ex-president who has irked Armstrong. The rock punk band Green Day resorted to melodies to criticize President George W Bush with the release of their high-octane track American Idiot which was recorded during the early days of the Iraq War and three months before Bush's eventual re-election. The title track targeted the news illiteracy and the widespread political propaganda, as per Billboard. 

Although it has been years, the high-energy political song only grew more relevant. Fittingly, Armstrong used the track to its full potential by recently revising the title track's lyrics to criticize former president Trump. During the band's New Year's Eve performance, in January 2024, the now-52-year-old singer tweaked a line from the American Idiot track to suit the Republican nominee. 

Instead of singing, I'm not a part of a redneck agenda, he changed it to I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda. Although the change was subtle, it certainly grabbed the attention of fans online, including one of the world's richest men and a staunch Trump supporter Elon Musk. The X, formerly Twitter owner beefed with Green Day over the Trump insult and wrote, "Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it." 

Many MAGA fans echoed Musk and called out the punk rock band, for instance, this MAGA supporter, @LangmanVince, commented, "MAGA doesn't want washed-up soy boy musicians who haven't been relevant since the blackberry was the hot new cellphone." In response, a Green Day fan, @SSmithStudios, clapped back, "Washed up...after selling out stadiums and arenas still after 3 decades, you mean? Current #1 on the Billboard Rock Radio Airplay and 4 albums in the top 20 Alternative on iTunes? Educate yourself before you speak." 

Meanwhile, for the band, this political stand is hardly a first as they openly criticized ex-commander-in-chief during an American Music Awards performance days after Trump's 2016 election win by chanting, "No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!, accusing him of "holding half of the country hostage" in 2020, and selling limited edition merchandise with his mugshot photograph labeling it as the "ultimate nimrod."