"But a Smiths song — 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' — was played at a Trump rally in Rapid City, South Dakota on Tuesday..."

"... and at other Trump rallies recently, including in Laconia, New Hampshire on Monday. That’s angered one of the song’s authors, Johnny Marr.... 'Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this shit shut right down right now.... It’s not yet known what Morrissey — who co-founded The Smiths with Marr and who has veered sharply to the right since the end of the band — thinks about Trump using his music. Morrissey’s increasingly right-ward pronouncements have caused many a Smiths fan to recoil in horror...." (Politico).

You actually hear the Smiths more often than you'd think at 2024 Trump rallies

⬇️ 9/8/2023 SDGOP rally in Rapid City, South Dakota https://t.co/lNAzNNYMOk pic.twitter.com/891reN3MGR

— Soorin Kim (@SooRinKimm) January 23, 2024

Is it possible that the "increasingly right-ward" Morrissey might like Trump? Well, there's this from a year ago (in Page Six):

"I Want Nothing."

.@pattonoswalt made a tweet that showed Trump’s handwritten notes and the caption was simply “Morrissey voice:”.

Needless to say, I got inspired and put WAY to much effort into this. pic.twitter.com/heOiOhl90P

— RuPaul Giamatti (@BenJamminAsh) November 21, 2019

"One wonders if the boy did not know what would happen. I do not know about you, but in my youth I have never been in situations like this."

"Never. I was always aware of what could happen. When you are in somebody’s bedroom, you have to be aware of where that can lead to. That’s why it does not sound very credible to me. It seems to me that Spacey has been attacked unnecessarily.... People know exactly what's going on [about Weinstein]... And they play along. Afterwards, they feel embarrassed or disliked. And then they turn it around and say: 'I was attacked, I was surprised'. But if everything went well, and if it had given them a great career, they would not talk about it. I hate rape. I hate attacks. I hate sexual situations that are forced on someone. But in many cases one looks at the circumstances and thinks that the person who is considered a victim is merely disappointed."

Said Morrissey.

ADDED: These remarks made me wonder how smart Morrissey is. My guess was that he's very smart, and he likes to look at things from different points of view and talk about what he sees, and that can get you into trouble, at least if your smartness doesn't lead you to see what you're going to get if you waft miscellaneous ideas where people expect you to say only one thing and you decide to protect yourself by keeping quiet.

I read the "Early life" section of Morrissey's Wikipedia page, and see that his parents were "working-class Irish Catholics," and he "failed his 11-plus exam" after elementary school "and proceeded to St. Mary's Technical Modern School, an experience that he found unpleasant." He was good at sports but still "an unpopular loner." He said his education was "evil and brutal," and "All I learnt was to have no self-esteem and to feel ashamed without knowing why." He did read a lot, we're told, including feminist literature and Oscar Wilde. And he turned to music — very successfully — as the solution.

Even here, music was a solution. Morrissey could have saved these ideas for song lyrics, which can be enigmatic, ambiguous, and seeming to arise from a character the singer embodies.

"I assume the Caitlyn Jenner explosion was a glut of PR companies pushing insanely because I don’t know anyone who felt that interested."

"I believe in humasexuality... we are all human and we are all attracted to humans. To chip it down to tags and tote-bags simply creates division. I could only be concerned by a person’s sexuality if it directly affected me, which it never does. I do not feel asexual, but technically it appears as if I am because I don’t feel any raging affiliation with anything."

Said Morrissey.

"World Peace Is None Of Your Business."

"Morrissey 'Recites' New Single In Startling Promo Clip/Ex-Smith is joined by pal Nancy Sinatra...."