BY HANK REICHMAN

Today’s Washington Post carries an article reporting that protesters upset by President Trump’s upcoming visit to the United Kingdom have launched a campaign to play Green Day’s “American Idiot” so many times that, by the time Trump arrives, the song will be the No. 1 single in the UK.  According to the Post, “the incessant downloads started July 6 and will continue through Thursday.  Protesters have been using iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify and YouTube, among other platforms, to stream and download the song. The campaign’s official motto: ‘Make American Idiot Great Again.’”

“Us in the UK have a good record of protesting in this way,” the campaign’s founders, Keith Curle and Geoff Thomas, told the Post. “We are the country who put Sex Pistols and Rage Against the Machine at No. 1 in the past.”

Green Day vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong wrote “American Idiot” during the Iraq War.  The titular track on the band’s 2004 rock opera described America under President George W. Bush as an “alien nation where everything isn’t meant to be okay.”

In the spirit of the campaign here is the official video of the song (preceded, alas, by the inevitable advertisement, which can be skipped):

For those who have difficulty making out the lyrics or just prefer to read them, they can be found here.

Needless to say, I’m a big Green Day fan and previously posted their “We Live In Troubled Times.”   And, lastly, in case you haven’t heard, a giant blimp depicting Trump as a baby holding an iPhone is also expected to greet him in London.