Cohen's estate likely would have authorized Trump to use a different song at the RNC

According to news reports this evening, the estate of Leonard Cohen, explicitly denied permission for the Republican National Convention to use "Hallelujah," Cohen's most important and famous song. But the Trump's illegal spectacle on the south lawn of the White House used it anyway.

Also in Reuters' news story, Cohen's estate indicated it would have given permission to use "You Want it Darker" had the RNC requested it.



THAT would have been fitting since lawlessness and Putin's propaganda method has been so seamlessly incorporated into the Trump administration and the Republican Party over the last four years.

The estate of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is not rejoicing over the use of his song “Hallelujah” at the Republican National Convention.

Cohen’s estate and music publisher had actually turned down the Republican National Committee’s request to use the tune, but it was played twice anyway as fireworks exploded over the White House after Donald Trump’s lengthy closing speech Thursday night — first in a recorded version by Tori Kelly, then in a live performance by opera singer Christopher Macchio from a White House balcony. Now the estate is considering legal action.

Michelle L. Rice, legal representative of the Cohen Estate, also released a statement, saying, “We are surprised and dismayed that the RNC would proceed knowing that the Cohen Estate had specifically declined the RNC’s use request, and their rather brazen attempt to politicize and exploit in such an egregious manner ‘Hallelujah,’ one of the most important songs in the Cohen song catalogue. We are exploring our legal options. Had the RNC requested another song, ‘You Want It Darker,’ for which Leonard won a posthumous Grammy in 2017, we might have considered approval of that song.”

The Los Angeles Times conjectured that, “the president’s campaign may have procured what’s called a blanket license that would allow him to use certain songs at public events without having to seek case-by-case permission..." However, that sounds more like Putin's propaganda method which now has been embraced seamlessly by the Trump administration and the GOP, the firehose of falsehoods. They make some absurd and clearly false claim and do it so frequently and emphatically that nobody can keep up with it.